Someday i want to setup a fairly simple RWD track/streetable car. Probably will use an NA cobra or C5.
My question is, how necessary are big rear brakes?
And how much of a difference is there from 13-14in rotors in performance?
14in 6 pistons are $5-6k front and rear.
13in 6 pistons are $3500-4k front and rear.
I would like to go 13in so I could run cheaper 17in wheels and tires.
For the money I’d save by just doing 14in up front with stock rear brakes, instead of 13in at all four, I would lose it in tires anyways, so I’d just assume go 13in all the way around, but how necessary are the rears?
stick with 13" rotors. i have 14" on the front on the roush and 13" in the back and i have to run 18s and the tires and rims are both more expensive. even to just get track rims, and there isnt a huge selection. gotta pay to play i guess tho. but i jsut have the stock roush front pads, which aren’t noisy and dust like a mofo. and hps+ rear pads which i keep on for the street and the track. my brakes are more than enough for the track compared to the sentra lol
Everyone upgrades to Z calipers on the front of a 240sx… it works but your pedal feel gets thrown off. So i upgraded the master cylinder to a 300zx MC… felt okay but not perfect… so i upgraded to Z rear calipers and HP+ pads all around and now it feels awesome. with full OE calipers and MC from a Z32 on an S13… any mixing and matching felt gay.
lesson…equivalency… upgrading is cool, but your brakes are set up with appropriate brake biases from factory… make sure you take that into account or you’ll end up spending money to decrease your braking performance.
If you get to the point where you’re consistently beyond what that can offer, and you own a C5 vette, just upgrade to the C6Z stuff, cheapest upgrade you can buy.
I priced 6 piston calipers and rotors from Baer for my SS and they were $4200. I can get the C6 Z06 brakes for 1000 for the calipers and probably another 1000 for the rotors. I’d listen to MPD and Moffit since they are probably the most experienced track driver’s
Looking into the vette brakes, C6Z looks like the best bet, everything made to fit a C5 for about $2500, and since there isn’t much of a 17in tire selection, that is good for vette’s to keep the height staggering I’d probably go 18’s anyways.
Cobras have 13in 2 piston fronts stock already, the 13in 4 piston setup from saleen looks the same as the cobra R setup ford offers, which I know uses Brembo calipers. I havn’t seen a rear upgrade from ford to match the cobra R fronts, but If I keep it NA the cobra would probably be alright on stock brakes.
A cobra would need alot more money in suspension to keep up with the vette in handling, which somewhat negates the price difference, and the vette could be cammed and have 400+ whp NA, which the cobra would need a LOT more money to hit NA.
I would guess that the cobra with bigger brakes stock and 100+ whp less would be alright, but the vette having smaller brakes and a sufficient amount of extra HP would need the upgrade first.
+1 on the C5 handling. those cars do things that never cease to amaze me and can be purchased very reasonably. C6 Vettes are a bit more but are a considerable upgrade. In a year or so when I get a Camaro Convertible I have toyed with the idea of getting a C6 and turning it into the track car, I would have to sell my SS though because there is no way I could keep 2 Camaro’s and have a C6 too.
a lot of guys on frrax.com (F-body road racing/autocross forum) don’t like the C6Z brakes for track use, apparently because they eat twice as many pads and don’t wear evenly most of the time. Maybe it’s just when you put them on F-bods I don’t know… but most prefer the base C6 or C5 brakes for track use.
I just couldn’t turn a C6 into a track car, too nice and too expensive, I want a manual rack, fixed back seats, no stereo, no carpet, no A/C, mechanical clutch, maybe no brake booster.
But I am still considering a C6 just as a summer car and obviously not having such a track oriented car.
I would consider e46 M3’s but they are too nice and too expensive as well.
Stock C5 brakes are not that great, especially the calipers.
The extra inch will go along way, but I personally wouldn’t spend the money. My car weights the same (~3300 lbs) as a C5, and the rotors are just shy of 13" front and rear. With ducting and the right pads they work well, but I’d love to have larger rotors. A C5 with slicks could make for allot of stopping traction!