Well, my dad and I went around and did pads and rotors for my car today. Not too bad, got everything for about 190 bucks and it only took about 2 hours. (would have taken a lot less time but im not very fast at this stuff yet). I have been looking at Baer brakes and things like that, and I didn't realize how friggin teency the rear brakes are stock. I had only done front work before on my sister's camaro a couple years ago. I realize that when you upgrade you have additional pistons for the braking system, but how much of that stopping power comes just from the increased brake size? I was shocked to see those rear pads, they look like they belong on a bike or something...

 

nothing? nobody can answer this question for me here? dang im shocked, i figured with some of the automotive genius's i see post, this would be an easy question.

 

The rear pads are small because the majority of the braking is done by the fronts. Even if you upgrade to C5, Baer, Stoptech, Wilwood, etc front brakes, the stock rears will still be fine.

 

I have a wilwood kit with 13.0" rotors in the front with the superlite 4 piston calipers and 12.75" rotors in the rear with the dynalite (smaller) 4 piston calipers in the rear. I definitely need a proportioning valve for the rear because it is wayyyy too much caliper. That being said, the stock lt1 brakes are crap. You do not realize how crappy they are until you get something that's decent. (At least with the 275/40R17 tire). I could interchange the brakes from my 1980 grand prix with the lt1, that's how far behind the times they are. With all this horsepower around, you think more people would be concerned with stopping. Maybe I had something wrong with my stock brakes, but in dry conditions the ABS never kicked in. Now, I can scare the crap out of myself with my brakes. The biggest advantage is their fade resistance. Stop after stop the brakes grab like you wouldn't believe. Downside... they are noisy as hell.

 

Yep, as much as 75% fronts or 3 times as much as the rears on a max performance stop with a Camaro. It has to do with tire loading which depends on static weight and weight transfer during braking.

A rear-engine Porsche with 63-64% rear static weight might get 55% front braking during a max stop. They generally use the same size brakes on all four corners. That makes sense to me.

 

Also, the size of the pad plays only one part in the effectiveness of the brakes. You can buy performance pads that greatly increase your stopping power by changing the friction material. Along with better friction material, clamping force supplied by your caliper and heat dissipation of the rotor greatly affect stopping power. If you can routinely cause your brakes to lock up, there is no need to get bigger brakes. If your brakes are fading after a couple of hard stops, a better cooling or larger rotor will help. The best thing you can do to prevent fade is replace the lame rubber flex lines with stainless steel braided ones.

 

yeah, i knew that the majority of the braking is done by the fronts in a camaro. i was just shocked that the size of the rears are so tiny. i did not know that it was 3 times as much on the front, thats interesting. thanks for all the replies guys.