scathing

There are quite a few of us here with Touring models, and I'm probably not the only person who's noticed that its very hard to find aftermarket pads for our cars. Everyone assumes we have the Brembos.

However, some relief might be at hand. I've sent my worn-out pads to Barrie Smith Motorsport, and he can have brake pads laser-cut for us from existing stock.

Bear in mind that there are two different types of caliper for the Touring, and so this might not fit in your car. However, if your brake pads have the following part numbers you should be right:

Front 41060AM908
Rear: 44060AM485

The price is under $290 per "end" of the car (I think the front pair are $287 and the rear pair are $280) plus shipping, which isn't too bad for good aftermarket pads.

To put it in perspective, the Endless and Project Mu pads I've found are around $350-$400 an "end". The RB74s are $165, and the OEM ones are around $200 (I think, I can't remember) but I've heard the former are pretty useless if you're going to stress your pads, and I know the latter can't hack track days (I'm on my second set of replacements, so third in total, already).

The DS2500s are good, from what I've seen. Nuff's happy with them, and the guys from the NSCC in their modified 200SX's swear by them. My friend, who races Formula Fords, says that they're the pads he uses on his race car and, even at race pace, they don't fade.

My pads are arriving Tuesday, but I won't be fitting them until my OEM pads are dead. I have heard that some people are wary about using laser-cut pads (although others I know have been using them without issue), and so I'll only be stress testing them on Wakefield when my Track tyres approach end-of-life (which, judging from how much tread I have on the inside of the tyre, might be soon).

DavidM

The RB74s are $165 ...but I've heard the former are pretty useless if you're going to stress your pads

I've had them on the S2000 and they were the best pads that I came accross on that car. They were really good on the road, and awesome on the track. I have not had them fail me once and I went throught about 3 sets and about 6 track-days with them.

Not sure what they are like on the Zed, but I'd give them a go if you're looking for good street/track pads.

ps. A lot of WRX track guys use them and are very happy.

KY350

Thanks for the info Scathing. I will need to replace my pads one day soon, but hopefully not until I get to 40,000km (optimistic perhaps).

I normally do a lot of research on replacement items for my car and it will be no different for the brake pads. I research well in advance and always have a fall back position just incase my first choise is not available when I need it.

So for brakes, my needs are a pad that is good for everyday street driving (ie good retardation, good pad life, low dust properties if possible, good value for money - does not necessarily mean cheap, low rotor wear and no noise). I have only been to the track once in 1.5yrs, so if the pad offers better fade characteristics than the stock pad, that is a bonus for the occasional trip to the track.

As I currently know bugger all about pads, I'm interested in your suggestions. My options so far are:

1. Stock Nissan pads
2. Ferodo DS 2500
3. RB74 (who makes these?)

What else is available for the Touring brake calipers?

nuff

KY350, you have driven in my car with ferodo ds2500 and as you have noticed they have made a bit of noise, but once the windows are up you can't hear it. Also when the brakes are hot it goes away.

They dust a lot less then the stock ones, I didn't clean my wheels for the past 2+ weeks (around 400km+ of city driving not to mention the trip on saturday) and they are just getting dirty.

I can't tell you yet about the rotor wear since I've just put them on.

scathing

If you're not doing much track work, I'd say that the stock Nissan pads should be fine.

Aftermarket pads won't make you brake any quicker on a single, panic, stop since your tyre is the limiting factor anyway.

Nissan's designed their pads and rotors to work together, and if you do get abnormally high rotor wear they can't go and blame your pads for being too aggressive should you try to claim warranty.

Me personally, I do enough track work to justify getting more aggressive pads, and when the rotors wear out I'll get DBA Slotted.

RB74's are made by RaceBrakes.

lionking

I had a bad experience on stock touring pads - totally cooked them during a driving session. I would suggest stock (touring) pads are useless for even one day of agressive track driving - at least for an ineperienced driver like myself that obliviously pushed them past their limits.

Just had to refit the front again recently and wanted to go with something a little bit hardier but had trouble finding any "off the shelf" pads that would fit. Custom cut pads (RB74's) were suggested by RaceBrakes but due to urgency - i.e. high pitch sceaming from the wear indicators, it was easier (quicker) to go stock again.

I'm not a regular track person but I do give the brakes a bit of a hiding on a regular basis so I would love to hear your opinion on the custom cut pads for next time.

KY350

Nuff - I don't remember hearing any break squeel from your car, but I take your word for it. As most of my driving is city driving in morning / afternoon trafic, the squeeling of DS2500 on a daily basis would p!ss me off no end and I don't do enough track racing to need better fade resistance that these may offer- so that's a no to this pad.

Scathing - I realise that the diffence in stopping distance between the Touring and Track brakes on 2-3 high speed emergency stops is bugger all. Considering that I may have only an occasional hard stop from 60-80km/h, I will probably stick with the stock pads.
However, I do resent paying excessive prices for genuine Nissan pads. We all know that you can buy the exact equivalent non-genuine part elsewhere for about 30-50% less. It's just that I don't know which company makes the genuine Nissan pads to be able to buy them at a more reasonable price that Nissan will charge.
Need to find that out - just don't know how???

lionking

I paid the dealer $158.65 for front stock touring pads - had someone else install them

KY350

That's a reasonable price LK.
If I stick with the stock pads, I'll do the same and get Peter P to fit them for me. Rather give him my business than Nissan.

scathing

If the stock Touring pads are only $160, you may as well get the RB74's.

I got a quote from Race Brakes NSW (there's a different Race Brakes in VIC) at:

$165.00 a set front and $135.00 rear

The RB74s are a much better pad than the stock ones, and even if you don't really hammer them much at the moment, we can always go on more street cruises and maintain a higher pace with less fear of brake fade.

scathing

FYI, from Race Brakes NSW again:

The DBA slotted disc are front $275.00 each and rear $215.00 each

(for Touring)

lionking

In hindsight it would have been so much easier to have bought a car with real brakes instead of toy ones.

nuff

lionking, if you want bigger brakes you can get a BBK upgrade and still come out ahead. Take a look at Hopup racing they have some of the best prices around. By the way, all you need to upgrade is just the front brakes, don't worry about rears.

scathing

For those of us that drive quickly, its easier to buy a car that has driver nannies you can fully turn off. If you're looking at building a seriously quick car, the Touring model is a better base to work from (since the differences are either unwanted, or get binned anyway).

The guys in their Track models had the VDC kicking in on our Putty Road cruise, even after it was switched off, whereas we Touring guys don't have thar problem. Short of pulling the fuse or doing what the Jap guys do and splicing a second switch into it, it'll still cut in even though you don't want it to. TCS doesn't have that issue.

At the same time, there are brake upgrades for the Track model so the serious tuners get rid of their Brembos anyway.

For the record, the calipers are the same as the R33 GT-R's, so if you ever see someone selling those items then they should bolt on with Track mounting parts.

scathing

The price for the pads is $224 front and $227 rear, with a $60.50 fee for the pad cutting. This is full retail as I can't get any kind of club discount from them.

KY350

I would have thought that you need the larger front rotor of the Track model as well, if you were planning on putting the R33 Brembo calipers on the Touring model.

I have a mental picture of a larger Brembo caliper / pad not fitting on the smaller 294cm (? size) Touring front rotor, but not sure.

scathing

Probably.

I just figured if you were going a brake upgrade, you'd do a rotor upgrade too (and maybe get the DBA rotors designed for the Track model).

scathing

If anyone wants the RB74 prices from Race Brakes:

Pads
Front $155.00
Rears $135.00

(That's with a NSCC discount, I think)

scathing

I found out today that the Touring pads are identical to those on a 180SX. Joshua from Pro Concept was doing a brake pad swap on a Z33 Touring, and noticed how familiar they looked. Putting them back-to-back against a set of RPS13 pads showed they were identical.

I don't know whether to be happy about cutting the costs of my pads down, or embarrased that my 1500kg car has the same calipers as a 1200kg one...


Bear in mind, though, that the RPS13 comes with 2 types of caliper (and so does the Z33 Touring, unfortunately) so be careful when ordering pads sight-unseen.