370 Z/ G37 Akebono 14" BBK Installed
 

Ok, So I purchased these about a month ago off another member on My350Z. The original owner had bought the kit new from Infiniti of Riverside back at the beginning of summer along with the JDM bracket for the front brake calipers. He had also purchased the Motul RBF 600 Brake fluid and the Stoptech Stainless lines. The guy had the calipers powder coated Extreme Chrome which actually was more like a silver / grey in color and to be honest was not the highest quality job, or at least it was not to my standard.
The owner ended up never installing these brakes and so they were sold to me, powder coated but unused.

From the get go, these brakes have always intrigued me as a legitimate alternative to the other BBKs out there. Especially since the initial price paid was less than any front only BBK on the market. I felt this represented a tremendous value for a 4pot/2pot 14"-F/ 13.8”-R brake system that would utilize components that can purchased from any Infiniti/ Nissan dealer in the country. This means that replacement parts should I need any will always be readily available and relatively inexpensive.
Anyway, so once I received the brakes I purchased a set of Project Mu NS pads and the Extreme Chrome had to go, so I had them Powder Coated Orange, since Red has been done and I will leave Yellow for when I get Carbon Ceramics.

Install.
The install was pretty straightforward the kit is VERY complete including everything you need to install this on a G35 or G37....it is worth mentioning that the brackets require that you do some minor grinding to get everything to fit flush but it’s still nothing that your avg. shop would have any issue with and it wont affect you putting your stock calipers back on should you desire.

The front rotors do weigh a decent amount more than the G35 rotors but I would the say the G35 Calipers weigh the same amount more over the G37 calipers so it kinda balances out. I will be purchasing the slotted rotors as soon as they are available though (supposedly another week or so) so I can shed that additional rotational mass.

Driving Impressions.

First, WOOOW, These things stop great and the brake pedal is noticeably more firm. My only experience with a BBK is the Stoptech 6pot/4pot kit on my dad’s Viper. Having tracked that car extensively, I can say confidently that my G35 now stops every bit as well. (pads and tires have alot to do with this) I took the car to an empty road late at night to bed the pads in properly. I did about 6 or 7 hard 80-15mph stops.

After about the 4th stop I did notice the pedal travel increased a bit and got a tad spongy. The car seemed to still be slowing down just as rapidly as before despite the smell and the change in pedal feel. And the difference in brake force over the stock brakes was very apparent. The pedal did return to its normal firmness though within 1 or 2 minutes of driving. I think this might have had more to do with me still bedding in the pads and the fact that the NS is an aggressive street pad and NOT a track pad thus is less aggressive than say the P-Mu B force pads.

Because my car is a daily driver, I decided that it was more of priority for me to have brakes that stop great cold and do not squeak rather than having a fade proof pad that requires a lot of heat to work their best. I will be purchasing some more aggressive Carbotech Pads for the track and or canyons.
Infiniti of Riverside claims the master cylinder and booster in the g35 is sufficient for these brakes and I think so too. I however am inclined to maybe purchase the master cylinder and booster that came on the Brembo equipped cars or the G37's unit (if it will work) just to see if it makes a difference.

All in all, the brakes look great!! They stop heads and shoulders above what my stock brakes did and do it for a relative bargain. Its also cool to a slightly different BBK from the standard Stoptech, AP and Rotora other have.

I have only put about 10 miles on my car since the install but once I get some more miles on them in the coming days, I will offer more vivid thoughts on the performance of these things.


More pictures to come

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...kecaliper1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...kecaliper2.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...PICT0570-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...PICT0571-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...PICT0572-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...PICT0573-1.jpg

can you post pics here? too lazy to click.

Thx for the write up. For the price these cant be beat.

I would have left them with their oe finish...

nice setup tho for $2k.

$2k , i would have paid a little more and got something with 2 piece rotors.

these will have 2pc rotors in a couple of weeks...they are not available yet for these brakes.

just pasted the entire thread here

Good looking kit. I thought that the Akebono rotor is a 2-piece rotor with a black hat?

nope its a one piece rotor and the hat was powder coated

ttt

So you picked these brakes up. I remember when they were for sale. Great write up, I'm thinking about getting me a pair.

Nice

just ordered a front set.
Any more feedback on this?

So was your car already equipped with brembos? Or did you make these fit onto your oem/non brembo setup??

My car did not have brembos. It was equipped with the factory 2005+ brakes.

As far as driving, I love the way they perform for the most part.
I do feel like the pedal travel needed to really get the brakes grabbing is longer than I think is ususal. I've been meaning to go back to the shop and have them re bled. I think there might be a bubble in the lines somewhere.

But aside from that lil detail, when i jump on the brakes pedal the car just STOPS! There no drama, no noise, vibrations or anything.

I have not had the oppurtunity to take them up to the canyons and really wring the car and these new brakes out, due to all the rain we've been having lately here in SoCal, but I will as I'm axious to see how they react once they really get worked.

It is worth noting that I do have the Project Mu NS pads and not the stock Nissan pads. I am also awaiting the release of the 2pc slotted rotors from anyone who finally gets around to building them.

Ok, so I've been gone for a while but now I'm back....I've had a few weeks with the brakes and all I can say is D*MN they stop. I have BFG KDW2 tires that are worn down and have really gotten hard due to multiple heat cycles from the track. Even with these tires, the brakes still stop like crazy and if I want, will fairly easily over power the tires activating the ABS.

I actually just let my friend drive my car today. He has a Z with a 14" 6/4 stoptech kit on and so i was curious to get his impression on the kit. Well, he was very impressed. He actually commented on the fact that the he preffered the pedal feel of my kit to that of his own. My predal as I mentioned in the earlier post is stiffer but not super still and required more travel than I expected to really get the pads biting. I now amend my comments, to saying the pedal travel and feel is stock same as it was stock.

Also while riding as a passenger in my car with him driving, I really got the chance to appreciate the power of these brakes, I actually felt like the seatbelt was going to collapse my chest, I then began to giggle like a 12yr old school girl.

I have still yet to hear a peep from them in term of noise and the car feels very predictable and stable under the hardest of braking which indicates to me that the proper brake balace is still maintained.

I personally do wish there was a bit less pedal travel in the brake; not a big deal by any stretch but something I would prefer, my friend on the other hand loves the pedal travel and the ability to modulate the brakes force that is afforded.

But all in all, Im absolutely in love and can not wait to hit the canyons with these!

do you have any track days coming up to see how they hold up there?

ttt

is that a yes?

I do not have any track days that I'm signed up for coming up. Im going to be traveling too much in the coming months to track, however if there happens to be one on a weekend Im free i may go up. I need to replace my front tires, and do a few other things before I put my money into goin back to the track,