VY SS UTE: Brake Rotor Sizing

[MRNICK]

Hi Guys,

I tried to do a basic search but it came up with a few answers, none of which satisfied me.

Basically, the time is nearing to freshen the front and rear brakes on my VY SS Ute.

The plan is to freshen up the calipers with a set of seals and pistons on the front and a lick of paint along with a new set of rotors and pads.

So my question is, without massive modification, what is the biggest size (diameter, e.g 290mm) disc rotor that the VY SS Twin Caliper Pistons can take?

I had a look on the DBA online catalog and it states that the standard size is 296mm x 28mm. But it also lists an upgrade option with a size of 328mm x 28mm. I am doubting it highly as that is a 30mm increase in diameter and the caliper mounting bracket has sweet F.A in the way of room left before it's hitting the disc.

Also looking to go to a set of vented calipers on the rear as the standards are solid. Would it be a matter of just using the VZ SS rear rotors and pads or is there something else involved here?

Thanks for the advice guys and feel free to point me in the direction of many, many threads (if there out there) with all the information if this has been posted about before.

Cheers,
Nick

[Micks]

No upgrade without changing Calipers. Basic upgrade would be a PBR C5 or C6 Corvette upgrade.

[Gmfan]

Harrop do an upgrade utilising stock calipers with brackets to space the calipers out to fit over a 343mm rotors but i don't know how much of an upgrade that would be? I've never seen anyone use the kit on any of the forums i frequent. Slotted rotors and decent pads are the first port of call for brake upgrades. After that it is basically a matter of replacing calipers as part of the upgrade.

[white lie]

Solid rear rotors? Are you sure about that? I thought they went to vented rears well before the VZ.... I even thought they were pretty much the same brakes the whole way thru (apart from the HSV's and 330mm setup).

[VZ_V8]

Standard rear rotors are solid. They went to vented as part of the C5/C6 setup which from what I understand were used on Monaros, SSZ, Thunder utes and MY06 VZ SS. I am not sure if the C6 rear calipers are the same as the standard, they certainly look the same size and the pads are very similar but I'm not 100% sure. If you can find out if they are the same you should be able to use the vented rotor it would just be a matter of using the pads which suit the C6 setup as the only difference is they are 1mm thinner which accommodates for the 2mm thickness increase between the solid and vented rotor.

Standard Pad...
http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/images/wmfixed/EBC-Brakes/dp31506c-380-380.jpg

C6 Pad which uses the vented rotor...
http://www.jjcraceandrally.com/images/ebay/jjcebay/ebc_dp31711.jpg

IMO unless you are going to upgrade the whole set up, forget about a slightly larger rotor, just use a good quality one of standard size either DBA 4000 or 5000 series slotted only. The material those rotors are made from is different to the street series. AFAIK they have a higher carbon content and cope with the heat better.

Flush the system with some better fluid. Probably the best one would be the Liquid Intelligence 318 but unless you got some during the special a while back its pretty expensive and it will be far cheaper to use one of the more common ones. The ones I have tried and would happily use again are PBR BF600 and Motul RBF600. I haven't tried them but I'm sure they would be just as good, AP Racing 600 and Penrite SIN. Basically take your pick.

Put in some decent pads, personally I use EBC Reds on the street as they work very well but also have near on no dust compared to a lot of others. Have heard some good reports about QFM HPX and A1RM pads but haven't tried them myself, then you have the common ones like Bendix Ultimates, Ferodo DS2500s etc.

If I was in your position I would do that for now and then later on if you have a few grand to throw at some decent brakes go for a full kit with calipers, rotors etc.

Just my 2c.

[vyls1wa]

Who do the c5 c6 upgrades

[VZ_V8]

Who do the c5 c6 upgrades

They are from PBR. You can usually find them around at decent prices 2nd hand.

[Micks]

Prior to upgrading MY VZ SS brakes It had the larger rotors frt only though were approx 20mm smaller than the C6 330mm I fitted.
The calipers were similar. The stopping power of the C6 package was far better than the stock VZ SS ones.

[Gmfan]

I thought c6 calipers were used for the SSZ 320mm rotors and C5 were used on the HSV 330mm rotors?

[Micks]

I thought c6 calipers were used for the SSZ 320mm rotors and C5 were used on the HSV 330mm rotors?

That's probably right for an SSZ, my orig. Frt SS Calipers don't resemble the C6 I fitted.

[NOS540HQ2DOOR]

I'm running 343mm front discs with C6 Corvette Calipers with caliper mount bracket to suit.

[MRNICK]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.

I suppose, since I will be building a blown motor for it down the track it would be wise to be upgrading the brakes once rather than double spending.

I like the idea of the C5 Calipers, which from scouring eBay US, I've determined are the same size as the early HSV brakes and a fraction of the cost if buying from eBay suppliers.

Does anyone have any sources to use for purchasing the C5 kits?

It's interesting that they sell the caliper brackets (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM-OEM-Base-C6-Corvette-and-C5-Front-Brake-Caliper-Bracket-88955518-Abutment-/221168477832) seperately. But will these fit with the standard VY SS caliper? Without having seen the C5's up close and personal, the pistons look smaller which logically speaking will be way more efficient for braking.

Thanks again for the replies. The more knowledge the better!

[Dulph_Skelly]

Mate, I have just finished the C5 upgrade to my VY SS. Picked up second hand rotors and calipers (front and rear) for $500 off a forum member, so when counting the new rotors, pads, fluids etc it came out at around 1K. Im really happy I did it too as the stopping power is noticeably better with the larger caliper and 320mm fronts. Kicking myself for not have done back-to-back tests (ie: stops from 100, 80, 60 etc) but the seat of the pants feel is noticble straight away and with solid press will have the ABS kicking in much quicker than the old setup.

The C5 caliper is a noticeably larger unit - probably 50% larger than the standard VY SS caliper. From what I could see, the pistons were slightly larger, but not by much.

One note is that the front caliper uses a 14mm mounting hole where the strut mount uses a 12mm bolt hole, therefore requiring a 2mm spacer between the bolt and the caliper mount. HSV no longer make these so I got my own made up from 14mm copper pipe with an internal measurement of 12mm which cost about $20 at Masters and then checked by my brake man. This solved the problem straight away. The rears mount up without any problems.

Seeing as I didnt have a few grand to drop on brakes, im very happy with the results. Would do it again too.

[bozodos]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.

I suppose, since I will be building a blown motor for it down the track it would be wise to be upgrading the brakes once rather than double spending.

I like the idea of the C5 Calipers, which from scouring eBay US, I've determined are the same size as the early HSV brakes and a fraction of the cost if buying from eBay suppliers.

Does anyone have any sources to use for purchasing the C5 kits?

It's interesting that they sell the caliper brackets (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM-OEM-Base-C6-Corvette-and-C5-Front-Brake-Caliper-Bracket-88955518-Abutment-/221168477832) seperately. But will these fit with the standard VY SS caliper? Without having seen the C5's up close and personal, the pistons look smaller which logically speaking will be way more efficient for braking.

Thanks again for the replies. The more knowledge the better!

Could be worth hitting up Damian aka itsme4G63 since he does the other brake kits from the US. I'd looked at this sort of swap too (kicking myself that I bought an SV8 that didn't have the better bloody brakes!), thought I'd try my luck with decent pads, rotors and fluid on the standard calipers first though.

[MRNICK]

Mate, I have just finished the C5 upgrade to my VY SS. Picked up second hand rotors and calipers (front and rear) for $500 off a forum member, so when counting the new rotors, pads, fluids etc it came out at around 1K. Im really happy I did it too as the stopping power is noticeably better with the larger caliper and 320mm fronts. Kicking myself for not have done back-to-back tests (ie: stops from 100, 80, 60 etc) but the seat of the pants feel is noticble straight away and with solid press will have the ABS kicking in much quicker than the old setup.

The C5 caliper is a noticeably larger unit - probably 50% larger than the standard VY SS caliper. From what I could see, the pistons were slightly larger, but not by much.

One note is that the front caliper uses a 14mm mounting hole where the strut mount uses a 12mm bolt hole, therefore requiring a 2mm spacer between the bolt and the caliper mount. HSV no longer make these so I got my own made up from 14mm copper pipe with an internal measurement of 12mm which cost about $20 at Masters and then checked by my brake man. This solved the problem straight away. The rears mount up without any problems.

Seeing as I didnt have a few grand to drop on brakes, im very happy with the results. Would do it again too.

Sounds good mate. Do you have any pics of the brakes just for reference? I'm pretty sold on the C5 upgrade!