Thread: The Official what you need and how-to for CTS-V brakes

Originally Posted by Drunkie

Calipers - $250
Pads - $70
Rotors - $140
SS Lines - $80


$540 roughly

Thanks Drunkie for this thread! It's awesome.

I been thinking about this upgrade since I put my Enkei 18's on...
Question of which pads to run? Hawks? With the larger rotors are ceramics needed? I'd rather not have squealing breaks... Lol

Also, the calipers being so much bigger - has it caused any issues brake fluid / pedal response wise? Just curious

Ive got a set of Hawks on and they work great.. once you warm them up lol... but i will probably just get a set of ceramics at Advanced when it comes time to change them... as for the fluid ya you have to keep an eye on it due to the calipers requiring more fluid...and pedal travel is not bad at all

I ran OEM pads from napa; I heard the guys in the CTS-V community say the Hawk HPS pads never cuold heat up enough to be effective unless you were doing some really serious track day work. For street with cold bite; semi-metallic is what I have and no squeallin' and its what I suggest. Plus these are only about $70-80 vs Hawks $100+ price. I prefer more cold bite then hot braking ability (this is total personal preference), pads are so easy to change out anyways, when I Autox'd I ran Trak+ pads on my maxima and HPS for daily and towards the end I just ran NAPA Ultra Semi's, took me about 5 mins to swap pads, these cts-v's are far easier to do it with.

As for brake fluid and master cylinder you are fine. I know of about 7 confirmed cars running this CTS-V setup just fine, in fact buickman just did the Rear GXP brake upgrade and his seems to be holding up well. I would definitely keep an eye on fluid as you wear the pads. Check it every time you check the oil. The SS lines here are what give us the nice pedal feel when doing these brakes. Every car I've ever owned I've always done SS Lines because they really make a huge difference. I have less pedal travel now then when I was stock.

Alixor, I want some better pictures man! I see your tiny picture in the sig...I want big pictures. Those wheels are perfect for your car!

Originally Posted by Drunkie

I ran OEM pads from napa; I heard the guys in the CTS-V community say the Hawk HPS pads never cuold heat up enough to be effective unless you were doing some really serious track day work. For street with cold bite; semi-metallic is what I have and no squeallin' and its what I suggest. Plus these are only about $70-80 vs Hawks $100+ price. I prefer more cold bite then hot braking ability (this is total personal preference), pads are so easy to change out anyways, when I Autox'd I ran Trak+ pads on my maxima and HPS for daily and towards the end I just ran NAPA Ultra Semi's, took me about 5 mins to swap pads, these cts-v's are far easier to do it with.

As for brake fluid and master cylinder you are fine. I know of about 7 confirmed cars running this CTS-V setup just fine, in fact buickman just did the Rear GXP brake upgrade and his seems to be holding up well. I would definitely keep an eye on fluid as you wear the pads. Check it every time you check the oil. The SS lines here are what give us the nice pedal feel when doing these brakes. Every car I've ever owned I've always done SS Lines because they really make a huge difference. I have less pedal travel now then when I was stock.

Alixor, I want some better pictures man! I see your tiny picture in the sig...I want big pictures. Those wheels are perfect for your car!

Originally Posted by Alix0r

Ive got a set of Hawks on and they work great.. once you warm them up lol... but i will probably just get a set of ceramics at Advanced when it comes time to change them... as for the fluid ya you have to keep an eye on it due to the calipers requiring more fluid...and pedal travel is not bad at all

Thank you both for your input... I'm inclined to do this, lolz, what the hell right! As I don't do much city driving any more that I'm sure would keep the Hawks nice n warm, I'll skip them. I've read online good things about the Napa's so would probably give them a shot. How's the dust level with those semi/matalics?

Ok, so I'm curious about the fluid level. Is there a master cylinder swap that would give a larger resivour of fluid without making any issues w/ABS or whatnot so as to avoid worrying about the brake fluid levels? Is it something worthwhile to do?

thanks again for letting me pick your brains...

your master will work just fine, the fluid, you will need a large bottle to fill and bleed the brakes after you put them on.


i got f bodys, and stock master, and they work like a f'ing charm.

Originally Posted by coolone

Thank you both for your input... I'm inclined to do this, lolz, what the hell right! As I don't do much city driving any more that I'm sure would keep the Hawks nice n warm, I'll skip them. I've read online good things about the Napa's so would probably give them a shot. How's the dust level with those semi/matalics?

Ok, so I'm curious about the fluid level. Is there a master cylinder swap that would give a larger resivour of fluid without making any issues w/ABS or whatnot so as to avoid worrying about the brake fluid levels? Is it something worthwhile to do?

thanks again for letting me pick your brains...

GXP's may have a larger Res, but I've never confirmed it. In the 2 years I've had these...I've only added once and it was about 1/2 cup of fluid...and it was only that much because my rear brakes decided to leak while sitting in the winter.

I have next to no brake dust on my wheels with the Semi's

Hehe, ok I'm sold! Thanks for info on fluid, was just thinking to head off any issues, lol.

I run stoptechs on my cts-v's great bite even when cold. I will definitely be buying them again when it is time to change them.

Drunkie i posted some a few pages back lol... i am still working on the rear cts-v setup... i will see how the master cylinder and pedal feel is after i do that... i will prob be tackling it in the spring
.

I am surprised zzp has not come up with this type of brake kit for our cars...

Because the w-body market is dying and with only the front cts-v brakes the braking is disproportionate so they would need to include the gxp rears at least then they might have returns because you need very specific rims not only in size, but also in offset and spoke design. Not worth the hassel from a profit stand point and if they had to price it to make any kind of a profit it cost about $1,500 at least for the kit.

Simple enough Wbody platform is dead they will focus more of their time and effort into the Ecotec platforms

And even if they could list it for sale, we have this thread with parts break down that if you penny pinch you can pick all this stuff up for under $500.

Originally Posted by Drunkie

GXP's may have a larger Res, but I've never confirmed it.

You would have to put them side by side to really know for sure but on my catalog at work it shows 2 different numbers for the base and GXP for both the Master Cylinder itself and the Reservoir itself. Both numbers are based on whether or not the car has the Z7U (GXP) RPO Code. It doesn't tell me what the differences are between them but that there is some difference. I would imagine a size difference.
The GXP also uses a different booster as well, based on the Part number.

Just FYI

Not sure why it matters for the most part, Buickman has the largest front and rear and he seems to be doing just fine. This setup has proven to be reliable, I think messing with something that works already perfectly fine is just asking for trouble. Hell even my Stability Control system still works.