370Z replacement...suggestions?

ImportConvert

Maybe you're less picky, or maybe my car has a bad rotor. The right front they just cleaned up a tad, but the left front had to be turned TWICE before it was true. This time around, I'm going to ask for a replacement. It's only been 7K miles since the last time this was an issue.

They properly bedded them at the dealership when I had them re-do them. Took the car out, used an IR gun to measure temps, bedded them with a similar procedure as the GT-R brakes, although obviously not the same as it's not a GT_R. THat's what I was told. When I got the car, it felt great. Stopped awesome, and I could look at the rotors and tell the brakes had been bedded, or at least something had occurred, as there was definite pad transfer, etc. Smelled like it, too. GT-R tech did the work.

Either way, it's not dust, it's a warped rotor. If it were just dust, it wouldn't have taken a ton of metal being removed to fix the left front rotor, and just a quick clean-up for the sake of it on the right.
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I tried re-bedding them the first time, 6 hard stops from 60, 4 from 80, drove around on the freeway until the rotors cooled off, never came to a complete stop. It only exacerbated the problem. This time? It's going straight to the dealership for a new left-front rotor.

Z_ealot

trust me im pretty picky about the way my cars drive, matter of fact my little honda civic that i use as a daily driver is having the same problems with the rotors that your Z has, but since it's a beater car it's not really a top priority as long as the brakes work properly. On my Z though if that happened that would definitely annoy me enough to get them changed out, but that never happened with my Z even after pushing it pretty hard through the corners and using the brakes extensively. The main thing i always kept in mind though after heating up the rotors that much though was to let them go through a cool down period before i touched the brakes again.

cossie1600

You need to do way better than that, a couple stops from 80 is nothing. Also when you resurface rotor, you are essentially removing metal from it and making them less effective.

ImportConvert

These aren't track pads. These are not track rotors. That is plenty sufficient to have cleaned up anything, if it WAS to be cleaned up, doing the above. Anyway, it's a moot point, **** should not have to be done on 10K mile old brakes when they did fine previously, and then again at 17K miles after they did fine after being fixed at 10K. I could understand if they were not right from the get-go, but this is a problem and it needs fixing, and re-bedding the brakes isn't the way, IMO, given what was found last time (one rotor needed turning twice as much as the other).

Anyway, you're right, which is why I want them to replace the LEFT FRONT ROTOR.

If it were just deposits, both rotors up front would have had a problem, they didn't, just the left front. Right front just took a light clean-up, left front had to be turned twice for it to be true.

I'm going to get the rest of my car (TPMS sensor, rear bumper) fixed at the body shop today, and deal with the brakes tomorrow. I doubt they will argue about replacing the rotor, considering it did the same thing at 10K miles and they said it was so bad off it needed to be turned twice, I think an argument for factory defect can be made, in the case of that rotor. Why isn't the right rotor messed up? Yeah...

Why is this an issue for me? It feels like crap turning into a corner when the weight shifts to the left-front. To me, that's an issue. Will it make the car handle worse/less safe? Nah, but screw that. Even my old 5.0 from 1988 had less shudder when I got on the brakes, I don't feel like I am getting what I paid for, and I doubt Nissan will argue.

UNKNOWN_370

I couldn't stress this pkg enough...

http://www.autoaccessoriesgarage.com...FQGEnQodm2QAQg

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=C...ch+rotors+370z

You and C&D are the only two with brake issues.

ImportConvert

Well, the dealership DID argue, my response was to just leave (I was holding up the driver who was with the body shop who was to take me back to my house while they worked on the car, I've been up for about 14 hours, and the service-writer and I seemed to have some chemistry that would get ugly, you know when you meet a guy in some sort of confrontation and you just KNOW it could escalate? Yeah. I didn't want that as an ego pissing match just isn't going to fix my car.). I then called the service manager, and told him the story roughly as follows:

Background: At 10K miles and change, the steering-wheel was shaking rather badly under braking from highway speeds. It was determined that the left-front rotor needed to be turned---TWICE, and the right front, once/cleaned up. The pads, I was told, did not show exceptional wear. Now, at 17K miles and change, the problem is back, albeit not quite as severe. In that 17K miles it has seen zero track time and only one set of tires up until about 50 miles ago. The Service department initially said what amounted to "Sorry, you drive it hard and that's what happens." to which I responded "On a 370Z with the Sport package, driving it on the street will warp the rotors twice in less than 20K miles, having not even but gone through one set of tires!?" Kindof got a shrug-like response from that. I explained that my 1995 Trans Am, 2001 Trans Am, and 2011 Z06 had NEVER had an issue like this, save once at 75K miles on the 2001 Trans Am, and then never again until I sold it 70K miles later. Another "Sorry".

Well, it wasn't good enough, so after getting home I called the Service Manager, and it seems that they are going to figure out why this is happening and take care of the issue, and are curious themselves.

As to those packages? No. I'm not going to spend $600+time or labor to install that. This car is a car, it's not my life, but I want it to work LIKE IT SHOULD. That means Nissan needs to handle up on their stuff and fix it. It seems like they are going to do that for me.

UNKNOWN_370

You're getting shrug responses cuz you're comparing a old azz single piston brake system and a $70k brake system from a Z 06 to a Z. I would be shrugging too if you were making other car comparisons in a nissan dealership. You're goal should have been to fix the issue. not make unrelated, pointless and senseless comparisons to a Z.

At least they will fix it for you. You may not have had that issue in those cars but GM has had their own series of BS issues and warranty repair is a bych with them...

ImportConvert

GM has been far better to deal with than Nissan. The did a ton of work gratis on my ws.6. GM has been NOTHING BUT AWESOME for the two cars I owned from them. I mean, they have kept that WS.6 overnight diagnosing fuel-pressure issues, tore the steering column apart to figure out why I was getting a security lock-out on ignition, replaced catalytic converter (at 110K miles), and I bought the car used when it was 6 years old from a non-GM dealer. Oh, yeah, all that cost me $0.00. Yeah. GM is on my good side, on the customer-service aspect. Oh, they sold me an LS6 clutch assembly for $375, too, back in 2010, I believe. T/O bearing went out at around 80K miles and I needed to replace. GM FTW! in the customer service dept. But yes, the WS.6 itself was a POS...99 problems, but bitchrotors weren't one, baby!
It's not my fault the 370Z Sport rotors can't take daily driving.

ImportConvert

Update: They are turning the rotors. Next time this happens I will just replace both front rotors and consider it "normal wear". At 30K miles, I won't have problems with this, it's just at 10K and then again at 17K miles...wtf!? If I can get 200% more life from my tires and brake pads than my brake-rotors, that's just jacked up. That would be the equivalent of warping your rotors twice every track day that you go through tires, if you tracked this POS. Seriously, nice car, but screw Nissan, I'm going to have to stick with American from now on, the mechanical insufficiency of the car becomes more and more clear to me the longer I own it. It's far nice and better than my G20, but those Asians and I, we just don't think the same. Every time I see how something is put together on the car I want to pull my hair out, it's all backwards, and the results seem to suck except in the interior, which they really got right other than the poor panel isolation that causes a million and one squeaks.

Give me a car that I can take to work and home 3-4 days out of the week that won't warp its rotors. Then we can talk. Seriously. Cannot believe more people don't have issues, as I really don't beat on my stuff. (OEM tires lasting 17K miles should be sufficient evidence of that).


Jesus. I need to just sell this thing, but it does look sexy and until it breaks again it performs plenty well for what I want. Total love/hate. I think the next car will be a 2015 style mustang GT. Great engine, and allegedly they are fixing the suspension. Or maybe a CPO C7 corvette (did the "first time buyer hit" on GM, not again, lol!). Spring Mountain has people beat the crap out of even the base Grand Sport 'vettes for 12K miles on the track and I didn't once set foot in one there that had warped rotors. This is in literal 100*+ Vegas summer heat. There is NO EXCUSE for how my car is breaking. NONE.

I drive it spiritedly to work and home? You know what, there are exactly 5 corners that I can take at a speed of 50mph or greater on the 13 mile drive to work (I rarely drive it elsewhere). There are only 2 places that I decelerate from about 65 to a stop, only one of which is within 2-3 miles of one of the corners. It can't take that? Well screw that, then. It's a piece of **** and that's all there is to it. You find some other excuse for this bitchcar. I'm done making excuses for its flaws. It has great lines, amazing interior, awesome engine (IMO), and decent handling for its breed, but the brakes warping every 7-10K, and the power-steering pump whining like an 80's monte carlo, I just cannot excuse the brakes, and the PS pump is annoying.

Either way, the base package seems like it might be a better car. Maybe the little bitty calipers won't be so mean to the weak little rotors on the base car and it can wheeze its way to work and back without ******** the bed.

Seriously irritated with the fact that you guys somehow think this is normal. I just don't BELONG in the ninny crowd that thinks my drive to work is "hard on the car" to this point. Hard would be tail of the dragon every Sunday on R-compound tires. Not my 5 turns, 2 stops from above 65, and 13 miles.

cossie1600

You are just special. Most people can't drive as hard as you can.

ImportConvert

Looking back at this, I'm really hating this car about 50% of the time. Meh. Live and learn, no more imports, here.

ImportConvert

Apparently. Either that or they don't know what proper brakes feel like because they never drove a rental Kia and so they think that shaking is normal when they apply the brakes, lol. That's how I noticed it this time around, coming from driving a Kia Optima for a month, I immediately noticed how shitty my brakes felt, front end and wheel shaking noticeably. I think it had "crept up" on me while I dailied the Z and I didn't notice it until yesterday having not driven it in a month.

PS. I drove the Optima the same way I drove my Z, although I was about 5mph slower on the corners (I pushed it more than my Z, I guess, in the scheme of things. I stay far from what I think the limits are in my Z, taking corners at about 0.4-0.6g, based on what I used to see on my G-meter in the Z06 at the same speed on the same corners). In about 2000 miles, I did not manage to harm the Kia Optima in any way, except for a small carbon smudge on a seat where I set my suppressed M4. I cleaned it off though before turning it in.

JungleZ

Honestly you should of just kept your z06, going to a 370z is a huge downgrade

lemon-fresh

Good to hear that there may be an end to the whining in sight.

cossie1600

Yeah, none of us know what we are doing, only you and maybe bigfoot knows.