By For 3,800 lbs, the 5th generation Camaro doesn’t feel it, thanks to a variety of monstrous 6.2-liter and 7.0-liter V8 engines and four-wheel independent suspension. If you own a 5th gen Camaro, you’ve undoubtedly been tempted by the many go-fast mods out there; the alluring scents and sounds of cheap, horsepower are plentiful in the world of LS-engine ownership. But, going back to weight, the Camaro doesn’t feel like it weighs two tons until you try to stop it. For all the bolt-on power mods, it’s easy to forget that your braking system needs just as much attention as your engine, transmission, and suspension. If you want your Camaro to stop as hard as it launches, you’re in the right place! We’ve got recommendations for all the different brake components on your 5th-generation Camaro.
Systems Check
The first step to making something better is making sure nothing’s wrong in the first place. Your Camaro’s braking system is capable, but very much designed for the street. It will suffer in high temperatures and after extended use; the stock brake pads on almost every street car are designed for soft, gradual deceleration from city street speeds at best, and one panic stop on the highway at worst. They aren’t built to hold up to repeated, hard slowdowns while racing around a track or up and down mountain roads, and this has caused many a fender-bender in unprepared track Camaros. Maintenance is key: if you’re doing any sort of spirited driving, make sure your pads still have plenty of life left on them, your rotors are straight and surfaced, and you’ve got the right amount and type of brake fluid.
Additionally, proper cooling goes a long way for all the components of your vehicle on the track or in the canyon. It’s safe to say that making sure you can stop should be a higher priority than having to take a breather after 10 passes. Chevrolet Performance makes brake ducts for the Z/28 that can bolt into any late-5th Generation Camaro SS or ZL1. Brake ducting makes sure that cold air can be properly fed from the front of your vehicle against the brake rotors and calipers, and can keep you on-track longer.
Rotors
Now that your stock brakes are working like they’re supposed to, let’s talk about upgrades! Like most cars, Camaro of all trim levels come standard with smooth rotors, but some packages offer larger or differently-cooled rotors. Upgraded rotors by themselves won’t do much other than help your car look and stay cool, so the most important thing is to find rotors that you like. As a blanket recommendation, StopTech and EBC make great rotors with a ton of different finishes.
For a higher-tech upgrade, two-piece rotors like Baer’s Eradispeed line and StopTech’s Aero-Rotor can increase the cooling capability and decrease the weight of your brakes as well. Make sure that you’re purchasing the right size rotors, though: Camaro RS, SS, ZL1, and Z/28s all come with different size factory brake rotors and calipers.
Calipers
Speaking of which, if you have a standard Camaro, the easiest upgrade for your calipers is to install the Brembo brake package from the SS. This upgrade can use all OEM parts and keeps things affordable. If you’ve got an SS and want to move up to bigger brakes, you can do that too: Chevrolet Performance sells the massive two piece rotors and six piston calipers that make up the ZL1 brake system. These sets of rotors and calipers can be sourced either new from licensed Chevrolet Performance dealerships or used from your local Pick-N-Pull style scrap yard.
Aftermarket big brake calipers are available from other companies such as Wilwood, Baer, and Brembo, but carry a significant price premium in many cases over OEM parts.
Pads
No matter if you’re running an otherwise-stock setup or the biggest, baddest brake kit on the market, you need brake pads! From the factory, your Camaro comes with semi-metallic brake pads. These use a combination of synthetic materials and up to 60% metal materials. The metal component makes semi-metallic brake pads resistant to heat and wear, meaning they will create less brake dust and be more consistent in their performance even at high heat levels. However, this component also causes the pads to wear the rotors faster, especially when the pads are in need of replacement. Like ceramic rotors, ceramic brake pads are the significant upgrade over steel compound semi-metallic pads, but are only necessary in extreme applications. Ceramic pads are so good at dissipating heat that they likely won’t even warm up to their normal operating temperature during street use. The cold pads will create an incredible amount of noise and make everyone around you think your Camaro is very, very broken.
If you’re planning on using your car on the street, standard OEM-replacement semi-metallic pads are still more than enough for your Camaro. Hawk Performance’s HPS brake pads are a competent set, offering low brake dust and better stopping power than stock. If you’re planning regular spirited driving and the occasional autocross event, EBC Red Stuff is a good start, offering better street performance and low brake dust. For regular autocross and track day use, EBC Yellow Stuff works wonders. If you’re actually competing with the car, either road or track racing, high-end application-specific pads (and probably a big brake kit) are a worthwhile upgrade to cut brake fade. Street spec brake pads will not stand up in the face of full race weekends and endurance championships. You should expect to replace a few sets of pads per weekend.
Improving Braking Distances
Upgraded pads, calipers, and rotors will do a whole lot of good for stopping your car consistently. Yet, what makes the most difference in stopping performance is your tires and weight. Weight reduction makes your Camaro faster at everythingYou’ll have faster 0-60 times, faster cornering speeds, and shorter braking distances. Think about what you do and don’t need in your near-two-ton car. The easiest weight reduction is getting rid of your big subwoofer box and amp, the bag of frisbees in the trunk you never use, your spare tire/jack/toolbox (at least while on the track), and so on. Beyond weight reduction, good tires make a world of difference in braking. The better they stick, the less you slip, the less ABS has to kick in, and the faster you stop.
No matter if you’re a muscle car enthusiast enthusiast driving your Camaro to work every day or a hoonigan sliding around the canyons every night, it’s important to know what’s going on during braking, and it’s important to know that the hardware you’re using is up to snuff. For OEM replacement and performance brake rotors, pads and kits, head over to the Motoroso Marketplace and take a look around!
