badkarma85

iTrader: (1)

For those of you who went from a non-brembo brake setup to the oem brembo setup, was there a noticeable difference in terms of braking performance? Or was the difference merely aesthetic? Be truthful!

I have the opportunity to purchase a set of oem brembos around the 1.4k mark, should I? Or is it better to save up for a set of Wilwoods/Stop-techs which are much more?

Thanks in advance!

frizille

iTrader: (3)

Subscribing as I'm interested as well.

My guess, and I'm not an expert by any means, is it will come down to how much use and what sort of conditions. If you're talking about doing longer sessions then a StopTech/Endless/etc kit is the way to go. If you're talking about doing shorter sessions then the OEM Brembo's will work fine. The question is at what point do the Brembo's start to fade but that is really dependent on the pads being used so it's hard to get a feel for - is it the Brembo's size that matters or the pad choice? Either way you're better than the OEM non-Brembo's which personally I can't wait to get rid of (come-on tax return!).

Chef-J

iTrader: (58)

save up for other brand !

davidz33

iTrader: (7)

Can't find the link, but somewhere in this forum there was a side by side performance tests of oem non-brembo vs oem brembo vs stoptech (i think,,,) look for it, and you may find your answer there.

cdoxp800

iTrader: (12)

Paul has the Wilwoods on sale.

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334666

Ahsmo

iTrader: (13)

I did the swap.

At this point, purely aesthetic. When I was NA I used to drive on the back roads without fear of going out of control. I had a bit of brake fade with the non-brembo brakes. With the brembos, I didn't experience any brake fade.

Worth it for the looks? No. Worth it for the lack of brake fade? Not really. Just get better pads, brake fluid, and rotors and be done.

Use the extra money and buy some stock or something useful haha I paid just about the same for mine.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

The entire point with going to Brembos is that the number of times you can brake HARD is going to go up exponentially. The larger rotor size and monoblock caliper are extremely efficient at retaining and shedding heat (vs. the OEM brakes). But if you're just street driving your Z, that may not be worth it. Take it to the track and the Brembos are worth their weight in gold!

badkarma85

iTrader: (1)

Googled it and found it, great read, thanks!

http://www.zeckhausen.com/Testing_Brakes.htm

z-u-later

iTrader: (43)

This may have been true with pre-'06 non-Brembos. The '06+ non-Brembo fronts are much larger than the '03-'05 non-Brembos, BUT just a tad smaller than the Brembo fronts. Has anyone, who owns an '06+ non-Brembo done the swap and can actually feel the difference?

SuperBlack350z

iTrader: (59)

when i bought my car, my oem brakes got so crappy. When i switched over to the brembo, of course it felt tons better. It's nothing more than looks but i foudn with teh right pads, stainlesslines and fluid, feels a lot better.

jlimquest

iTrader: (2)

I did the swap for aesthetic value as I don't really drive my car hard but needed the extra insurance due to the turbo. However, the performance difference is night & day which I believe was well worth the investment. I did upgrade to Hawk HPS pads, slotted Brembo rotors & SS lines. $1400 for the set is a good price BTW. Here's some before & after pics.

TimeAttkZ

iTrader: (14)

I was in this position and I needed brakes fast. I got the Stoptech stage 2 kit and I love them. You don't have to spend alot of money and you get better pedal feel with some better looking slotted rotors. If you want to get a BBK, I would suggest spending a couple more hundred and going with a Stoptech or AP racing front kit. Scratch the OEM Brembo's, Id only rock em if they came with the car. Sometimes when you buy OEM Brembo's off someone, you end up getting new upgraded slotted rotors for them... And that more $$ spent. Plus I didn't want the gold look with my time attacks, so I would have had to powder coat them red and thats again... more $$ spent. With the Stoptechs or AP's you have a new BBK with the color of your choice.

BlueberryYumYum

iTrader: (12)

nice input guys... Was debating about switching over to the OEM Brembo's as well but i wont be doing anything crazy besides the basic bolt ons.. So upgraded lines and pads it is although brembos are baller

syndacit

Eh why bother with brembo, when you can just go with Endless 12 piston BBK :P :P oh and that was sarcasm.....$10,000 to stop O.o