Here is a table of common brake swaps and how they effect brake pedal effort and travel. The two most important aspects of brake feel.

There are tons of threads on here for people looking for recommendations. Hopefully this will add a little science to the usual list of biased recommendations.

Perhaps we can make this a sticky and add to it for future reference.

The numbers assume the following for all kits listed
- same caliper flex
- same pad coefficient of friction
- same master cylinder bore diameter
- no losses in the hydraulic system
- no pressure lost moving sliding calipers

Right click - view image, for a larger image



Some other points to consider:
- Brake pedal travel and effort are feel items. Personally I like a short medium pressure pedal.
- The much vaunted 1LE setup actually produces much less brake torque than the stock 10.5" setup. Probably not a bad deal for the race cars where less assist is not such a bad trait.
- Big rotors are "free" brake efficiency, you can get the extra brake torque from a large rotor without the downside of a longer pedal

Finally, I would love to add data for more brake kits. Let me know if you have data for other kits or any of the missing data in the spreadsheet.

 

Added a few kits.

Again, right click - view image for larger version.

 

 

Great post! Wish I went with the CTSV brakes... although I can't complain about the LS1 setup I got. Although I wish there was less pedal travel.

 

This is very useful information, with the added benefit of pedal travel and effort...

The main reason why the 1LE front brakes were so sought after was the 1.5" increase in rotor diameter and the change from an iron single piston to an aluminum dual piston caliper. Effort aside, it was enough for the 3rd gens to race and not wipe out their brake in 3 laps...

Larger diameter rotors are becoming the norm, especially with tire sizes increasing the last few years (5th gen Camaro and Hemi cars for example). But the tires have not kept up pace in terms of using all that extra braking power - ABS is a savior for not locking up the wheels.

I have the old Baer 2 piston Track kit on my Camaro (same as the C4 HD above) and when I installed it, I tested it and it dragged the car from 60 to 0 in 105ft consistently - on a 245-50-16 tire. We are talking about a car with no ABS and smallish front street tires and it would rank up in very nice company in 2012 in terms of stopping ability. Would they eventually start fading in a high speed racing on a road course - maybe. Would the rotors warp in such a race - probably (easy to fix with a 2pc rotor). The CTS-V system as nice as it is - requires a 19" wheel to fit (maybe an 18" with a very large wheel barrel), which makes it a very expensive proposition on any car it did not come stock on - definitely overkill on anything other than a 6000lb SUV.

Personally I think the sweet spot for a third gen is a 13" rotor (1 or 2pc), a 4 piston stiff caliper (like the Wilwood FSL or Baer Track 4) and a 275-40-17 tire.

 

I would have said the SSBC 4 piston caliper with 12 inch rotors as one of the best but then you need Corvette rims as the caliper is wider. The SSBC quick change caliper basically is a 1LE caliper for the 10.5" brakes with similar piston force. Therefore the stock calipers in my opinion were better than th SSBC quick change calipers. If you're going to spend $300 on calipers you could go to LS1's from the boneyard if you lived in the US. Canada everything is more expensive so unfortunately it made more sense to upgrade the brake lines and rotors and prop valve and call it a day.

 

Again, you are going by the assumption that more piston force is better. Its really a question of feel. I can't stand a long pedal.

On top of that you have other considerations, like thermal mass and heat rejection. The table merely points out the mechanical advantage and feel of the systems. It says nothing of how they would hold up on the track.

 

2pc w/6 piston for those track days! Agree that 13" rotor w/17" wheel a good sweet spot for weight, as well.

 

I have designed a kit around the big Wilwood W6A caliper on a C5 or C6 Z51 rotor. This kit would be awesome for a right sized track setup. It would sure look the part too. Only problem is the calipers are fairly expensive. I would love to build one of these though. I'm trying to get my hands on a caliper to play around with.

I will add a few kits to the chart and update one of these days.

John

 

Very interesting...

Keep us posted!

 

Yeah, it would be very cool. Its hard to justify spending $500 on a caliper just to confirm a fitment and take some pictures. But I have done crazier things before.

 

Any mods out there? I second making this post/chart a sticky!

 

Bump to top, 'cause it's so good!

 

Great Little Sheet. What do you mean by the Pad Volume? And how did you calc torque? Did you assume a line pressure to arrive at piston force and thus torque based on rotor diameter?

I have Baer SS4+ kit which works well for me. Shame they don't do a rear kit that fits the 15" wheel too.

S4 caliper uses 1.755" pistons, weighs 5lbs with pads.

Rotor is a 11"x1.02" thick two piece. I'll check weights for you when I get to it but I'd guess-timate 12-15lbs

Charlie