My C6 Z06 calipers and rotors arrived today. I have been waiting some time for this system. I have read a ton of bad and a ton of good things about them. I got them for a really killer deal and was considering selling them, but after a talk with larry at carbotech and getting a upclose look, I have decided to keep them.

I will most likely be running the XP8 pads on these as I plan on using them mostly for the street, with an occasional trip to the track. These are going on my 1971 firebird. I am running 1/2" spacer in the front with my CCW 505A's and a 1/4" in the rear. I also have thick mounting pads on my CCW's. The fronts fit just fine, but I have some more fabrication to do on the rear to make them work with my LS1/F body rear brackets.

The front rotor weighs an ungodly 24.5 ibls compared to my old C5 rotor that weighed 18ilbs. The rear rotors weigh 18 ibls(not sure on my old ones)Eventually I will go with some light weight 2 piece rotors up front, but the budget won't allow that right now. I didn't weigh the calipers but they are definetly lighter than the old ones with teh steel abutments. I am running an LS1/Fbody master cylinder(almost the same as C5 corvette) and a hydrboost unit. can't wait to test these out! One thing I was dissapointed with, was that the calipers appeared to be painted, not powdercoated.
http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/9659/p10301036gw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/1313/p10301230yh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/4927/p10301183my.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/1004/p10301067sf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/8595/p10300930zc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/3792/p10300823fw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

its a 6 piston front, 4 piston rear, 14" front rotor, 13.5" rear rotor, with multipad setup, there is a single pad for each piston, 20 total. The stock pads SUCK they are made of an awful compound. They dust really bad, and won't hold up to track use. The front rotors are both right hand sided, so that isn't the hotest setup either. Some of the vette guys are having problems with the pads disenegrating on the track and having really bad taper. However new aftermarket pads should solve a lot of the problems

Wow thats quite a set of brakes should hunker down that old camaro in a hurry. Are you using stock turned down spindles in the front or tall spindle swap or what? Couldn't tell for sure in the pics.

stock spindles, aluminum hub, and a steel adapter bracket. No tall swap on second gen f-body, they are already somewhat tall.

Ahh well clearly I am no f-body expert. Where does one come about finding one these aluminum hubs that will bolt up c5/c6 brakes?

Are they available in any color other than bright-red?

Ahh well clearly I am no f-body expert. Where does one come about finding one these aluminum hubs that will bolt up c5/c6 brakes?

Pete,
Take a look at my webpage.

I have various years of vehicles covered for adaptor brackets that allow you to bolt up '97+ Corvette brakes (C5 & C6).

Derek,
They only come in red. I think they would look nice in silver or black myself.

Joe

Thanks for the great information Joe. However, I plan on going a different route on spindles because the B-body spindles bumpsteer issues. Does that info apply to the stock A-body spindle?

Cody,

I'm interested in the hub, too. Where'd you find them? Have you been running with those spacers for awhile? I think I'd probably be more comfortable with adapters at that thickness, but I suppose an A-body has a lot more weight to carry around than your car.

Those calipers are nice, though. Makes my C5 calipers (still on the shelf) look.....old

Ryan

Does that info apply to the stock A-body spindle?

Some of it does. But you have the advantage of not needing the modified ball joints, tie rod ends etc. when you run the stock spindles.

I'll have brackets for the stock spindles out soon. They are in the works (they are at the blue print stage right now) with Faro arm data needed to verify dimensions.

Fun stuff.

Joe

Cody,

I'm interested in the hub, too. Where'd you find them? Have you been running with those spacers for awhile? I think I'd probably be more comfortable with adapters at that thickness, but I suppose an A-body has a lot more weight to carry around than your car.

Those calipers are nice, though. Makes my C5 calipers (still on the shelf) look.....old

Ryan

sorry, the guy who made my hubs isn't in business anymore. Also the rear spacer is hubcentric, and the front one sits real tight around the hub snout, so in a way it becomes part of the entire assembly. The best, no. But I'm not worried about it.

Noooo you can't say he's not in business dangit! haha

I think they were like $150, there are pics on my website, with my old C5 brakes(which are for sale if anyone wants them)

$150? Wow thats alot less than I expected. Hopefully I can track down somebody else who is making these adapter hubs. How much for the old brakes?

I'll take $800 shipped(shipping is gonna be $$), Hawk HPS pads, custom powdercoating, front and rear with crossdrilled rotors. But that doesn't come with rear or front brackets, thats calipers,abutments,pads,rotors.
also the $150 was without bearings/races/studs

Noooo you can't say he's not in business dangit! haha

Those hubs won't work on your stock spindles anyways. You'll need to find stock drum hubs and cut the O.D. down to 5.95". Not hard for a machine shop to do that knows their stuff.

BTW Cody, the Formula is coming together quite nicely!



Joe

Hmm i do have access to lathes and or Mills. Property of the university however and may be hard to convince them that its for "educational" use haha. I do have my old drum spindles however. So all i would do is completely disassemble the stock drum assembly and turn down the part the studs are attached to to 5.95" am I understanding correctly here?

They look good. Hopefully the pad availability issues get solved soon, sucks that the factory pads aren't up to snuff for sustained abuse. I'm sure it will be resolved soon.

Also, are the pistons in them aluminum or stainless?

I'm still debating if I want to go with C6 Z06 brakes, Wilwood 6-pistons, AP Racing, or Stoptechs when I upgrade my suspension and brakes and wheels (again). Leaning very strongly towards Stoptechs right now although the "OEM availability" of the C6 Z06 brakes is mighty appealing and they'll be more attractive once some good pads show up on the market.

What MC bore size are you using with them?

Troy

The pad issue has been resolved, carbotech pads are available right now. THey offer many differnet pads. They are priced about the same as stock pads. The pistons are aluminum, NOT ss. stoptech would be your best bet, but I would be going wilwood due to cost. I am using an LS1 master, if i recall it is a 1" bore.

These brakes definetly are not race units. I would say(as someone else did) they are overdone for the street, but underdone for the track. Which is perfect for what I am doing. IF CarlC and others can race around with C4/C5 calipers with only pad upgrades, I am sure these will work for my intended uses good. Sure I can upgrade to SS pistons, and 2 piece floating rotors, but then the price is way up there.

I still don't understand why 2 piece rotors are so expensive, it seems like a big scam to me. I would really like to get ahold of a set of front 2 piece rotors to get rid of the stock boat anchor rotors. However I would only be willing to pay like $500 for both, most people want much more than that. Plus you have to throw out rotors eventually anyway.

Another thing that a lot of people don't realize is that these brake calipers are extremely wide. They won't clear the spokes of most wheels. I am able to use them because of the design of my wheels and the fact that I am using spacers. I don't think most wheels are going to clear.

hey does anyone know if there is a four wheel c6 z06 kit for a 67 a-body, i looked on joe's site but i didnt see anything for c6 calipers. thx.

-67 el camino custom 402
-72 chevelle ss454

Here's one kit for the front:
http://www.kore3.com/proddetail.php?prod=10103-03

and the rear:
http://www.kore3.com/proddetail.php?prod=10107-03

YOu can also check with Noel at http://www.touring-classics.com/index.htm

I have seen some his C6 stuff, it is sweet!

Tell him Joe sent you.

thx randy that is the spot!!!!, i posted accidentally for the wrong year ride but no matter, cuz they have all kinds off different stuff i need. THX LOOKS GOOD, except the site is down ... grr.

The C6 Z06 calipers don't have very big pistons. I would think twice about using them, unless its just for looks.

Andrew

unless youre going to be heavily tracking the car, the c6z setup is the way to go. i got mine with the rear parking brake for 2k. tell me where you can find a setup like this for less? these have WAAAYYYY more brake than you could EVER use on the street. and if your an occasional tracker, these are still much better than the stock c5/6 stuff.

heres the deal, i am rebuilding a 72 chevelle ss454 from the ground up. I bought the 12" wilwood kit front and rear. I also purchased a upper and lower global west negative roll control arms, which i didnt realize required different spindles. Now with the new spindles the wilwoods wont work, so i was going to use the c6 z06 setup front and rear and move the wilwoods to my 67 elco, which runs stock spindles. The chevelle wont be a track car, but i might take it to willow a couple times here and there. Mainly for stomping on the the street, and i think they look way sicker than the wilwoods not to mention it IS a lil cheaper overall for the vette brake setup. I mean i could run the c5 z06 brakes but these new ones look great and for the street should be more than plenty. i guess ill just find out for myself and let u guys know.

-67 el camino custom 402
-72 chevelle ss454

like i said, they are way more than adequate for the street. the guys that dont think they are also think the wilwoods are crap. ive never heard of a track guy swapping out his c6z brakes for some wilwoods. they go straight to the rb's or stoptechs, and those cost about 6k for the setup.

common reasons people dislike the c6z brakes

pad choice - this has been solved and there are a ton of compounds available

weight of rotors - if your on a budget like me, the one piece rotors are heavy. but, the two piece will still bring your total in well below anything comparable.

pad bolts - these dont even need to be removed to change the pads, unless youre doing it at the track and cant take the caliper off. also, the allen head has been changed to a torx which is much easier to remove.

for street use, the tires are the limiting factor, not the c6z brakes. if youre tracking it, be prepared to swap out pads every few days. but i also dont see our chevelles doing 170 down the straights like the vettes do. these guys abuse these brakes more than we could ever imagine doing.

and they look friggin bitchin which matters for some

tim