What are my options?

[JohnnyViper]

yea its a pretty good setup for the money, I have them and they have been great, I have a buddy that has them and he kept locking up his fronts causing flat spots on his tires and needed to keep replacing them $$$$ now that he has toms rears he can slam on the brakes with no lock up....toms = great bais

 

[hou99gts]

So run the Toms 40mm with the stock fronts and brake bias will be good?

Yes. It will be the next addition to my GTS, I already flat spotted a set of fronts myself, so I want to prevent that from happening again.

 

[JonB]

1. EBC Yellows
2. No, where do you get that done at?
3. ? 5-6 grand for stoptechs are a little much for me. 1,500 to 3,000 I guess

Is a Stoptech and Tom's 40mm a good set up? Or can I move the fronts to the back, calipers and rotors, and then go with DBB up front? What is involved with moving the fronts to the rear?

YES....but...The primary challenge for you is your stated wish to maintain 17" wheels.
Do you want 17" OEs simply due to cost of new wheels and larger tires?

StopTech does make a front kit to fit 17", and Toms of course is a functional fit. The combo would be much improved, but not a dramatic, competitive kit like a 4-wheel job on larger wheels.

The DBB solutions are gonna be OK too, but somewhat 'rigged' to achieve balance on 17".

 

[VJR3]

YES....but...The primary challenge for you is your stated wish to maintain 17" wheels.
Do you want 17" OEs simply due to cost of new wheels and larger tires?

StopTech does make a front kit to fit 17", and Toms of course is a functional fit. The combo would be much improved, but not a dramatic, competitive kit like a 4-wheel job on larger wheels.

The DBB solutions are gonna be OK too, but somewhat 'rigged' to achieve balance on 17".

Thanks for chiming in JonB. No the reason I want to keep the stock 17s is I just love the look of the on the car, its classic Viper. I have 18in SSR for the track.

So JonB out of all these post and info what do you recommend?

Thanks

 

[CSXT802]

PM sent.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

1. EBC Yellows

Good lord man, that's your problem. A couple bars of Dial soap would stop better than those.

Sounds like you're on a bit of a budget. Get Tom's rear brake upgrade and then fiddle with some real brake pads to find out what works for you.

Save up your money for some Penske shocks then have the car scaled at a race shop.

 

[VJR3]

Good lord man, that's your problem. A couple bars of Dial soap would stop better than those.

Sounds like you're on a bit of a budget. Get Tom's rear brake upgrade and then fiddle with some real brake pads to find out what works for you.

Save up your money for some Penske shocks then have the car scaled at a race shop.

Really? Whats pads should I be running? I am leaning toward the Toms 40mm, seems like plug-n-play.

 

[SoCal Rebell]

On my non-abs 2000 Viper I put a 4 wheel Stoptech Big Brake system on, I bought them from Woodhouse for like $3,800 no tax including the SS brake lines. They worked great, you will have to go with the 13" rotors instead of the 14.2 " to keep the stock 17" wheels. There is no need for a proportioning valve and it is a DIY project. They were amazing, they stayed cooler, easy to bleed with 2 bleeder valves per caliper and changing the pads at the track is a snap, you don't even have to take the caliper off to change the pads.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Really? Whats pads should I be running? I am leaning toward the Toms 40mm, seems like plug-n-play.

If you really wanna stop there are no compromises. You will have to get a race pad. Different driving styles and different brake setups require different pads. What works for one driver or setup may not work for another.

I have Stoptech fronts with a Tom special modified rear caliper. I also have Penske shocks and scale the car regularly. I run PFC01 on the front and Hawk Blue on the back. And I run Hoosier slicks. The balance is right on the edge and it's fun.

You are getting near the addiction. If your GTS is still in great condition you might want to consider a second Viper for the track. Something ragged out that you can have fun fixing, modifying and testing.

 

[jmasin]

You are getting near the addiction. If your GTS is still in great condition you might want to consider a second Viper for the track. Something ragged out that you can have fun fixing, modifying and testing.

These are WISE words.

I advise thinking these over a few times. I've been down this path.

 

[VJR3]

You are getting near the addiction. If your GTS is still in great condition you might want to consider a second Viper for the track. Something ragged out that you can have fun fixing, modifying and testing.

These are WISE words.

I advise thinking these over a few times. I've been down this path.

Great, I guess having 2 Vipers isnt such a bad thing. My GTS is quite flawless. Right know its only got 11,050 miles on it.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

This one would be perfect for the right price. Offer them 20k

Dodge : Viper | eBay

 

[jmasin]

This one would be perfect for the right price. Offer them 20k

Yeah, wow, they're offering it at $36k... I think the car must be putting off some serious fumes for them think that's right LOL.

To the OP, I thought I might share my experience. It was with a Vette, so ignore it if you wish, but I learned a lot from it and thought it may be valuable.

• Bone stock C5 vette
• Spent a 1/2 year tracking, once per month-ish stock
• Stock brakes are single-sided pistons on sliders, very prone to pad taper. Spent $$ on pads due to wear
• Upgraded to Z06 springs/bars
• Upgraded to Wilwood 6-pistons and race pads, got significantly faster, but ran out of brake traction
• Went to slicks (well DOTRs, Kumho v710s), and bought track wheels
• Started running -2.5* front camber, -1.5* rear with track specific toe settings (means TIRE WEAR on the street)
• Installed harnesses
• Brakes and traction meant I was in the throttle ALOT more - oil was overheating. Installed racing radiator with integrated oil cooler. The vane count was much higher but cooling on the street suffered, racing radiators like air-flow.
• Slicks mean the power steering system was overloaded... installed PS cooler
• Race pads and slicks meant significant heat buildup on brakes - installed ducting from fascia to cool rotors
• Race pads meant they don't work on the street... so every other weekend I was switching out pads/rotors (they are a mated set)

All of the mods above spanned probably 2.5 years (seasons). It was a fast progression. Speed is ADDICTIVE.

All of the above meant I was easily carrying 15mph more through some turns than bone stock and hitting speeds of 150mph at the end of the TWS straight (this in a 350hp vette). Safety became concerning. I started researching roll cage builds, and started pricing HANS devices since we have a few walls around here.

Before I actually went the cage build route I paused... started thinking about track-dedicated cars (like an out of season T1 car or something), and then eventually put the entire thing on hold pending the ability to buy a dedicated track car (and the truck/trailer to go with it).

It is a FUN activity, but amazingly addictive, and you can get going VERY fast VERY quickly... money buys speed as they say.

And once you make an upgrade and get faster, the last thing you want to do is go backwards LOL

 

[VJR3]

This one would be perfect for the right price. Offer them 20k

Dang it, your right Chuck thats perfect. The bodywork is no problem, I do that by trade. Looks like the main pieces it needs is the headlamps and windsheild and molding. I think 20k is about right, now is the wrong time. But I'm going to hang on to the track car idea and work towards it.