370Z Brakes?

drmike

+one

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RCZ

I am in no way interested in what they look like, although nice brakes are sexy. I am interested on how they will manage a full trackday and those look very mainstream/mediocre.

They look "OEMish" Although those 4 pistons look huge....

I already said that I really hope I'm completely wrong and they don't fade and that I'm not just going to replace them. Going to try and make them better first.

When you CUT cost at the OEM level, you cut performance. Just make brembo an option.

drmike

I guess that's the big question - how much do the optional brakes cost? If they're over 2K then a racing brakeset is indicated for track guys. That assumes that the optional brakes are good ones. They certainly look the part. Anyway, I do like two-piece disks, especially floating rotors on proper hats, although the rotors for those are painfully expensive.

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RCZ

The optional ones come on the sports package and thats something you need if you are going to do anything other than putt around town in your new 332hp Z. I have a feeling that even the upgraded ones in the performance package are going to melt after a 30 minute session on the track. They dont look like anything special, just default 4-pots. Im going to be going to one of the following...







and then there are obcenities like this.

nismo09

If you buy the nismo, you get the optional breaks. I have taken the care to the track (texas world speedway) once so far (2 days - 4x 25 minute sessions each day) and the breaks performed flawlessly. On the second day in the afternoon sessions the instructor asked me a couple of times how are your breaks feeling (I was hitting them really hard the entire time) and I had absolutely no problems - just a little dust at the end of 2 days. Granted it was 85 degrees both days so it is not August yet so I will find out later in the summer just how good the breaks are under extreme heat conditions. Just my 2 cents worth.

waaaasabi

Good to hear your brakes braked, but didn't break

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nismo09

I know - typing too fast.

M.Bonanni

I have a feeling that the 14" stockers will do just fine for a lightly modded track 370Z. Obviously the stock pads and fluid may not be up to the task, but I don't see any reason why they shouldn't perform just as well as any other 14" kit. 4 large pistons can be just as effective as 6 smaller ones. Also remember that the 370Z is a bit lighter than the 350Z. I forsee a rotor/pad/fluid upgrade taking you pretty far on the sports package brakes. Also remember that only a few brake companies actually make big brake kits, the rest are private labeled. For example, the Ford Mustang "Saleen" big brakes are actually made by StopTech. Even Rotora brakes are private labeled. I don't know much about Akebono, but if they are big into private labeling like they do for Nissan, then they may already make some of the aftermarket brakes that you might think you are "upgrading" to .

RCZ

See thats what bothers me. I dont know akebono. I recently smoked my Brembos with Motul, stainless lines and race pads. I dont disagree with you when you say that rotors, pads and fluid will go a long way. I absolutely agree. Its just that I plan on adding a little power eventually after all the suspension stuff is done and there's no point on wasting money on rotors and race pads that I wont be able to use. Only time will tell though, I'm definitely going to give them a couple of runs before swapping them out, I just don't have much faith in Akebono.

As far as the rotora go, I just posted that because its silly. Im only interested in the AP's and the Brembos really. The endless are just bling I wish we could fit Z06 brakes on there...they are so damn cheap...like $800 for the set of 6pots...

Needless to say I'm going to be extremely happy if the stock ones work well with minor upgrades

M.Bonanni

Which Brembos did you smoke? If its the OEM 350Z Brembos remember that those rotors were only 12.8" front and 12.7" rear. OEM 370Z rotors are 14", and the APs you want are 14.25".

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Function > Form

Josh@STILLEN

Just wanted to clarify.. there is a lot of differences between the AP and OEM's beyond purely the rotor size.

I dropped a note to our Brake Division Manager to give you guys some other insight..

From Chris - STILLEN / AP Racing Brake Manager

"Looking at just rotor diameter is a bit of a thin comparison. Keep in mind that ANY OE system (Brembo and Akebono included) is made to a very tight cost constraint. That is why the Brembo GT kits perform much better than the OE Brembos on the G's, Z's, STI's, Evo's, etc. The OE manufacturer scores some marketing points by using the name, but it is not top-shelf product by any means.

I would bet the biggest reasons that Nissan switched from Brembo to Akebono is that Brembo likely wanted too much money for a larger system and REQUIRED Nissan to keep the name on the caliper. Akebono doesn't seem to care much about their public brand awareness, especially in North America, so they didn't need to charge the "logo tax". They are happy enough to paint the Nissan or Infiniti logo on the caliper for less money and call it a day. Carlos Ghosn is well known for his thrifty ways.

The Sport package owners who take their car to the track will notice not only an improvement over the previous models, but also that the new stuff is not for track use either. The front caliper does use a larger pad, but the caliper itself is not a very stiff one. Steve Millen made comments right after his first drive in the 370Z, that the brakes did NOT feel like a 4-pistons. He was not very impressed and thought they should be better for how they look. And, not many pads options will be available any time soon. I'm sure Hawk and Carbotech will have something, but I don't see Raybestos, PFC, Mintex, etc., jumping through hoops to service that market.

There is simply no substitute for track tested components with many years of development behind them. AP Racing is a leader in that category. Akebono is not.

AP Racing: Larger, 2-piece rotor made from a much higher quality casting. Curved-vane vented for maximum cooling. Aluminum hat is considerably lighter than a 1-piece cast iron design. 6-piston caliper (lighter than the OE 4-piston) with more pad area, and many more pad compound options are available. Race-proven design that is much stiffer under heavy braking than the bulky OE bits. Design allows for quick pad changes for going from the street to the track and back without removing the caliper. <-- Not sure yet if the OE caliper allows this, but I think we have a pair lying around off one of the project cars. Need to look on Monday."

RCZ

Actually it was my OEM 06 STI brembos, which I think use a slightly bigger rotor than the 350z brembos. I seriously think the pads is what let me down, they definitely glazed...

MC

RCZ

cant say I'm too pleased with the look of those.

RCZ

MC Do you know the price of the stock GT-R Brembo units?