With me it's mostly fluid fade, long spongy pedal travel after repeated hard braking.

 

i would be interested in hearing what people think about brembo oem & upgraded brembo setups vs Brembo/Stoptech/other BBKs... particularly from the 'feel' standpoint in addition to the heat resistance issue.

i started with stock brembos and found the pedal got too soft after a while
so, i changed to hawk pads.. but didnt like the feel. i felt things were worse.

then i switched to axxis ultimate pads, and got stoptech 1pc slotted rotors, motul rbf600 fluid, and ss lines. brake feel improved and fade doesnt seem to be an issue, no matter how hard i drive on the street

i must admit though -i feel that the brake feel could still be improved... im not sure if its my setup or what (ive heard about pad knockback or kickback) but the first application of brakes takes a little more pedal distance than the 2nd.
im not sure that its air either as ive bled the system a number of times.....
regardless, the feel is really good. im still curious to know what i would expect from something like a stoptech bbk in comparison

 

I think mine is pad fade, i was off the brakes for at least 30sec...then hit them hard around 140 and they grabbed for a sec or two and then let go a bit. We will see what happens when i get my Stop Tech Stage II's.

 

except that my Brembos are now almost black from overheating with melted dust seals...

 

You might want to rebuilt them to swap the inner seals then.

StopTech has a Ti backing plate application for the 350Z Brembo. It might help reduce the caliper temp. But then it's the rotors (and eventually the bearing) that'll take the heat...

 

Pad fade = solid brake pedal but no more brake torque
Fluid fade = spongy pedal

 

I don't have any pics right now, but basically I used plastic 2 inch collector plumbing fitting down to a 1.5 inch plastic hose running to a steel 1.5 inch flange bolted to the backing plate through which I had cut a 1.5 inch hole to match the flange.

The whole thing is zip tied to hose clamps bolted to the plastic undertray to position the collectors right at the front of the car. The hose is routed over the sway bar and connects to the backing plate at the rear of the hub.

This is experimental using hardware store parts for less than $70. It works to some extent because the difference is fade takes longer to occur and now my recovery time after fade is much quicker.

The problem is getting into the centre of the rotor because the hub blocks most of your access points. Plus 1.5 inch hose is probably too small to move enough air. Definately a work in progress and not developed well enough to recommend yet!

 

I've tracked a 350Z 28 times in the last year on many different road coarses running in the advanced group. My comments are based on attending high speed track events, not on all out racing. If you've got Brembos, and you don't have a lot of track time and you don't know exactly what you want, this will work:

1. Stainless steel brake lines and ATE Super Blue brake fluid. This is a must!

2. Quality RACE pads such RacingBrake 900's, Hawk DTC70, or Carbotech XP10 Front, XP8 rear. Each has there advantages. I like the RacingBrake pads. My car get driven on the street some, and they don't squeal. If you are just starting starting and want a pad better suited to a mix of street and track use, go with their 700 series. What ever you get, make sure you break them in properly, it makes a big difference..

3. Depending on how deeps your pockets are, consider going to the Bear Frozen Rotors or the RacingBrake 2 piece rotors. My preference is for plain, but I will use slotted. I will not use cross drilled. It is OK to wait until you need them.

4. Do NOT put cross-drilled rotors on the track and brake hard, you will crack the rotors. Crossed drilled rotors are for street use and may offer a small advantage in initial braking if it is wet. I would not put them on anything I drive.

5. If you've got the time and ability, cooling ducts will help.

Driving and braking hard, the only brake issue I have with the setup mentioned above is pad wear. Remember that the tires and suspension changes you make will have an affect on the brakes. A stock suspension with street tires is much easier on the brakes that running 275 Race compund tires on the front. The wider softer tire generates a lot more tire to track grip that works the brakes a lot harder.

So far I'm convinced I'd rather pay for pads than for a big brake kit. I talked to another Z owner at Road Atlanta that switched from Brembo to a big brake kit and did not think it was worth it. I don't remember what he switched to.

 

Dam Boy! 28 track days in one year -- outstanding!

Any info you can share on brake cooling duct setups would be greatly appreciated. I know Stillen has/had a kit but that seemed to be specific to their front bumper. Any other vendors sell brake cooling kits for the 350Z?

 

On one of my previous cars (96 Accord) I had a SSBC (Stainless Steel Brake Corporation) 2 Piston 13" 1-piece rotor setup with stainless steel lines in the front ONLY. The car had full suspension (Tanabe Pro SS Coilovers, F&R STB, F&R Sways, F&R Lower Tie Bars, 18" wheels). After initial bed-in I can repeatedly decelerate hard from 90 - 10 more than 10 times. Everytime I performed a stop, the next stop got exponentially more powerful, it seemed the theses brakes needed to get HOT to perform to their maximum, yet on the street, when cold, they stopped eons better than my setup now. Was the reason for that due to the pads that were packaged in this kit, or the rotor size? The name of the pad escapes me though.

 

Pads...

 

Yup, it was great. Then my wife got the bills .....

I have not ducted my brakes. Every time I get under there I can not convince myself that I can get enough air to the right spot to make a difference. It may be why there are no kits available. The hard part is an air chamber that will get the air to the inner ring of the rotors. To combat the heat problem I switched to RacingBrake 2 piece rotors and so far they seem to be handling the heat very well. No discoloration and no cracking. I guess if they start to show signs of heat I'll re-visit the ducting issue again. The SCCA regs have a part number for a NISMO duct kit that they are allowing (99996-Z3344), but no dealer can find the part by that number.

 

Here are some pics of my makeshift brake ducting. Crude, but does improve time to fade and fade recovery on the track.