I recently purchased my 2003 350z Silverstone, and after a few thousand miles it seems I need new brake pads and rotors. The dealer (when I brought it in for maintenance) suggested I change both pads and rotors in the front, and pads in the rear, but their price was rediculous. Instead I purchased some cheap pads ($120 for 4) and had a tire place install them. Only weeks after using these new pads they are making all kinda noise again.

I'm going to pickup the car and make sure everything is alright, but I think that the truth is, I just need new rotors (probably only in the front).

I have a few questions.

Is it normal for a 2003 to need rotor replacement after 3 years and 36k miles?

What type of brake kit should I go with (without breaking my *** on the price)?

Will I get less mileage on performance brake pads (with nice rotors)?

I'm not too nice to my breaks, and I use them alot because I mostly drive in city traffic. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

I've been shopping a bit online and going through some posts on here and came across the EBC rotors and pads.

http://www.car-stuff.com/performance...e=78&category=

GD7122 - Front Brake Disc Set, (Set Includes 2 Rotors, One Left And One Right), Drilled And Slotted Sport Rotors, Gold, 11.0 Inch Diameter, Dimpled Hole Construction, Wider Slots Expel Gases And Stay Cooler, Gold Zinc Coated To Prevent Corrosion. 12.8" Diameter Rotor

GD7123 - Rear Brake Disc Set, (Set Includes 2 Rotors, One Left And One Right), Drilled And Slotted Sport Rotors, Gold, 12,7 Inch Diameter, Dimpled Hole Construction, Wider Slots Expel Gases And Stay Cooler, Gold Zinc Coated To Prevent Corrosion. 12.7" Diameter Rotor

http://www.car-stuff.com/performance...e=12&category=

DP31644C - Front Brake Pad Set, Red Stuff Ceramic, For Highly Tuned And High Horsepower Cars, Best For Fast Street Driving and Heavy Duty Braking. Pads Feature Centre Line Slots To Prevent Cracking, Edge Chamfers To Reduce Noise. Up To 50% Less Dust Than Standard Pads. EBCs New Brake In Coating Which Cleans Up Rotors And Accelerates Pad Break In. For Race Use Use EBC Yellow Pads. Also For This Application Try EBC Sport Rotor Part Number GD7122

DP31537C - Rear Brake Pad Set, Red Stuff Ceramic, For Highly Tuned And High Horsepower Cars, Best For Fast Street Driving and Heavy Duty Braking. Pads Feature Centre Line Slots To Prevent Cracking, Edge Chamfers To Reduce Noise. Up To 50% Less Dust Than Standard Pads. EBCs New Brake In Coating Which Cleans Up Rotors And Accelerates Pad Break In. For Race Use Use EBC Yellow Pads. Also For This Application Try EBC Sport Rotor Part Number GD7123



Would this brake kit fit in factory wheels, and also could i use factory calipers? THANKS

 

The 122 @ 123 are for Brembos U need the first 2 if ur not Brembo

 

I'm sorry, can u explain exactly what this means, and how much in parts would need to convert me to brembo, thanks.

 

Well the Brembos are the Big Brake set up on the higher end Zs ---If u want to convert,, rotors will be supplied along with pads. But figure on spending 4000.00

 

ahh makes sense now, well this setup will cost around $500 shipped.

http://www.car-stuff.com/performance...e=78&category=

GD7120 - Front Brake Disc Set, (Set Includes 2 Rotors, One Left And One Right), Drilled And Slotted Sport Rotors, Gold, 11.0 Inch Diameter, Dimpled Hole Construction, Wider Slots Expel Gases And Stay Cooler, Gold Zinc Coated To Prevent Corrosion. 11.6" Diameter Rotor

GD7121 - Rear Brake Disc Set, (Set Includes 2 Rotors, One Left And One Right), Drilled And Slotted Sport Rotors, Gold, 12,7 Inch Diameter, Dimpled Hole Construction, Wider Slots Expel Gases And Stay Cooler, Gold Zinc Coated To Prevent Corrosion. 11.5" Diameter Rotor

http://www.car-stuff.com/performance...e=12&category=

DP31636C - Front Brake Pad Set, Red Stuff Ceramic, For Highly Tuned And High Horsepower Cars, Best For Fast Street Driving and Heavy Duty Braking. Pads Feature Centre Line Slots To Prevent Cracking, Edge Chamfers To Reduce Noise. Up To 50% Less Dust Than Standard Pads. EBCs New Brake In Coating Which Cleans Up Rotors And Accelerates Pad Break In. For Race Use Use EBC Yellow Pads. Also For This Application Try EBC Sport Rotor Part Number GD7120

DP31666C - Rear Brake Pad Set, Red Stuff Ceramic, For Highly Tuned And High Horsepower Cars, Best For Fast Street Driving and Heavy Duty Braking. Pads Feature Centre Line Slots To Prevent Cracking, Edge Chamfers To Reduce Noise. Up To 50% Less Dust Than Standard Pads. EBCs New Brake In Coating Which Cleans Up Rotors And Accelerates Pad Break In. For Race Use Use EBC Yellow Pads. Also For This Application Try EBC Sport Rotor Part Number GD7121


Should I have a problem putting this system into otherwise factory wheels?

 

Bout right ---My Stop-Teck setup was about 7-8 and yes ---No prob on install. I would recommend Stainless steel brake lines

 

back up a minute

You said the brakes were "making noise" - exactly what type of noise was it making, and under what conditions?

throwing parts at the car may or may not solve the problem - but you have to track down what the problem is in the first place

 

ok well this is my situation.

About 2 months after i had the car (35,000 miles) I brought it to the dealership near my house. They gave me the run around and tried to charge me $350 to check my fluids and do an oil change. I ended up just getting th oil changed with full synthetic for $45. While they were changing the oil they gave me the "free inspection" and told me that my front rotors needed to be turned but were too thin, and that my front pads were %90 worn and back %85 worn. I dont know how much of this was bull**** they were throwing at me, but basically they wantted around $800 for the parts and labor. After nicely telling them to F*ck off, I went to a parts dealer and got some cheap pads for around $120 (front and back). I had them installed and again was told my rotors are pretty thin(front).

Now, about 3 weeks after having the new pads on, I'm hearing a very harse grind when backing out of my driveway every morning, and for the first few stops I make. I had my dad check it out, and we think its comming from the front two wheels. The front rotors are noticeable thin, but none of them are grooved. Replacement rotors from the same parts dealer is about $100 each.

This method would get the whole situation straight and be cheaper then any other full brake setup. I would keep my existing setup for a backup or what not.

Please shoot me some advice, thanks!

 

I bought my car with 28K and ended up changing the pads and turning the rotors about 1-2K later. I changed to my third set of pads about 30K later.

 

NOTHIX-----I ----Think ---- I have a set of rotors that can be turned--I will mic them if u are interested and even have them turned if they will mic out.----Then ---Go to a little softer Pad. And start to learn to use brakes as little as possible--Its second nature to me and I get 40,000 + out of a set of brakes. People swear they dont, but many over brake and after several thousand over brakes. they have wasted 20,000 miles of brake life. Little things add up

 

you need a set of rotors for sure from the sounds of it. You cannot automatically slap new pads onto old rotors unless the old rotors have sufficient thickness on them

 

Thats right --its just a dam waste of time and sloppy, no offence, U need to break the glaze and cut out the hi spots on the rotor for the rotor and new pads to work as a team----Im a little preplexed at the 90% and 85% ratio on urs --unless they were just lying---I could see a 90% 50% ratio maybe. And it seems to me that an awful lot of Z owners are having to replace rotors !!!!!

 

I was fixin to walk out the door----Mic'ed the rotors I have and have a 15.3 mm on the fronts ---Min. is 14.0 mm so fronts can be turned---Rears dont have a Min. cast in to them but have ZERO Ridge so --well within tolerance

 

no offense e***zzzzy but I think I'm gonna start fresh and get out of the habbit of replacing one broken thing with another less-broken thing. I plan on keeping my car for many years and dont mind investing a little money into it to ensure that I have quality parts. I think I'll just buy this break kit and easy my mind about it.

Another problem that I did not mention is the fact that my emergency brake doesnt not work well. In fact it hardly slows the car down at all. I hope this is the same problem and will be fixed with the new brakes. Thanks for all the help, and I appreciate your time.

 

I was offering an alternative incase u needed some time to "get it together" on ur disision

E-Brakes have nothing to do with ur problem but I wrote up a thread that will help u adjust them and set then up https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....3&goto=newpost

This is a cut and Paste of it

The E-Brakes should be self adjustable, It is a shoe brake that is no differant than what was on a 57 Chevy as a standard drum brake, There has been no refinment. Its design is over 60 yrs old.
BUT--- as we all know, they do get out of adjustment. If u dont drive with ur E brake on or use it for race purposes the shoe will last a VERY long time. Possibly for the life of ur car, all it does is lock the rear wheels at a dead stop.
But **** happens---U get cable stetch, u get freeze up on the star adjuster and if u seldomly use ur E Brake, because of crap that gets in the cable, when u do use it, it will lock in a engaged state.
Pull off ur rotors,Spray everything with Brake Cleaner,disassemble the E-Brake components keeping in mind which spring goes where,and whats up and down on the shoes. Lay everything in order next to u, there is the adjuster on top called the star adjuster,make sure u make a mental note of which end faces front and rear, Spray again including shoes. At pivot points and wear points on the backing plate apply a small amoint of Hi temp Brake assy grease, unscrew the adjuster making sure the threads are cleaned and lube them.
Re assemble with the adjuster all the way screwed in. Measure the distance across the shoes and the rotor drum, run ur adjuster out til u get within slightly less than rotor drum DIA. Making sure every thing is centered and the drum is tite against the hub, spin the rotor and readjust til it barely rubs, apply the E-Brake and chk again. That will compress and center everything. Repeat til u get that slight rubbing.
Disassemble one side at a time so u can reference it on reassy.

I went A-Z here just to explain all. Simple adjustment can be done by manually turning the star adjuster to tighten the gap between shoes and drum but disassembly helps in the very important clean and relube

 

i appreciate it and that little write up should help me a lot, I'll look into it when I install the new brakes

 

Good ---I did just find out though that there is a E-Brake adjustment that is done on the Z as per the factory manual that addresses cable adjustment and is a inside the car fix. Its a little bit of a pain also. But both will take care of the prob and cleaning and lubing is VERY important

I was too lazy to look earlier

 

Me and my dad struggled to get my new rotors on the front tonight, took us quite a bit of time. But hey, father son time eh?

We were kinda worried when we took it out for a test drive and heard very weird slipping noises. It only occured at low speeds, but it definatly wasnt normal and not tolerable.

It ended up only being the "gold" surface of the rotors wearing off (they look MUCH better now)


I took a few pics and the quality is horrible, but I thought I'd share. (I took them with my razr)


PS We plan to install rear rotors/pads tomorrow, and get this behind us.

On a side note, We are pretty sure that Firestone (tire shop) installed my pads incorrectly. They put the wrong pads on the inside (the same pads as the outside), it didnt slide over the little metal spring part. We will be making a pass back to the firestone to have a chat with them.

 

Great !!!! And u put the fronts on facing the right direction ( the drill holes ) Congrats !!!!!