In Defense of J55 Brakes

[LGAFF]

First, Big brakes look awesome... certainly over high speed repeated stops there is a clear advantage, I have 8 piston Brembos on my SL600, and 6 Pistons on 3 of my other cars. My 91 ZR1 at one point had Brembos from the Porsche 993 but the prior owner sold them... so I was looking for a brake upgrade.

I had landed a set of C6 Z51s cheap, so I thought throw them on the Z... well that didnt pan out the Z51s dont clear stock Amold sizes. As I started to look at options I did some checking on the J55's performance. From 70 it drew the LT5 down at 170ft... when I looked at the C6 Z51 the number was anywhere from 152-160+. So I asked myself, how much better is the C5/C6 caliper when its stopping a Z06/or C6 that weighs 200lbs less than a Z in just 5-15ft. I never noticed this but the standard c4 was the first corvette to hit below 110 from 60

Even the best braking cars in the world currently are in the mid 140s, some 130s for stops from 70.

So when you consider advancements in tire and pad compounds since the 90s, you could easily get your J55s into 150s with Hawks or EBC pads... better tires could even up the ante.... So the J55s no slouch..... I think Im staying with them.