[mike_735]

been a long time listener first time poster.

my wife bought a new 2017 red camaro convertible in 2017. it was her daily driver for 5 years. she finally wanted something bigger we got a SUV but kept the camaro for a weekend car.

nothing special, just a red v6 auto convertible that's fun to drive. it has a few miles on it but i've been working on it all winter and fixed all its mechanical ills. i replaced the shocks and struts, but Goodyear eagles all around, replaced the battery, timing belt, plugs, coils and gave it a good deep clean. its a sound car. been using mobile1 full synthetic since new and the engine runs great. the 8 speed auto is another issue. i've had it flushed and filled with mobile1 tranny fluid at about 100k and now its not happy when its cold out, but when the tranny warms up it shifts great. might go and either rebuilt it or flush it again.

thinking of doing some mods to it since i got time to work on it. just the basics, maybe a front chin spoiler and rocker panels.

now after that long introduction... what should i do about the brakes? can i convert them to the 4 piston calipers? is that a difficult swap or not worth the time?

thanks for this amazing group.
-mike

[Bumbleboy92]

Nice car!

For the Brembo’s you can add them. If you can get your hands on a set from a LT 1LE or LT1 then you won’t have to change your rotors. Otherwise getting them from any other trim will necessitate larger corresponding rotors. Unfortunately you can’t change the rear calipers due to the integrated parking brake

See this graph - you can go to any of those calipers but make sure to get the proper rotor for the caliper (caliper sizes increase by the cell going down)

[Junction65]

Welcome very nice car!

[arpad_m]

to the forums, Mike. Car looks great and I'm sure your wife still has a ton of fun with it. I got my Camaro with the same wheels originally.

This may sound strange, but I probably wouldn't mess with the brakes (unless you really can't get that sporty brembo look out of your mind, heh). You will gain very little, if anything in terms of performance with the 4-piston front brake upgrade, although it's definitely a looker, unlike those bottom shelf stockers the V6 came with. However, the rears can't be swapped due to the parking brake setup, as Bumbleboy92 already pointed out, so the overall look will be compromised no matter what. There probably is a way to "hack" the rears and retain a functional parking brake, but it must be a major, major hassle.

[mike_735]

thanks for all the replies.
the other thought i have is to sell the camaro and get another convertible with a v8 and all the toys. almost pulled the trigger on a 50th anniversary SS last month. all things being equal, pull me over red is not really my color but my wife loves it so...

[taylorforschool@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by mike_735

thanks for all the replies.
the other thought i have is to sell the camaro and get another convertible with a v8 and all the toys. almost pulled the trigger on a 50th anniversary SS last month. all things being equal, pull me over red is not really my color but my wife loves it so...

You have my vote, nothing against the v6, it’s pretty good! But go test drive any of the v8 models, particularly with a manual and just close your eyes when they show the interest rate… all kidding aside you have a great looking Camaro!

[79 TransAm that never was]

Pull the tires, cover everything up but the calipers, find a red spray paint that matches your car, then paint the calipers red. When they're dry put these Brembro stickers on them https://www.amazon.com/Brembo-Piston...8625451&sr=8-3
and then tell the wife you changed them.
She'll be bragging about how much better her "new brakes" are, and you can laugh all the way to the bank!

[LT4Greg]

Maybe consider a CAI and axle back exhaust for it too if the wife has no objections. Nice 2017 Vert by the way. If it were me I would try and talk the wife into trading/selling it to get a last year of production SS or ZL1 but that’s just me. Looks like 2024 will be the final year of production for the Camaro as we know it. I see you live in Atlanta where there are some Camaro clubs there you could check out and get some mod ideas for your 2017. We have a Camaro/Firebird club here in Columbus and Phenix City Alabama that I’m a member of which mine is the only 6gen. We are open to all years Camaro and Firebirds. Enjoy the Camaro, Mike.

[Plasar]

Welcome Mike, great car, and congrats on a wife that wants a Camaro vert as a daily driver!

[mike_735]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

to the forums, Mike. Car looks great and I'm sure your wife still has a ton of fun with it. I got my Camaro with the same wheels originally.

This may sound strange, but I probably wouldn't mess with the brakes (unless you really can't get that sporty brembo look out of your mind, heh). You will gain very little, if anything in terms of performance with the 4-piston front brake upgrade, although it's definitely a looker, unlike those bottom shelf stockers the V6 came with. However, the rears can't be swapped due to the parking brake setup, as Bumbleboy92 already pointed out, so the overall look will be compromised no matter what. There probably is a way to "hack" the rears and retain a functional parking brake, but it must be a major, major hassle.

thanks for the suggestion... another question... does the J6G front upgrade made an improvement? is that just a rotor and caliper swap or is there more to it?

-mike

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by 79 TransAm that never was

Pull the tires, cover everything up but the calipers, find a red spray paint that matches your car, then paint the calipers red. When they're dry put these Brembro stickers on them https://www.amazon.com/Brembo-Piston...8625451&sr=8-3
and then tell the wife you changed them.
She'll be bragging about how much better her "new brakes" are, and you can laugh all the way to the bank!

Along the same vein, I’ve seen people buy caliper covers in their car’s color or other colors. One member of our Camaro club is a cancer survivor and drives a 2017 HBM convertible. She has pink caliper covers as part of her cancer survivor vibe. You can sorta make out the rears in the photo below. Another guy found Rapid Blue covers for his ZL1. Pic below.

As Arpad_m stated, you probably wouldn’t see the true benefit of upgrading the brakes in a daily driving use pattern.

[mike_735]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Along the same vein, I’ve seen people buy caliper covers in their car’s color or other colors. One member of our Camaro club is a cancer survivor and drives a 2017 HBM convertible. She has pink caliper covers as part of her cancer survivor vibe. You can sorta make out the rears in the photo below. Another guy found Rapid Blue covers for his ZL1. Pic below.

As Arpad_m stated, you probably wouldn’t see the true benefit of upgrading the brakes in a daily driving use pattern.

ironic but my wife is a breast cancer survivor also! thats not a bad idea. thanks for the suggestion!

[Bumbleboy92]

Originally Posted by mike_735

thanks for the suggestion... another question... does the J6G front upgrade made an improvement? is that just a rotor and caliper swap or is there more to it?

-mike

You can look at all the brake options with RPO codes on my other thread. I believe the OEM upgrade for LT trim cars is J55 since J6G is the standard SS setup with 4 Pistons on the rear. Unfortunately GM doesn’t offer any sort of upgrade for the rear brakes on LT’s with rear integrated parking brake.

I have those J55 brakes on my 1LT and it did give what seemed like a better braking bite, but my altogether cost was about $510 ($400 calipers, $50 brake lines, $60 pads). The rotors are the same size so you can continue to use but I spent an extra $265 on front rotors. I rarely look at them anymore and when I do, the brake dust makes them grey. Tbh, if the car didn’t come with them then I wouldn’t bother doing it again

It’s not impossible to swap the rear calipers, but those that have swapped have changed the entire rear cradle from a SS or ZL1, either deleting the parking brake and modifying the code or iirc I saw someone retain the SS or above parking brake but that was an extreme amount of cost and coding to get to work

[Casper the friendly G]

Hello