Guys with Killer Brakes, what about Rears & Bias????

[alnukem]

I see all types of Big Front Brakes for our cars, but really don't hear about the Rear Brakes. Maybe I'm not paying attention. Is there a Reasonably priced option out there to match up to say C5Z06 fronts? Also, what about adjusting Front/Rear Brakes. Thanks!

[mike100]

When I bought my car, it had a whole box of uninstalled C5 brake parts front and rear. The previous owner was going to forego having an e-brake and do C5 calipers on the rear too, but all you get was a little thicker rotor mass and maybe .25" larger diameter in the back.

My feeling was that-
1) the C5 rear brake pad was the same size
2) The C4 has a more forward weight bias than the newer generations with the rear transaxle.

There didn't seem to be any gain to convert the rear brakes to something with the same size brake pad to me. That leaves the more exotic hub mods for the really trick brakes. Who knows how much the master cylinder can support, but C5 fronts still lock up on mine.

[-=Jeff=-]

Also the C5 rear caliper has a bit bigger piston, so the rear piston area comes into play as well..

Front to rear bias is based on, Rotor size, Pad Surface area and Piston Area

I plan to swap to a later Master cylinder with the DRM Bias Spring and C5 rear calipers (mainly because I am going to add a drum style eBrake)

[XfireZ51]

Having C6Z06 calipers front and rear, I have encountered no issues with brake bias using the stock master w the DRM bias spring. Car stops usually sooner than you thought it would. Haven't locked these up yet. Just no need to hit the pedal that hard. I need to be aware of the car behind me.

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by alnukem

I see all types of Big Front Brakes for our cars, but really don't hear about the Rear Brakes. Maybe I'm not paying attention. Is there a Reasonably priced option out there to match up to say C5Z06 fronts? Also, what about adjusting Front/Rear Brakes. Thanks!

alunukem,

I think the reason not hearing about rear brakes is due to parking brake solution needed to modify rear brakes. In order to covert the rear to C6 4 piston or after market 4 piston brakes, such as Wilwood or Brembo, one needs to come up with dedicated parking brake solution. This can be done with C5 parking brake kit offered by Street Performance (I think...) or mechanical spot brake. I have chosen the latter solution.

[alnukem]

Just for info, I have heard of people using later F-Body & C5 Master Cylinders. I am not saying these are better....I do not know, just saying that people have used them & seem to like them, with the inference, that they are better for unknown to me reasons. Thanks, Tim

[batchman]

Originally Posted by alnukem

Just for info, I have heard of people using later F-Body & C5 Master Cylinders. I am not saying these are better....I do not know, just saying that people have used them & seem to like them, with the inference, that they are better for unknown to me reasons. Thanks, Tim

The benefit of an F-body master is the 1" piston (vs 7/8" factory all c4). The thing that has stopped me from doing this is just as you mention, rear bias. My car suffers from understeer under braking and I'd rather continue with soft brakes than make that worse.

I have been unable to take the time to figure out how to put in the bias spring to see if helps or hurts.

Of course it took me until this year to realize I'd upgraded the front pads but not the backs - I'll be trying that update as soon as I figure out how to bed new pad types on a non-street car...

Later,
- Jeff

[FU]

The bias spring will calm down the understeer when braking. Try it... it's a cheap mod and if it dosen't do what I said . The spring can be easily removed .

My combo has C5 ZO6 brakes with Baer Eradispeed rotors and the bias spring. I like it.

[alnukem]

I bought a car & there was a line with a description that said

"C5 Z06 Wildwood Front Brakes w/Guido Movit Master Cylinder Bias Spring"

what/who is Guido movit?

PS........there was enough air in the lines to keep the global warming in check for another decade! Gotta wonder?

[alnukem]

Originally Posted by FU

The bias spring will calm down the understeer when braking. Try it... it's a cheap mod and if it dosen't do what I said . The spring can be easily removed .

My combo has C5 ZO6 brakes with Baer Eradispeed rotors and the bias spring. I like it.

Frank, some day we have to meet! What brakes are you running on the rear?