First I would like to say that this is in no way a sales pitch for ArizonaZCar. This is purley my commentary on my experience so far. Take it for what it's worth. So with that said, this past Saturday I spent a good portion of my day installing this BBK by myself in my garage. As a little background, I decided to purchase this kit because of the awesome value it presented for the quality of parts it contained. I track my car about 2-3 times a year so I definitely wanted something better than the stock brakes that could handle the heat from the repeated hard stopping that is incurred during track sessions. But at the same time I didn't want to break (pun intended) the bank doing so since I'm not a hardcore racer. If money was no object I would have purchased the Stoptech 13" Front BBK or an AP Racing Kit, but since it is I thought I would give this kit a try. I'm not saying this kit is or isn't as good as the more expensive kits, just that it really is an excellent value for such quality parts. On the website it lists the 6-pot front kit for $1,395 but I opted to go with the 4-pot kit, which is not listed on the site, for an amazing $1,069! Just as a comparison the Stoptech 13" Front BBK retails for $1,995 and the RacingBrake OE Caliper Front BBK is $999 which obviously doesn't even come with an upgraded aftermarket caliper.

When I first called Dave to put in my order the customer service was excellent to say the least. Instead of just taking my order and hanging up after he was finished, he spent his time with me on the phone for another ten minutes giving me helpful hints for my install as well as just talking about cars in general. Definitely a nice guy and you can definitely tell he has been in the Z performance market for a long time. He was very helpful and wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing since I was going to do a self install. And when I did run into a little trouble and called him on a Sat night he reminded me not to call after normal business hours but graciously still accepted my call and tried to help me out with my problem. He definitely stands behinds his products and backs it up with great customer service. I don't want to sound like I'm swinging on the nuts of ArizonaZCar, but I couldn't be more happy right now with the product and customer service. After about 100 miles of street driving I can say the kit definitely gives a firmer, nicer pedal feel and brake modulation is much improved over stock. The pads provided are the Wilwwood BP-10 smart pads which are described as the double duty street/light track pad with minimal dust and noise. So far no noise and I'll have to see about the dust after more driving. And with the thick 35mm rotors it should perform nicely on the track and stand up to the heat abuse I'll be throwing at it at soon. My confidence in my braking system has dramatically risen but the real test will be at my upcoming HPDE at Reno-Fernly in a few weeks. Enough of my blabbering and onto the facts and pictures.


http://www.arizonazcar.com/350zbrakes.html


Contents of Kit:

Wilwood Forged Billet Superlite Calipers, 4 x 44.5 mm pistons
Wilwood GT Series Rotors, 332 mm x 35 mm
Wilwood BP-10 Smart Pads
Wilwood Stainless Steel Brake Lines
AZ Z Car custom rotor hats, brackets, and nuts/bolts


Total weight of AZ Z Car Kit - ~47 lbs.
Total weight of '04 OEM Brakes - ~57 lbs.

The claim on the AZ Z car website that this kit saves ~10 lbs. seems to be true. My numbers are estimates as well since I was using a bathroom scale. But saving ~10 lbs. of unsprung weight is always a good thing.


Kit Contents



Stock rotor vs Wilwood rotor


Look how thick the Wilwood pad is


Stock Brakes


Stock Caliper and Rotor removed


Hub and Dustshield removed


Hub and Dustshield


Caliper Bracket Installed


Rotor Installed


Caliper Installed (I had to use 3 extra shim washers that were provided on each side to center the caliper)


With the thick 35 mm rotor the pads just barely fit


Everything on


My 17x8 +43 wheel just barely clears the caliper with 2-3 mm to spare

 

Your set-up looks great with those wheels (I have the 18" version). I noticed that the slots on the rotors aren't uniformed. Is that common?

 

That is a nice setup. What modifications did you do to your rear brakes? It's said that the rears heat up alot faster than the fronts on the tracks.

 

Don't know what effects the non-uniform slots have. I'm guessing none since it is a Wilwood rotor and they have done their R&D.

I made no modifications to the rear except that I put in Hawk HPS rear pads for more coefficient of friction over the stock pads. The rears could heat up faster if VDC/Traction Control kicks in a lot during track driving but I turn off my VDC and my Quaife keeps things in check most of the time.

 

Nice. I probably would have gotten this kit myself but found a good deal on some used Stoptechs.

 

Nice write up, thanks for sharing the pics too.

Did you lose your parking brake with the upgrade?

 

Thanks for the compliments guys. No I only did the front kit for now. No rear. I'm planning on using the RacingBrake OE Caliper rear BBK later down the road to balance out the brake bias I just shifted about 6-7% towards the front. The RacingBrake rear kit doens't mess with the parking brake, one thing I'm not willing to sacrifice.

 

nice setup man

 

Nice write-up and set-up, very nice.

 

I think the un-uniformed slots helps the pads cool down by helping clean the pads at different angles from the gas buildup found between the pad and rotor when they get hot from track use.

 

Nice! I think you're the only other Z guy I know that has Wilwood BBKs besides me in the Bay Area Everyone else mostly has StopTech, Rotora, or Brembo.

 

Heh.. I don't even have a Z. I have a '04 G35 Sedan 6MT. Close enough.

 

Wow! Thats Outstanding! It really looks great. Has the breaking fell improved any? How does it feel?

 

LOL. Well...I guess you're the only G then I know that has Wilwoods in the Bay Area

 

The feel was immediately noticed as being firmer and braking modulation was much much better because of the fixed forged caliper and 4 pistons. I'm sure the stainless steel lines also played a part as well. Definitely worth the upgrade and should be even more noticable on the track. I'd highly recommend this kit if budget is an issue.

 

Very nice. Tell that yahoo to put the 4 piston kit on his site, he might make a sale or two more!!

Thanks for the writeup.

 

I agree... The cost of this kit is making me rethink my other project of adapting the Z32 breaks on the 350z. This just seems that much more cost effective. I think the only thing that kinda rubs me the wrong way is the rotors and rotor hat design. but I guess for that price I really don't have much room to complain.

 

I wish I had seen this before I bought my OEM brembos haha ah well.

Nice write up. They look very nice.

 

ANy idea what offset is required for the sedan to clear this? I don't mind buying new wheels, but maybe a spacer would work for the street wheels and a new set for the track.(?)

 

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