If you were going to do a brake swap which aftermarket brake would you go with, A) Willwood B) Stoptech C) Brembo D) other and if you choose other please say which ones you would go with!

Red Devil Titanium, set up, but there about $10k for the set, much more less weight and unbelievable stopping power, or carbon fiber and killer calipers, also about 6-7 grand, but OMG

I have owned and road raced Wilwood and Brembo(GT w Hawk Black pads). First off, most after market brakes are used strictly for bling on the street. The OEM brakes can handle any situation your likely to encounter during even extreme street driving.

So why, other than bling, do you need aftermarket brakes on the track? When road racing, the repeated/constant hard high speed braking causes the brake pads to get hot (500+ degrees). That in turn can cause the brakes to fade (i.e losing up to 65% of your stopping power or worse) or completely fail. Normally, OEM brakes will fade if pushed hard after 4 or 5 laps.

Aftermarket brakes, have larger vented rotors that have a larger surface area to disipate heat, more stopping power and provide a wider array of pads which can handle the heat load better. Most track brake pads are designed to work best hot, which means when driven on the street (cold) they don't do terrifically well.

Wilwoods don't hold a candle to Brembo. I've run both and there's no comparison. It's a few thousand more for Brembo ($6k vs. $4k) but worth every cent. Trust me on this. If you want the real deal go with Brembo or Stoptech. Don't get drilled rotors, rather get slotted.

Two additional points: Changing the OEM brake fluid to Dot 4 (ATE super blue, Motul, Castrol) is critical. OEM fluid will boil on the track with hard braking. When that happens, you have no brakes. Additionally, installing front brake ducts to ventilate the brakes is huge (just as imp as the brake itself). Doug Rippie makes brake ducts for the C5. East Coast Supercharging makes spindle ducts that connect to those and channel the air to the rotor.

Conclusion: When I first raced with Wilwoods, I was never confident in my braking going into turns. I had a good deal of fade and went thru brake pads frequently. With Brembos, my pads last 5 times longer and I am confident. The brakes don't fade, can put you thru the windshield and are predicatable performers.

I like the way Wilwood looks, but then that falls right into what the gentleman above me said that alot are just for looks, hmmm.

Red Devil Titanium, set up, but there about $10k for the set, much more less weight and unbelievable stopping power, or carbon fiber and killer calipers, also about 6-7 grand, but OMG
I've never heard of that brand and 10K!!!:eek: Must be for the hardcore racers or something.

My husband just put on a set of Brembos for me! He said he wanted me to be able to stop on a dime seeing as thought there are soo many bad drivers out on the road these days! So far they are very nice, I just have to lightly press the pedal and the car comes right to a halt!:p

Stoptech is the brand that if I had the $ to get a big brake kit this would be it. I just love how clean the whole setup looks and they are a great performing brake also,(or so I have read!)

I would go with the Willwood , I like the clean look to them!!

To clarify from above, the reason to get a big brake kit, isn't street stopping power. The OEM brakes will handle any situation you will ever encounter on the street.

On the track, OEM equipment gets hot and begins to fade after 4-5 hard laps. The big brake set ups when combined with racing or street/racing pads and Dot 4 brake fluid can handle a 30 minute balls to the wall track session and not degrade in performance. That means you can drive aggressively and not worry about high speed brake failure.

Again, Wilwood brakes offer little improvement in overall performance from OEM. I know I owned and raced a set for 12 months. The only way to use Wilwoods on a track is with dedicated H compound (or alternative "race only" pads). Forget about using those pads on the street. They don't stop when cold (need to be heated up to safely stop the car) and when cold eat rotors for lunch.

Brembo and Stop Tech both are tremendous.

I have the Willwoods and they work great. Probably not worth the extra money and I'm not into looks. There is a rotor from Australia that is not drilled or slotted. They are about $1k each, I think. My '02 has 510 rwhp. List to the membership for their advise, you can save time and money. Good Luck. Drive it like you stole it.

I have the Willwoods and they work great. Probably not worth the extra money and I'm not into looks. There is a rotor from Australia that is not drilled or slotted. They are about $1k each, I think. My '02 has 510 rwhp. List to the membership for their advise, you can save time and money. Good Luck. Drive it like you stole it. As in $1000 per wheel?:eek:

Brembo, they look cool:cool:

Brembo, they look cool:cool:
I'll agree with that! I have seen many a car with Brembos and all of them look very :cool:

I have owned and road raced Wilwood and Brembo(GT w Hawk Black pads). First off, most after market brakes are used strictly for bling on the street. The OEM brakes can handle any situation your likely to encounter during even extreme street driving.

So why, other than bling, do you need aftermarket brakes on the track? When road racing, the repeated/constant hard high speed braking causes the brake pads to get hot (500+ degrees). That in turn can cause the brakes to fade (i.e losing up to 65% of your stopping power or worse) or completely fail. Normally, OEM brakes will fade if pushed hard after 4 or 5 laps.

Aftermarket brakes, have larger vented rotors that have a larger surface area to disipate heat, more stopping power and provide a wider array of pads which can handle the heat load better. Most track brake pads are designed to work best hot, which means when driven on the street (cold) they don't do terrifically well.

Wilwoods don't hold a candle to Brembo. I've run both and there's no comparison. It's a few thousand more for Brembo ($6k vs. $4k) but worth every cent. Trust me on this. If you want the real deal go with Brembo or Stoptech. Don't get drilled rotors, rather get slotted.

Two additional points: Changing the OEM brake fluid to Dot 4 (ATE super blue, Motul, Castrol) is critical. OEM fluid will boil on the track with hard braking. When that happens, you have no brakes. Additionally, installing front brake ducts to ventilate the brakes is huge (just as imp as the brake itself). Doug Rippie makes brake ducts for the C5. East Coast Supercharging makes spindle ducts that connect to those and channel the air to the rotor.

Conclusion: When I first raced with Wilwoods, I was never confident in my braking going into turns. I had a good deal of fade and went thru brake pads frequently. With Brembos, my pads last 5 times longer and I am confident. The brakes don't fade, can put you thru the windshield and are predicatable performers.


Great post! Why not drilled rotors? Is it ok to have both drilled and slotted?

Prevailing wisdom for road racing now days is slotted not drilled. Small cracks can develop around the holes.

90% of users I see at rr tracks using slotted, myself included.

I would have to agree with Tom's posts above, he makes some very good points. The only thing I would add is to make sure that the brakes you're looking at will fit underneath your current wheels.

If you spend $6K on a set of Brembo's, budget another couple thousand for aftermarket wheels to fit over them.

Most brake companies offer templates so you can figure out fitment to your car.


Ed

Good point! Brembo makes both 4 and 6 piston fronts in it's GT line. Make sure you check to make sure your clearance is ok. I went with the 4 piston version for that reason.