C-4 Brake Upgrade

[bluelgt]

I've been reading a bit about the possibilities regarding upgrading my 86 C-4s brakes. C-5 seems to read handling problems. An article about Bauer conversions leads me to think a 13" rotor will not fit into a stock 16" rim for my Coupe. Any thoughts on this and upgrading C-4 brakes in general?

 

[Tuna]

To do any real upgrades, you're going to need to change to 17" or larger wheels.

You can find some slotted and/or cross-drilled 12" rotors but most brake system upgrades are designed around the 13" brakes and those require the 17" wheel.

Look at MidAmerica, Ecklers, Vette Brakes, etc. for their C5 brake upgrade and buy a set of 17x11x50 wheels and 315 tires and you'll have a real stopper.

 

[vader86]

You will have to upgrade the wheels to 17" for any brake upgrade. They say the ZR1 brakes will clear the 16" rims IF they are Enkei, but I would be surprised if they did.

C5 would be the best for the money. It wont affect your handling.

Baer 4-6piston setup is for a real autox/race car. Their Eradispeed rotors are mostly looks, unless you do alot of autox.

 

[rrubel]

Check out these guys: <http://www.car-vette.com/brakes.html>

Someone else pointed out their C4->C5 conversion kit, and they might be able to help you.
[RICHR]

 

[oldace84]

FYI.
www.corvettecentral.com
or
www.VBandP.com
Info that might help you.
Good Luck
tony

 

[NAPAFlag]

I just finished putting on Doug Rippie's wilwood kit 13x1.25 front rotors, 12.75x1.25 rear, wilwood 6 piston front calipers and 4 piston in the rear. They said I will have to run 18" wheels.
I'm working on putting an LS1 in it so it will be a while before I find out how well they work. But they sure do look good.

 

[jsinga]

The late C4 13" brakes, ie J55, ZR-1 will BARELY fit under the Einke 16X9.5 wheels. I have not seen them in person but I've seen pictures posted. Rocks and road debris had scratched the inside of the wheel, the clearance was just enough not to scrape.
Recently someone did the upgrade and used Doug Rippe brackets and they had to clearance the fins on the top of the calipers.
They used the stock parts and a adapter bracket. I think I remember seeing adapter brackets in the Corvette Central catalog for @ $100. Any of the corvette salvage yards will sell a complete front set on 13" parts for $250
Baer makes a "Track" kit. It's the same as the GM parts except with BAER on the caliper. I think they make a custom caliper bracket that bolts on the 85-87 cars without an adapter. Someone with the Baer Track kit on a early car let us know!
Maybe Baer or Vette Brakes will sell the custom bracket seperately, I don't know. If they will you can do the upgrade pretty cheap with used parts.

JS

 

[klinderborg]

Before spending big $ try Hawk Ferro-Carbon performace pads. The ones I used on my autocross car were the street/club/autocross pads. I also installed stainless hoses. What a difference over the stock set-up. I bought mine through the Tire Rack web site.