Project C7 Corvette Stingray Z51: Improving Stopping With a Chevy Performance Big Brake Upgrade Kit

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The Chevy Performance front brakes fill the 19″ wheels nicely with 371mm of big rotor goodness.  We did need to run a 5mm space in the front to clear the bigger brakes, but you can use the stock wheels with the Chevy Performance kit. We used a set of 5mm spacers from ST Suspensions,  part number 56055021.

The kit has great visual impact, and we are confident that it will perform just as well when we return to the track to evaluate it.

 

The rear brakes look pretty awesome as well! The proportional increase in size from front to rear is nearly the same. This will help keep the electronic controls happy.

After we installed the brakes, we eagerly took it on a test drive. After moderately bedding in the pads, we noted a slightly firmer pedal right off the bat. The brakes also had more initial bite and required less pedal effort than before to generate the same level of stopping force.

Our street driving impressions of the brakes were very positive. The new big brakes did not exhibit any squealing or increase of noise, and we did not hear any of the floating rotor chiging noise that two piece rotors often make.  The special rotor tension shims and the caliper anti-rattle shims are doing their job.

We can’t wait until we install the rest of our goodies from Chevy Performance so we can take our C7 back to Buttonwillow for some serious before and after testing!

Read more about our Project C7 Corvette Here!

 

Sources

Chevy Performance 

14 comments

  1. Thank you for the video and article regarding the Stingray upgrades. I have been looking at the Chevy brake upgrade but was hesitant due to Chevy performance article stating that the brake upgrade was not compatible with the z51 stock wheels for clearance. I saw your car in the video and read the article that you used the stock wheels. Therefore I wanted to ask if you had any trouble with the stock z51 wheels fitting the upgrade? Was a spacer needed? Thank you for any help or detailed pictures regarding brake clearance with stock z51 wheels.

  2. Which are you referring to as being heavier, the OEM units or the upgraded units? Do you know the actual weight of the upgraded calipers and rotors?

  3. What is the GM part number for this kit? My local GM Performance dealer was quite confused! The entire C7 project series was amazing and gave me inspiration to upgrade my 2019 Z51.

  4. So you did the video showing the b4 the Z51 brake upgrade. What about the after video (I can’t seem to find it). Also it appears that there are disclaimers for using this upgrade kit and it appears the spacer is not available.

    Please advise.

    Thanks in advance..

  5. Hi,

    Thanks for the article !! I love it.

    So everything bolted up fine with original z51 bolts and no adapters required ?

    All I would need is ZO6 Calibers, Rotors, Brake Pads and Brake Lines for Front and Rear?
    In addition to 5mm spacer if running z51 wheels.

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