I bit the bullet and did the GT500 front caliper/rotor upgrade. Here’s what I learned, in no particular order:
1) This is almost entirely a direct bolt on using the brackets from Tony Hernandez
2) The only modification needed is trimming the backing plates slightly to clear Tony’s brackets. I used a cutoff wheel on a grinder, but tin snips would work too. You could also leave the backing plates off altogether if you wanted, as they are massively undersized with the new 16.5” front rotors
3) You will need at least 1.25” spacers with the 21” wheels to clear the calipers, or aftermarket wheels with a similar offset to what you gain with the spacers. 20” wheels are a non-starter, as would (I assume, but haven’t tested to confirm) less than 1.25” spacers with the factory 21” wheels
4) To do the ungrade you’ll need rotors, calipers, GT500 pads, GT500 banjo bolts, the four GT500 caliper bolts pads plus Tony’s brackets. You will reuse your existing ST brake lines, although I’d recommend fresh crush washers
5) If you’re buying new calipers don’t forget that you’ll also need two of the caliper retainer kits (KR3Z-2069-B)
6) I purchased the GT500 calipers and rotors off a car with 25K miles. I was fortunate in that the calipers came fully loaded with the pads, retainers, and GT500 brake lines which is where I got the GT500 banjo bolts. I paid $900 for the calipers/rotors plus shipping
7) The GT500 rotors looked good, but since I hade time I had O’Reilly’s turn them just to make sure everything was fresh. The rotors were the limit of what their lathe can do. They charged me the rate for the truck rotors which I half thought about calling them on since these are technically car rotors, but they’re truck-sized I guess so that’s fair
8) While I was doing the upgrade, I took the opportunity to do the Racing Brake braided lines and flushed the system with fresh fluid
1) This is almost entirely a direct bolt on using the brackets from Tony Hernandez
2) The only modification needed is trimming the backing plates slightly to clear Tony’s brackets. I used a cutoff wheel on a grinder, but tin snips would work too. You could also leave the backing plates off altogether if you wanted, as they are massively undersized with the new 16.5” front rotors
3) You will need at least 1.25” spacers with the 21” wheels to clear the calipers, or aftermarket wheels with a similar offset to what you gain with the spacers. 20” wheels are a non-starter, as would (I assume, but haven’t tested to confirm) less than 1.25” spacers with the factory 21” wheels
4) To do the ungrade you’ll need rotors, calipers, GT500 pads, GT500 banjo bolts, the four GT500 caliper bolts pads plus Tony’s brackets. You will reuse your existing ST brake lines, although I’d recommend fresh crush washers
5) If you’re buying new calipers don’t forget that you’ll also need two of the caliper retainer kits (KR3Z-2069-B)
6) I purchased the GT500 calipers and rotors off a car with 25K miles. I was fortunate in that the calipers came fully loaded with the pads, retainers, and GT500 brake lines which is where I got the GT500 banjo bolts. I paid $900 for the calipers/rotors plus shipping
7) The GT500 rotors looked good, but since I hade time I had O’Reilly’s turn them just to make sure everything was fresh. The rotors were the limit of what their lathe can do. They charged me the rate for the truck rotors which I half thought about calling them on since these are technically car rotors, but they’re truck-sized I guess so that’s fair
8) While I was doing the upgrade, I took the opportunity to do the Racing Brake braided lines and flushed the system with fresh fluid
