Can someone tell me how often brakes, etc. need to be replaced on 04 350 Z's?
 

I have never posted before, but I had a $700 dollar bill for "brakes and rotors" plus a 15,000 mile service today...and I just went in for an oil change!! When he called to tell me I needed the brakes it was going to be $200-something, then he called and said I needed rotors for another $200-something...I've only had my car 23 months...does this sound right? Help!

that doesnt sound right at all. Thats the stealership for ya

yeah I agree Ahsmo. I change my brakes every 20k. Actually changing the brakes is pretty easy if you want to save some cash. Or my neighbor is a service tech and soon to be ASE certified. I'm in northridge so if you need any work done on the car PM me.

http://www.hostdub.com/albums/nismo3...spec.sized.jpg

This really depends on how much of the brake pads you've worn down and likewise, how much of the rotor you have worn down and/or warped. It's not solely a factor of time (23 months in your case) but you must consider how heavy you've been on the brakes. Brake pads and rotors do wear down. With that said, you could have requested to see the pads and see how worn down they were, then you would have known for sure if they were worn down.

Rotors have layers on both sides that contact the brake pads when engaged. Due to this friction and wear, the rotors wear down. Techs take a look at the rotor "meat" that is left and if it goes below a certain level they need to be replaced. If there is still "meat" left on the rotor, then they should be "turning" the rotors to make a smooth surface for the brake pad to contact. Another situation for replacing or turning is if the rotors are warped.

As for $700, for parts and labor, that is probably about right for a brakes and rotors and your 15k mile service. Keep in mind that there is a set number of hours they assign each job and therefore, if a brake and rotor replace shows 2 hours in their rate book, that is what they'll charge you for even if they finished in 1 hour. Typical labor rates are around $85/hour. Stock rotors front and rear could run you around $300. Brake pads front and rear can run you around $250.

Keep in mind there are maintenance costs no matter what car you have.

Just to give you an idea, I generally go through a whole set of brakes pads (race compound) in 1 weekend at the track. And I go through rotors every 2 or 3 track sessions.

Since you already paid to have the rotors and pads replaced, its a little late to ask.

I have 41,200 miles on my OEM front brakes and they are fine. Depends on your driving style.

Sounds like a scam to me. When I had an old beater pathfinder (had almost 200,000 mi) everytime I would go in to change pads or what not they wanted to turn my rotors, even after I had them replaced. It was like one of these brake shops where brake pads are lifetime guaranteed. That's where they make their money, in the other stuff. I just got my free replacement pads and told them to forget about the other stuff. Live and learn.

nah, even though I jus got my car recently I know the dude who was the orig owner and he's still got the stock brembo rotors on there up at 41k miles and 10k later in my hands it still works great.

just went thought something similar yesterday!!!

i have 52K on my 2003 z...i have never had the brake pads or rotors turned/replaced (i'm a cruiser, not a racer...lots of engine braking too and still on my first tranny and clutch). I went for an oil change yesterday and the tech came back out and said i needed to have my rotors turned and new pads - essp. the front. he quoted me $580!!!!!!!!! so i asked for a break down of the cost and it was $85 for front pads, $70 for rear, and the rest was labor or something. i said thanx but no thanx.

so i went to pep boys and bought low brake dust ceramic pads ($65, $50) and did the work myself. I left the z on blocks and took the rotors in to a small auto shop for turning - $50 total.

so i did the work myself (with a little help) for $165...go figure.

here is a helpful post if you decide to brave it: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ing+brake+pads

i fried my stock rotors and all that jazz. took my car in for a check up and boom they said i needed 600 bucks worth of work on the brakes. well i turned around and got the stoptech stage 2 kit its awsome for the price. ss brake lines slotted rotors and hawk pads. but just resently my brakes started actting up again. turns out i melted the dust cover on the right front....imagine wet paper folded and leaning agaist your rotor. but the paper is realy metal!!! ya so i had to rip those off. need to buy new center caps for my rims too.. yup tey melted. honestly i think i need a bbk... the inner rear pad on the left side of my car melted off the metal plate and i cant get the bolts out to replace it!!! i had the best vinyl you can buy on my callipers to.. 10yr averys and they can take over 500 degres for more than five minutes strate. and and take peaks over that. but all my graphics are burnt off. im guessing.....could be totaly rong..... but i think i could have hit 800 degreas peak for more than a few seconds...

btw my stock brakes only lasted me 9k. :/

wow, that's pretty hard core zmespeed. How did you manage all that?

$700 for a brake job + 15k service at a dealership seems normal. i wouldnt say you got ripped off. pretty normal for a dealership price. they didnt show (or you didnt ask to see) the warped rotor and the pad condition?

my 03 has a tad over 40k and i am absolutely limping right now with the brake system. front rotors are warped (more like destroyed) but i have a new set of pads on the front as a temporary setup... long story. and rear pads are squeeling, screaming "replace me!".

with my 40k, i have about 6-7 auto-x events 1 track day event. so i'd say i got a good life out of them haha.

i would honestly recommend the stage 2 upgrade from stoptech. tried-and-true setup at a great price. 699msrp includes 4 rotors/pads/ss lines/fluids.

i was gonna go with the stage 2 upgrade from stoptech but i got a great deal on some powerslot rotors. i am currently waiting on CRYOGENIC powerslot rotors, hp+ pads, ss/kevlar lines. gonna do a brake fluid flush with the new setup too. should be pretty good!

some german kids and one romanian were over in the stats and staying at my parents house. they saw my car and wanted a ride, so after three consecutive full out runs, about 10-15 minutes apeace. my stock rotors were glowing, literly like the sun.

i never even got beyond thrid gear. but i felt the need to speed cause the german kids had the autoban, and now they have a big smile on there face.:icon38:

i think driving the dragon at zdayz helped start the most recent melt down. (i was the guy that guy that always squealed around ever coner). but i think the first event helped mess up the dust covers a little.

From what ZMESPEED stated in the later post, hard driving (or really hard braking) over multiple consecutive times will wear down rotors, pads, even dust shields. Keep in mind that these are STOCK brake systems, and oh, BTW, the stock brake system is very similar to the ones they put on Altimas. Remember that the MFG did not design the brake system for anything other than the occasional hardcore usage.

Hey ZMESPEED, you had mentioned going BBK. I made that choice and went with Stoptec BBK, 13" rotors. I plan to run 17" wheels likely wider setup something like 275-40 front and rear. I've been running the original Potenza tires and then switched to Toyo T1Rs for track sessions, 10 track sessions so far and plan to switch to R compound tires next season, hence building the setup to meet the rigors of going to stickier tires.

I've been slowing adding things like Tein Flex full coilovers, Hotchkis front rear sway bars, among other things. Now with the Stoptech BBK, I'm getting closer to the setup that I need for the track. When my buddy and I installed the BBK, we actually had to cut away most of the dust shield in the front and all of it in the back for clearance. I actually bent my brake pad plate left rear, where it contacts the piston, as the brake pad wore down and the piston demolished the brake pad plate. This happended at Road Atlanta late last season.
My friend and I did the work in about 6 hours. Let me know if you have any questions on the Stoptech BBK kit.

Later dudes.

Drive a computer timer with brake lamp voltage............measure the time per mile day year you apply the brakes..................for a detailed analysis you need to also measure brake pressure.

If you install a loud buzzer on brake light circuit you will be surprised at how much longer your pads/rotors last...........just as a loud buzzer when you exceed 56 mph will increase MPG................without measurement there can be no behavior modification...........too much time between an action and the punishment...........unless you fill up everyday.

does the 13inch bbk still use the same master cylinder as the stock ones?
if so all you have to do to instail them is conect brake lines to car then lines to caliper bla bla. does it mess with abs?

Hey ZMESPEED,
Sorry for the delay in response. Yes, the stock master cylinder is still used. The kit comes complete with braided (and coated) lines, they have mount adjustments. An important thing to remember is that you need to bleed through both nipples on the calipers...I said nipples :)
I chose the 13" rotors b/c I wanted performance without increasing weight. Some people go the larger route but I didn't see any benefit other then blinging out. Before people start trying to say bigger is better, you should read up on Stoptech's website, the very informative writeup on sizing your BBK properly for your setup. A clue: lockup = bad.

Unless you're going some custom or large Nascar calipers, the stock master cylinder will work just fine. One of my instructors had a race prepared 300ZX and due to seriously upgrading the front calipers he had to use a Nissan Titan master cylinder. He put his front setup on his rears BTW.

Honestly, I'm not sure on the ABS. I suspect it will behave the same although I'm not sure completely. I'm not hitting another HPDE until early 07 and would be better positioned to comment then.
If anyone knows for sure on BBK affects on ABS, please do share.

Brakes are easy to work on. Everybody should get his/her hands dirty and save a bundle of $$$ by doing their own maintenance.

I'm impressed. From reading your posts, you're still running on street tires yet manage to go through a set of "race pads" in one track week-end. On 13" Stoptech? What are these pads made of? Wood???

I ran a full year of HPDE events on one set of Cobalt Friction SpecVR (11 days of 4x25 minutes sessions) and they still have meat left in them... I changed them because I figured it would be safer. Oh, and I changed the rotors just the other day, after 3 more track day (~190 miles). I'll admit I'm not the fastest guy out there, but one week-end? :rolleyes:

I'm at 30k miles and still on the OEM pads for the street.

Pads and rotors at 15k miles? That's not normal.

The only things I could think of are..... Something faulty from the factory??? Dealership taking you for a ride??? I think the most likely scenario is that your driving habits are out of whack. Riding the brake pedal constantly could definitely do the trick!

I've boiled off some brake fluid under extreme driving conditions. Enough for the low fluid to start tripping the brake light under hard accel/braking. I checked the pads/rotors and refilled the fluid. Everything was fine. I've checked my brakes twice since then. There is still plenty of pad left and the rotors are fine. Currently 30k miles on original pads/rotors. I even had the nissan mechanics check them out when replacing my front tires for feathering. (Ok so I'm a little paranoid, better safe than sorry)

I don't know what else to say... other than that definitely sucks.