I fell for a $4K big brake kit scam. 

Four thousand dollars??!!

This was a nice companion video to your last one even though it was over an unfortunate subject. Sorry to hear about the scam, but I know working through the problem and diagnosing the issues will probably provide a lot of value to people in similar situations. Love the throwback “lost wheel” footage, too 😂

Started watching your C6 series. Love it. Subscribed!!

Great video with many learning lessons! I’m sure you could swap those brakes on/off in less than an hour now. The ZO6 is still such a well designed beast even after 16 years! Good luck on the journey and can’t wait to see when you beat a GT3RS😉

I just run the stock OEM pads and steel rotors on my C6 Z06. Absolutely no issues. I've also had it on the track a few times and the brakes never faded or vibrated. This time, I'm trying out the 'Gold' series rotors, which are grooved rather than cross drilled. So far, so good. I have nearly 120K miles on the car.

Seems like a real nice guy with a humble soul about cars and racing. Subbed !

I'm really enjoying your videos, keep it up! I recently upgraded from a C5Z to a C6Z myself, but with the Z07 package. Talk about some nice brakes, the carbon ceramics are pretty cool!

I feel your pain on this, it can be so tempting to buy used parts online with how much money can be saved. I’ve been burned before so now my general rule is I never buy used if it’s powertrain, suspension, brakes, or safety related. Obviously, things like exhaust, wheels or body panels are fine to buy used since it’s low risk

Great to see some progress being made! The stock wheel bearings aren't know for holding up to track abuse. I had a similar problem with left turns under load on track. I used ACDelco OEM replacements and they have held up good for my past 15+ track days but once they start to go I'll replace them with SKF bearings as those seem to be the only parts than can withstand the abuse. Looking forward to seeing what's next!

I've had pad deposits so bad I thought the wheels were gonna shake off. Then, randomly, nothing, no vibration. Really weird how that works. I'm still confused by that caliper bracket. Definitely guessing it was for a different spec Corvette or some kind of spacer was involved.

It would have been so beneficial had you replaced the pads with the new rotors. The pads looked pretty spent and not surprised they gave you trouble. Out of parallel rotors have been a dynamic since the inception of disc brakes. Great videos.

Looking forward to this build! I have a 07 yellow z that I track. I have great luck with the hawk hp+ pads on stock brakes

A little late to the series, but loving all the content and the "storyline". You should pick up an ultrasonic cleaner!!!

I've seen issues like this a lot over the years. They're frequently not even scams, in that the vendor isn't maliciously trying to take your money in exchange for what they know is an inferior product. The reality is that they are often just incompetent designers who don't know any better. Even if they are moderately skilled, often times OEMs will make design changes throughout the production cycle that a small operation may not be aware of that can lead to fitment issues on a different year of the same model of car. I'm not trying to make excuses for these people. It is incumbent on them to do their due diligence and stand behind their product. But after being in this hobby for over 30 years, more often than not, I've come to the conclusion that next to nothing is truly bolt on, and in some cases can require extensive rework to be salvageable. Even big name operations can screw up badly. I bought some what were supposed to be OEM reproduction rear disk brake mounting brackets for a rear disk conversion on a 2005 Subaru Forester from Dorman, a massive aftermarket supply company! The mounting brackets are simple pieces of stamped metal, and it never crossed my mind that I would have fitment issues. Well, they stamped the offset of the caliper mounting ears incorrectly by 1mm, and that was enough to have the rotor rub on the caliper hangar. I would have had to destroy the brand new press-fit bearings I had just installed in order to replace the caliper brackets with something else, so I ended up making shims to space the rotor out by 1mm. In any case, it's infuriating, and I can sympathize with your situation.

Oh wow, 30 yrs ago I bought those big home speakers from a dude in a white van too. Guy was selling them in a bank parking lot. I didn’t know it they were counterfeits, they sounded great.

fully bedding in a used pad (with a prob less then level surface) with a new level rotor will prob take some effort. especially that aggressive of a pad.

I am really sorry about the scam situation, and the feeling sinking in, when you really feel it in your gut, that bad feeling, really hate how it feels :-( had that too, only maybe with smaller amounts. My C6Z06 is running stock rotors and Hawk pads (one-piece) and runs perfect, but I only get on it hard on the twisties, and on the Autobahn (no track use). I feel a good fluid, metal brake lines, and a mild one piece pad is all you need for "basic" track use, without sarcificing thousands of dollars. Furthermore, I always grind off at 45° the brake pad edges, as well as lube the rear sides of the pads, as well as the areas where the pads run on, with some ATE blue brake paste. (maybe different in the USA). I have no clue about mechanical work, but did my brakes for 15 years without any squeaks or vibrations. Cleaning the hub well before mounting, and keeping the bedding in to a minimum (!!), if barely at all, maybe helped. Greetings from a German yellow C6 Z06. Like and subscribe!

the rotor look taiwan made: like yellow speed; ceika. etc. they were about 900$ per set plus shipping and taxes. they make kits compatible to almost any sports cars and can have cross compatibility with ap racing but you need to but the correct kit, basically they gave you something that doesn’t even fit. quality is ok but not comparable to ap. I now saw the design difference, the ap rotors are so much stronger and the steel is also probably better and better treatment.

Still not the update I was hoping for. That's rough. But progress of sorts. Once I'm back from Texas on Feb 10, my 2023 spending spree commences.

I installed after market pads and drilled rotors and after 6 months I was experiencing a weird noise in the suspension. At first I thought it was a drive train issues until i inspected the rotors. I replaced all the pads and rotors on my C6 grand sport and the issue went away. I will never go after market again. OEM is the way to go....

If you're running all-season tires at this time of the year, the noise you're hearing may be the tire tread. I have Goodyear summer tires on aftermarket wheels, and have Michelin all-seasons on the OEM wheels. I do this because the summer tires are half the price of the all-seasons. Eventually, I'll save enough in tire purchases to pay for the aftermarket wheels. It's just a test of mine to see if it pays off in the long run. Since the Vettes don't get great tire mileage, the test results may come much sooner than later. I will add that I have OEM rotors and pads on my Z51, replaced them at about 45k, and have never had a vibration problem but I've never tracked the car, either.

Sorry to hear about this! What are doing for rear brake upgrades if you don't mind sharing?

Where did you buy the kit from?

I know this is off topic for the video but I’m curious what oil weight you’re using for track use?

Don’t beat yourself up too much, I got scammed $1900 on Armslist trying to buy an MP5. Some people suck and you live and you learn. Most dudes don’t have the stones to admit they’ve made a mistake, so hats off to you. Here’s to the mistake makers!😂

You seem to know what you are talking about, what brake pad do you recommend for my C6 Z06 stock calipers and rotors. Good braking is the goal im after.

The stock calibers with good fluid, rotors, pads, and SS lines won’t achieve what you r looking for?

This happened to me years ago with some speakers but the dude was wearing a Best Buy polo shirt lol

look at your front upper A arm bushings.......they are famous for "walking" out of the a arm

clean out rust from wheel hubs touching your rims

im 41 now and I grew up on Long Island. I was approached by white van speaker scam guys in the 90s. I didn't buy anything from them but they tried to sell speakers to me and my friends out of a van with the same BS lol.

I suggest to install zr1 brake cooling fins and brake cooling ducts that run from front grille to center of the rotor. Search corvetteforum, c6 z06 section.

Keep up the great video's. Wheel bearings are super easy to install on these cars. I replaced all 4 of mine with SKFs fully assembled hubs with sensors from R.A. Since everything is aluminum, nothing is rusted together. The rear bolts holding the hub together do have some Locktite on them but a bit of heat and an impact, and they came out easily. Ball joints are a different matter. If you ever decide to replace those, you have to heat up the whole control arm to circa 200f before pressing them in/out or you will damage the control arm. Ask me how I know!

Man i never mix and match new with old…. Just me, but I would turn the rotors or replace with new pads every time.

Sharp car!

Guarantee you will need to upgrade the wheel bearings. The high mileage ones you had definitely didn't like the track day. SKF makes racing wheel bearings

The brackets and hat data is wrong but that could be fixed. Also from the video the left and right caliper is not installed on the correct side

The piston does not ride on the side of the piston nor the hole in the caliper. It rides on the square cut o ring. Ball joints are how old? Wheel bearing are how old? Control arm bushing? Call me silly but if you are trying to find issues you need to be doing much higher speeds. I replace my wheel bearings every two years. Wheel studs every year. You want to kill a GT3, there is no free lunch. One of my mechanics told me you don't want to find out at 150 mph that you saved $8 Great car!

get ride of those hawk pads

Glad you've put on a new set of rotors but sad that you had to find out the AP Racing brakes were knockoffs. The uneven pad distribution on your new rotors comes from the used pads that were installed. I highly recommend getting a set of EBC Red Stuff pads to put on your Z, they'll get you the race brake feel without having to spend for it through your stock Brembo brakes on the C6 Z. I hope you figure out what's going on with those AP Brakes, they'd be really nice on there if they were real considering that's what the C6.R and C7.R ran in the ALMS series races.

Vibrations that you start to feel when brakes start getting hot I think would be from rotor heat spots. That should be prevented by good bed-in of the pads but I've honestly been struggling with heat spots as well and don't have a good solution for myself as well. Last time I tracked my car I took it easy the first session and gradually got the brakes up to temp followed by letting them cool off while waiting for the next session and they did not have those heat spots like I've had in the past.

Wow.. I'm not sure if running with no dust boots would be a good idea. I think some calipers are just designed to be used without dust boots and running these stock ones without them would not be good. Yes the dust boots will go bad more often on track but you can just replace the dust boots more often as they fail rather than full caliper rebuilds due to no dust boots. I think that would just cause even the caliper cylinders to start getting corroded and go bad.

Not sure why you started off with that made up white van story - it’s a proper urban legend in the audio world.

Took you a few times for the shimmy to come... sounds like someone turned the rotors to be true, which never works. You need new ones. Also, unless you race, you don't want racing pads, because you LOSE performance UNLESS you are actually racing and really heating up those pads.

why dont your car come with drilled rotors from the factory .

I live in the area of the person that sold you those brakes. If you show me what his car looks like, I might actually know who the person is.

Honestly - just get a ZL1/1LE. It really is what the Z06 was always meant to be. You will absolutely adore the best iteration of the Alpha chassis. Also helps that it is a Nurburgring legend.

Well. Bright side: you're sharing your misery with us!

That "sticky" feeling putting the pistons back into the caliper is the reason you are getting that vibration. The pistons are getting hung up in the caliper.

rebalance 4 tires

Hey! I got a couple of things for you from a outside perspective. I had the same issue on my 5.0 stang, wheel shaking when braking (only when the brakes were warm). turned out the rotors were warped. That could be a reason why the wheel is shaking when braking, and the pad wasn't contacting the rotor all the way. Things that could warp a rotor is putting to much stress on the brake when you are braking it in. Also, i noticed you are not using a torque wrench for the lug nuts. Over-tightening the lug nuts could warp the rotors as well.

If you have never heard of Alibaba then your not a consumer in today's world. They have all the brake kits needed for racing you will ever need. Go direct first.

If you bought it used it’s your fault for not doing the research. If you bought it new make that company eat it!

Edited, gg

Maybe purchasing all new parts might be cheaper and less frustrating.