Hey guys havent posted on here in a very long time. Trying to get my camaro project on the road (still have a long way to go) but i hit a road block when looking for a brake kit. I originally had my mind set on corvette Z06 brakes up front but noticed the calipers were just way to big for the wheels i wana go with. Im planning on using some 20inch boyd coddington rims all around and am trying to get the biggest lip up front. Might do 18s or 19s up front if i have to. Also noticed alot of big brake kits have a bigger track width. SO my question is what are my options when it comes to brakes. Looking for 13 or 14 inch rotors. Which kits gona give me the most caliper clearance? track width? if im ordering custom rims i dont want to have to use spacers to make them fit.

 

Some things to think about.

Your requirements of big brakes and maximum front lip are a bit contradictory. No brakes big enough to fill a 20" wheel are going to have caliper clearance anywhere near the stock brakes.

Another thing to think about is the hub snout on these cars. Covering this snout is generally just as much of a limitation on front wheel lip as brakes. You will see many pictures of people on this site who forgot about this and when it came time to mount wheels, the center caps no longer fit and their hubs are poking through the wheel. One way to improve this situation is to choose a wheel that takes this into account or has the option of a raised center cap. If you want a modern flat wheel face with flat center caps, brake clearance is no issue at all.

Regarding the track width. I am sure you have noticed that the OEM rotor is an integral rotor/hub. The rotor does not slide off, wheel bearings must be removed to remove the rotor. All of the off the shelf aftermarket kits replace the rotor/hub with a more traditional hub and go to slide on rotors. So your wheels end up being pushed out by the width of the hat or the rotor which is commonly 0.3". You could get around this with a custom hub that is machined to take this into account.

John

 

Hey thanks for all the good info man. I totally never took the hub snout into consideration. I'll have to look into the rims some more and see if they have a raised centre cap option. I got a couple templates from Scott at bigbrakeupgrade.com and noticed the caliper clearance is actually pretty good for the c6 kits. Rotor hat to caliper is just under a inch. Where as the z06 has bigger caliper and clearance is just Over an inch and a half? An inch is pretty good clearance right? I also heard wilwood has the best clearance?

 

If I remember correctly the stock caliper is just about flush with the rotor hat. But it has been a while since I have looked at stock brakes. So in that regard, 1" offset is a pretty big difference. Still though, 1" is not bad. But it really depends on the wheel. A Wilwood FSL caliper on a C4 HD rotor is right at 1" as well and is a superior caliper.

John

 

i was also looking at the baer brake kit on flynbye.com? heres a link http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/i20.html looks like a nice setup. anyone got any info on this? maybe a template? it would help if ed emailed, messaged or called back. Is he still in business?

 

Not trying to plug my products, but CTW Wheels in 17" will fit the 14" Z06 brake kit. So you don't need to go 19" or 20" to get clearance.

Let's talk about 20" wheels for a second here, for some perspective. You could run a 20" x 9.5" wheel in all 4 corners with a 275-25-20 tire, which would give you the same overall diameter as stock (no speedometer or clearance issues). But you would have a 2.5" sidewall - which is no where near optimal for wheel survival or a good ride. You would also be swinging around at least 10lbs extra per corner than a 17" x 9.5" wheel with a 275-40-17 equivalent tire, leading to poor wheel and suspension control. And you would also make even 14" brakes look tiny, 13" would be comically small under a 20". 20" wheels and 20" tires are also very expensive compared to 18" and 17" equivalents too.

My point is that you should be seriously looking for a 18" x 9.5" wheel for you car to mount a 275-35-18 tire. This should allow you brake clearance, ride well, protect against road craters, weigh less, and be less expensive.