Review of Fontana Sport Brake Package Upgrade
 

Knowing that the 370Z comes a little weak from the factory in the braking department, I decided to upgrade my brakes before I even picked up my Z. I spoke with Scott @ Fontana Nissan, who is part of their Nissan Race Shop, to get an idea of my approach. For those of you who don't know, Fontana actually fields a full track-prepped 370Z and GT-R as part of their race team. After talking with Scott and vacillating back and forth between AP BBK or upgraded sport brakes, I ultimately decided to go with upgraded sport brakes and grow into them. When I need to upgrade further, I will.

I decided on the Sport Brake package upgrade, which includes slotted rotors, SS lines, Endless SS-Y pads, and DOT4 fluid. I also opted to switch my rotors to 40th red for merely aesthetic purposes.

I have only had the car for 1000 miles and have been pretty reasonable with it as I break everything in, and thus far I am very pleased. The pads are quiet and have a totally acceptable amount of dusting (much less than my M3 setup did with a similar setup). For a more aggressive street pad, the cold bite is excellent and the pads stay predictable as they heat up. I bedded them in a few weeks ago coming off of Palomar Mountain and while I didn't push it insanely hard, I had zero perceptible fade during multiple, back-to-back 100-10 emergency braking simulations. The car did get a little squirmy, but I think that was tires and road surface. I think the pedal feel is great (though I have no basis for comparison to stock). I look forward to going out for a HPDE and giving them a real test, though I realize I will need to probably switch to a track pad for a good HPDE performance. Also, loving the look of the 40th calipers and slotted rotors.

For the price of the upgrade, I couldn't be happier. I may eventually need a BBK, but until I earn that need, I will rock this setup. :driving:

Thanks to Scott @ Fontana for his consulting during this process :tiphat:

Pics (sorry in advance that dynamic range sucks--cell phone camera):
Car:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6...8c7f13d0_b.jpg
Front:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6...79e0cec1_b.jpg
Rear:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6...30d738a6_b.jpg

Nice set up. Idk if I'd call the stock brakes so weak. They are pretty responsive and I can stop on a dime when I want to. Idk if more brake force is necessary than stock.

looks good. that blue paint dots on the wheels shears off with a plastic razor blade or a squeege. :)

Yeah, I probably didn't describe it as well as I could. I think for 100% street driving, the stock brakes will never fail you. However, I have a history of autox, HPDEs, and spirited driving. Particularly on the track, the stock brakes have proven troublesome to others (including car mags), which seems to be mostly due to pads with too low a heat range and fluid that boils easily. Don't get me wrong, what I have is not a full track setup, but I think it will handle significantly more heat without fading than the stock setup.

Well, having done this exact thing to my car as well (minus painting the calipers) I can say they are much better than stock on the track. On the stock brakes/fluid (mistake) I boiled my clutch fluid one session, then my brake fluid around the calipers, in another, giving me very little in braking force coming off the main straight (luckily there was a runoff) and I was able to steer into a gap in the concrete barrier... anyway. Experienced almost no fade after the upgrade and only used about half the front pads in 5 hours of track time. The only negative I have to report is that I still managed to slightly warp my DBA 5000 series front rotors, even tho the thermal paint on the rotors says they stayed well within optimal operating temp. I'm not entirely sure how it happened as I noticed it 1st when I was braking for pit lane after a session on the second day. I had them machined lightly and problem solved (or rather bandaided). My only guess is that I actually cooled the rotors too suddenly on my cooldown lap.
Enjoy your brakes, they wont fail you on the track and they are entertaining on the street as well.

:tiphat:

Edit: Noticed you got the Sport rather then Race package, you'll have to let us know how those rotors do on track :) Dont forget to change your clutch fluid, I put Motul 600 in mine. And I agree, Scott is great.

Thanks for the feedback! We put these packages together with quality parts that we know work well! Enjoy the car!

BTW, we will be running at California Speedway on the 25th and 26th of this month with Speedventures. You should come out and join us!

Scott VanderHeide
Fontana Nissan

Yeah, I wanted to stick with a less aggressive pad for street use, but I would have liked the 2-piece rotors in front.

I didn't realize I needed to change the clutch fluid too. I will look into that.

how much is this upgrade? Z1 is about $500