Fifth-generation Corvettes left their birthplace in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with excellent original-equipment brakes. The factory four-wheel-disc setup was designed for Corvettes producing around 300 rear-wheel horsepower and was capable of stopping the car from 60 mph in a very respectable 115 feet.
In our January '06 issue we featured a story titled "Loud and Strong," which detailed the installation of a 404ci LS2 engine in our "Pewter Rocket" C5. This engine is pushing over 470 rwhp-far more than the Rocket's factory brakes were designed to handle.
MTI Racing, located in Marietta, Georgia, uses Wilwood brakes on its 630-rwhp '01 Z06 development car and has installed the same binders on a number of its customers' Vettes. These track-day C5s are driven hard by their owners on a variety of road courses in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
MTI's owner, Reese Cox, suggested installing a similar Wilwood setup on the Rocket. The reason? Reese, a former SPEED GT racer, was going to be track-testing the car against a new '06 Z06 at Road Atlanta. This hilly, 2.54-mile course, nestled in the North Georgia hills, is very hard on brakes.
With that in mind, we contacted Wilwood's Allen Nicholas about our project. Allen recommended that we install the company's Superlite 6 Big Brake Front Hat Kit (PN 140-8031), which retails for $1,795, and Superlite 4 Pro Series Rear Kit (PN 140-8032), which goes for $1,595. Add $165 to either kit for red calipers. Both kits are shipped complete with Wilwood's BP-10 Smart brake pads and are said to bolt on to the C5 without modification. Allen further recommended that we round out the upgrade with Wilwood's Stainless Flex line front (PN 220-8176) and rear (PN 220-8177) brake-hose kits, which retail for $59.95 each. We were sold and arranged to have the new brakes shipped to MTI.
Our brakes arrived quickly, and MTI assigned technicians David Munder and Roman Hackett to perform the installation. It was obvious from the start that the two had done this job many times. Despite having to pause frequently to accommodate our photography needs, they completed the install in less than three hours. First-time installers can download complete instruction sheets from the company's Web site, www.wilwood.com. We printed two five-page sets of instructions and found them to be exceptionally detailed and refreshingly easy to follow.
With our track test looming, MTI decided to install a set of Wilwood's E Pads, which are designed for racetrack applications. In spite of their intended purpose, these pads did not make any noise and have thus far remained relatively dust free.
After the brakes were properly bled, we took the car out on the road and followed Wilwood's pad-bedding instructions. We made eight hard decels from 60 to 10 mph, drove the car on the Interstate to cool the brakes, then repeated the process. When we finished, we had a hard, responsive brake pedal, and the power of the brakes was amazing.
Reese found the brakes to be quite confidence-inspiring during his test session at Road Atlanta. The pedal remained firm throughout the test, and no brake fade was noted. (We'll have the results of the Rocket-versus-Z06 showdown in an upcoming issue.) As for objective results, we averaged a seatbelt-stretching 96 feet in our 60-to-0 braking tests-nearly 20 feet shorter than our baseline results. We also like the look of the engraved black calipers, which have plenty of clearance and show up very well behind the Rocket's chrome Z06-style wheels.
Based on our findings, we'd highly recommend these brakes to anyone with a power-enhanced C5. And if that's not braking news, we don't know what is.
The front and rear Superlite brake kits came complete with rotors, hats, attaching hardware, calipers, and brake pads. We also ordered the optional stainless steel brake lines. | 
MTI technician Roman Hackett assembles the Wilwood brake hat onto the 13-inch slotted front rotor using (12) 11/44-20, 12-point stainless steel bolts. Each of the bolts was coated with Loctite prior to installation. | 
Hackett torques each bolt 85 in-lb to secure the hat to the rotor. Wilwood recommends safety-wiring each bolt with 0.032-inch-diameter stainless wire. |