C5 Brake Conversion for 4th Gen
 

Gentlemen:

Has anyone done this upgrade? I have a 4 piston Wilwood setup on my car now and since it is seeing much less autocrossing these days, running race pads on the street is making increasingly less sense. Running street pads makes the brake pedal spongy and the brakes nearly impossible to lock up.

So, has anyone done the C5 upgrade keeping everything else stock? If so, what is your feedback?

Thanks.

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=66912

I explored various options a little while ago and settled on just better pads. The new pads definitely work but the noise/dust is pretty ridiculous. Going with a slightly bigger dual piston caliper setup seemed ideal but it would force me into a bigger drag wheel. I spoke with the Kore3 folks and one piece of info I found helpful, for my situation at least, was to avoid going too big on the front brake setup. With a skinny drag wheel in front, I would likely get ABS/Lock-up issues. Since you likely plan to use your car differently, this is probably a non-issue.

Josh (97Camaro) did this about 2 seasons back. I'll text him to chime in as well.

As Mike said, I did the C5 brake swap using Kore3 conversion. It was well worth the money, no question about that (especially over the LT1 setup). The only real drawback is you have to run a 17" wheel minimum and modifying the spindle (minimal for the LS1, just an ear off the back IIRC). I'm not running skinnies or drag wheels up front so wheel size isn't an issue and I'll never go back to factory brakes so modifying the spindle for C5 caliper bracket to accomodate larger rotor doesn't matter either. Braking performance was night and day, especially going from single piston and getting an 1" diameter more on the rotor plus directional cooling vanes. There's plenty of stopping power, yet I've never locked up the brakes. Pedal is solid. No ABS issues or other compatibility issues. I'm running powerstop pads/rotors which normally warped quick with the factory setup, these haven't even after several track passes at Island and dust is minimal.

For the money, it's a great deal. I went with the powder coated/ raised Vette letters and it looks awesome.

i can't believe you can't get pads that fall in between full race and too crappy for the street. Does Hawks or Porterfield or someone offer pads for the calipers you have?

Get ls spindel, drill out threads for caliper, buy newer camaro brembo calipers used on ebay, run corvette rotors, and you have good brakes.

I have a set of LS1 spindles that I don't need if that helps

Good point. I have 4 different sets of brake pads ranging from Porterfield R4-S to Hawk HPS to Wilwood street compounds and Wilwood track compounds. The Porterfields can't even lock up the tires, the Hawks and Wilwood Streets need heat in them before they can lock up the tires, the Wilwood track pads put you through the windshield by the time I'm at the end of the street. I abuse the heck out of these brakes with the Wilwood track pads and they are fantastic, but I think the time is coming for something milder.

Thanks, guys. I spoke with Bax and he was saying that his CTS-V calipers, which are very similar to the new Camaro units, are also pretty disappointing with brake feel. I don't think I need something that aggressive now anyway. Josh, I'll do what you did and give Kore3 a call. I appreciate your feedback, that's really what I was after. I will PM you with questions, though.

Do you still have your stock LS calipers?

No, I'm a moron and threw them out.

No big deal. Rock auto has C5 calipers with bracket for $70 each. However, if you try to piece it together it may cost more. You'll also need slightly longer flex lines, the rotor adapter, and pads/rotors.

I went the UMI kit about 2 years ago and very pleased with no issues. I felt slightly more pedal travel which I understand LS1 cars won't experience as they have a larger master cylinder which is probably related to being 2 piston calipers versus LT1 single piston. Most difficult part was watching irreversible surgery on the spindles.