Even though our ’02 Z06 Corvette...
Even though our ’02 Z06 Corvette came with excellent brakes from the factory, its stopping performance can quickly fade on track and is no longer as impressive with our new supersticky BFGs.
Most people associate performance with horsepower and torque, but it’s hard to stop a fast car once you overcome the vehicle’s factory braking system. While some Chevys, like the Z06 Corvette, come equipped with excellent brakes from the factory, experienced drivers and those who like to test their speed and handling abilities often find that OEM brakes quickly fade when put under extreme performance conditions.
Several factors, such as clamping force, a larger brake surface area, and heat dissipation, all play important roles in improving braking consistency and stopping power. Aftermarket systems like Wilwood’s Superlite 6 brake kit for example, are able to offer improvements in all these categories in a number of ways.
We took our Corvette over...
We took our Corvette over to Wilwood Engineering in Camarillo, California, where they set up our vehicle with a set of the company’s Superlite 6 brakes in the front and Superlite 4 brakes in the rear.
One of the most notable is the use of a two-piece, billet aluminum, six-piston, fixed caliper. This caliper is lighter in weight, stronger than performance mono-block designs, and costs much less to manufacture. This makes a brake upgrade like this one significantly less expensive than other aftermarket six-piston systems. Compared to the floating, two-piston caliper, like those on the ’02 Z06 Corvette, the Wilwood caliper can deliver higher clamping forces that are distributed evenly across the entire brake pad.
The first step was to remove...
The first step was to remove the wheels and unbolt the factory two-piston floating caliper.
Wilwood’s larger diameter 14-inch cross-drilled and axial vented rotors also dissipate heat faster and clean the brake pad to provide improved grip more effectively than the factory rotors. The drilled and slotted rotors come with Wilwood’s rust preventative E-coat finish. The E-coat wears off the pad contact area easily but has excellent adhesion everywhere else and is unaffected by high heat exposure. While these rotors are made from cast iron, the center hat is manufactured from aluminum to further reduce rotating weight.
Installing better brake components like these may seem like a big undertaking, but most aftermarket systems are designed for each individual application, making installation rather easy. In this example, Wilwood took our Z06 Corvette and upgraded the factory front and rear brake calipers and rotors with the Superlite 6 system in the front, and its Superlite 4 brake system at the rear. This upgrade involved unbolting the original floating brake calipers, which allowed the removal of the factory rotors. Like the front, the rear rotors are also a hat design, but fit over a parking brake system that utilizes the inside of the rotor’s hat as a surface for the parking brake shoes.
In either case, the Wilwood rotors and hats need to be assembled and are tightened using a torque wrench to the appropriate inch-pound specified in the Wilwood installation instructions. To mount the billet six-piston calipers Wilwood provides an aluminum caliper mount bracket that attaches to the factory spindles. This solidly mounts the calipers and allows the use of Wilwood’s large 14-inch diameter rotors.
Wilwood’s calipers use the race industry standard 1/8-27 pipe thread fluid inlet; so braided stainless hoses replaced the factory rubber lines. This involved removing the factory hose from the fitting where it’s attached to the hard line leading to the master cylinder. The new brake line is also attached to the back side of the Wilwood billet caliper with fittings that are provided in the kit.
The new rotors and calipers are then mounted onto the Corvette and the brake system is bled to remove all of the old brake fluid, and to ensure that there are no air bubbles in the system. Wilwood used its own high-performance brake fluid, which has a dry boiling point of 626 degrees F, the highest in the industry. The great thing about the fluid is that it only costs around $18 per bottle, a bargain for this level of performance. Think of it as cheap insurance against boiling your fluid at the track or on a canyon road.
Once the brakes on our Corvette were bled, our Boze Alloy ZE Forged wheels were installed with a spacer to provide added clearance between the back of the spoke and the face of the larger caliper. According to Wilwood, however, the Superlite 6 brake system will fit behind the OEM wheels on 2000 and up.
The factory rotor is a one-piece...
The factory rotor is a one-piece assembly that simply pulls off the hub from the spindle.
A billet aluminum caliper...
A billet aluminum caliper mount bracket attaches to the factory spindle. This will support the new Wilwood caliper, allowing room to use the larger 14-inch rotors.
Wilwood’s two-piece billet...
Wilwood’s two-piece billet aluminum caliper has six pistons. The four steel bolts provide increased rigidity, making these calipers stronger and less expensive than mono-block calipers.
The cast-iron rotors use aluminum...
The cast-iron rotors use aluminum hats. Both must be bolted together and torqued to the correct specifications in the instructions. The Platinum E-coating provides rust protection in all of the areas not touching the brake pads.
Brake hose fittings are also...
Brake hose fittings are also supplied in the kit and the Teflon tape is added to them in order to ensure a leak-free seal.
The fitting is attached to...
The fitting is attached to the rear of the Wilwood aluminum caliper and will have a new steel braided hose attached to it.
Factory rubber hoses can flex...
Factory rubber hoses can flex under extreme pressures, so they were removed at the junction where it attaches to the hard line leading to the master cylinder.
Here’s what the front of the...
Here’s what the front of the Corvette looked like once the Superlite 6 system was installed.
At the rear, the factory calipers...
At the rear, the factory calipers were also unbolted, and the original discs were removed.
The entire Wilwood Superlite 6 and Superlite 4 package will cost around $4,000 and is offered in a variety of color options for the calipers. More importantly, this brake setup is a great value when you start to get serious with stopping power that can be used on the street or at the track. It’s the perfect blend of where function meets form, and certainly a strong choice for anyone looking for a solid performance upgrade.
The Wilwood Superlite 4 system...
The Wilwood Superlite 4 system also uses aluminum caliper mounts that simply bolt onto the factory rear spindles; this mount with the supplied shims is used to help center the caliper onto the rotor.
Here, too, new stainless steel...
Here, too, new stainless steel brake lines replaced the factory rubber lines and were attached to the Wilwood four-pistion calipers.
The new rotors and calipers...
The new rotors and calipers are then bolted into position.
Wilwood used its high-temperature...
Wilwood used its high-temperature brake fluid that has an extremely high boiling point of 626 degrees F for superior performance under extreme conditions.
The brakes were bled at each...
The brakes were bled at each caliper, ensuring that there was no air in the brake system.
Our Corvette only has 30,000...
Our Corvette only has 30,000 miles on it, but given the number of track events we’ve entered over the past year, you can see that the original brake fluid was dirty and contaminated.
Once everything was bolted...
Once everything was bolted on, the front wheels fit snug; we probably would have been fine, but we went ahead and used a 1/8-inch wheel spacer on the front to add just a bit more room for the larger calipers under our Boze Alloy wheels.
With the new brakes mounted,...
With the new brakes mounted, our Corvette is ready for some track testing. According to Wilwood, the combination of the Superlite 6 and Superlite 4 brake system on this car should reduce stopping distances by up to 15 percent and provide tons of consistent braking lap after lap. We’ve already set a day for the track, so we’ll be sure to follow up with the performance data, showcasing both street and dedicated track pad results.
As much as we appreciate our...
As much as we appreciate our factory Z06 wheels, we had to order a larger set of rollers to accommodate our 14-inch rotor with six- and four-piston caliper assembly. We really liked the look of Boze Alloy’s three-piece Mesh wheel from their ZE Forged lineup; up front, we went from 17x9.5 to 18x10s and updated the rears from 18x10.5 to a slightly wider 18x11 and wrapped them in BFGoodrich g-Force KDWs (P275/35ZR18, front; P295/30ZR18, rear). For those of you with ’00-and-newer Corvettes, you can retain the use of the factory rollers using Wilwood’s 13-inch Superlite kits. CHP