thefleshrocket
Seasoned Member
My 5BW is a 2023, that I ordered with the iron brakes. I'd never experienced CCBs before, and thought it was hard to justify the $9K expense. In 2024, I bought a C7 Z06 with the Z07 package, which has CCBs. I was blown away by the stopping performance--the initial bite is so strong, it required some recalibration of my right foot to not put my face into the windshield at every stop. But the best part was that even after a bunch of backroad driving and even two track days (4 x 20-minute sessions at each), the wheels were basically unblemished by brake dust. Suddenly I regretted not having CCBs on my 5BW, especially because the iron brakes are very dusty, and the bronze wheels are absolutely hellacious to clean thoroughly--they were clearly designed with no thought towards maintenance.
After posting about ways to retrofit CCBs to my 5BW, I was contacted by Khoa Nguyen on Facebook. He quoted me $7K, delivered, for rotors and pads, that would be drop-in replacements for the iron brakes. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit, as I was debating selling my 5BW, but eventually pulled the trigger. It took a couple months for the parts to arrive, and then at least another month for me to get around to starting the project, but now I'm done.
The parts came from China. I wasn't expecting that, but, given the quality of the parts, I don't have a problem with the country of origin. There were tariffs to pay as well, but they were not offensively expensive. Khoa was great at communication--always prompt responses via FB Messenger.
Khoa gave me the option of street pads or track pads. I didn't ask for details about the differences (probably should have) and just opted for the track pads since the car sees track use. The front and rear pads say:
ICAR
TRACK
DK400 - 2025/8/26 (I assume this is the date of manufacture)
I Googled for "DK400 brake pads", and came up with stuff about an e-bike, and a 1950s Daimler; when I added "icar" to the search, I got one hit for ICAR DK400 brake pads for a 911, on Instagram, for Akun Brakes, and then all of the e-bike and Daimler hits. I Googled for "Akun brakes", and Google AI thinks it refers to Akebono. But Googling for "Akebono DK400 brake pads" came up empty. That's as far as I went.
The ICAR rear pads cover more surface area than the Brembos. Same with the fronts.
I weighed the stock rotors and the CCBs.
Iron rotor, front - 35 lb, 1.9 oz (7200 miles, including about 280 minues of track time)
Iron rotor, rear - 24 lb, 10.8 oz
CCB rotor, front #1 - 16 lb, 14.8 oz (brand new)
CCB rotor, front #2 - 16 lb, 14.5 oz
CCB rotor, rear #1 - 11 lb, 9.7 oz
CCB rotor, rear #2 - 11 lb, 9.3 oz
Rounding for simplicity, the front rotors are 18 lbs lighter, and the rears are 13 lbs lighter, for a total weight savings of 62 lbs.
So far I have put about 100 miles on the car, about 50 of which were brisk-pace back-roads driving. I have been being gentle-ish on the brakes, as in, probably 50% pedal effort at most, trying to ensure that I don't glaze the pads. The rotors are partially broken in, visually speaking--the outer and inner edges are burnished, but the center part isn't yet. Braking power seems to be at least as good as the iron brakes. There's no squeaking, and they don't seem to need to warm up at all in order to provide good stopping power. Going through the automated car wash (touchless, I'm not a monster), the brakes lose a bunch of stopping power and take a good mile or two to "dry off", but then are back to normal.
Some people have said that the suspension will need recalibration due to the reduction in unsprung weight. In normal street driving with the shocks set in comfort mode, or on bumpy, twisty backroads with the shocks set in full firm and traction control in Race2, the suspension felt fine--as in, if I didn't know that the car had lighter-weight rotors on it, I would't be able to tell the difference.
Some people have said that the ABS will need to be recalibrated as well. I can't speak to that as I haven't done any threshold braking, and the car is on Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 all-season tires for the winter. They are supposedly high-performance all-seasons, but to be blunt, they suck compared to the PS4S. They are very narrow, they are squirmy, and overall grip sucks--aggressive throttle in second gear easily breaks loose the rears.
I plan to track the 5BW again come springtime, so I'll have impressions of these brakes when running at a 9/10ths pace. I'll add pictures in the replies.
After posting about ways to retrofit CCBs to my 5BW, I was contacted by Khoa Nguyen on Facebook. He quoted me $7K, delivered, for rotors and pads, that would be drop-in replacements for the iron brakes. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit, as I was debating selling my 5BW, but eventually pulled the trigger. It took a couple months for the parts to arrive, and then at least another month for me to get around to starting the project, but now I'm done.
The parts came from China. I wasn't expecting that, but, given the quality of the parts, I don't have a problem with the country of origin. There were tariffs to pay as well, but they were not offensively expensive. Khoa was great at communication--always prompt responses via FB Messenger.
Khoa gave me the option of street pads or track pads. I didn't ask for details about the differences (probably should have) and just opted for the track pads since the car sees track use. The front and rear pads say:
ICAR
TRACK
DK400 - 2025/8/26 (I assume this is the date of manufacture)
I Googled for "DK400 brake pads", and came up with stuff about an e-bike, and a 1950s Daimler; when I added "icar" to the search, I got one hit for ICAR DK400 brake pads for a 911, on Instagram, for Akun Brakes, and then all of the e-bike and Daimler hits. I Googled for "Akun brakes", and Google AI thinks it refers to Akebono. But Googling for "Akebono DK400 brake pads" came up empty. That's as far as I went.
The ICAR rear pads cover more surface area than the Brembos. Same with the fronts.
I weighed the stock rotors and the CCBs.
Iron rotor, front - 35 lb, 1.9 oz (7200 miles, including about 280 minues of track time)
Iron rotor, rear - 24 lb, 10.8 oz
CCB rotor, front #1 - 16 lb, 14.8 oz (brand new)
CCB rotor, front #2 - 16 lb, 14.5 oz
CCB rotor, rear #1 - 11 lb, 9.7 oz
CCB rotor, rear #2 - 11 lb, 9.3 oz
Rounding for simplicity, the front rotors are 18 lbs lighter, and the rears are 13 lbs lighter, for a total weight savings of 62 lbs.
So far I have put about 100 miles on the car, about 50 of which were brisk-pace back-roads driving. I have been being gentle-ish on the brakes, as in, probably 50% pedal effort at most, trying to ensure that I don't glaze the pads. The rotors are partially broken in, visually speaking--the outer and inner edges are burnished, but the center part isn't yet. Braking power seems to be at least as good as the iron brakes. There's no squeaking, and they don't seem to need to warm up at all in order to provide good stopping power. Going through the automated car wash (touchless, I'm not a monster), the brakes lose a bunch of stopping power and take a good mile or two to "dry off", but then are back to normal.
Some people have said that the suspension will need recalibration due to the reduction in unsprung weight. In normal street driving with the shocks set in comfort mode, or on bumpy, twisty backroads with the shocks set in full firm and traction control in Race2, the suspension felt fine--as in, if I didn't know that the car had lighter-weight rotors on it, I would't be able to tell the difference.
Some people have said that the ABS will need to be recalibrated as well. I can't speak to that as I haven't done any threshold braking, and the car is on Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 all-season tires for the winter. They are supposedly high-performance all-seasons, but to be blunt, they suck compared to the PS4S. They are very narrow, they are squirmy, and overall grip sucks--aggressive throttle in second gear easily breaks loose the rears.
I plan to track the 5BW again come springtime, so I'll have impressions of these brakes when running at a 9/10ths pace. I'll add pictures in the replies.
