JENZ350

Hi Guys,
Just got my Z 3 weeks ago. 04 Tourning no mods im aware of...i want to upgrade the brakes from the stock ones, but have seen so many different brands im overwhelmed.. cant afford brembro..so i was given some prices for these brands...Ferodo pads/calipers and ST Performance rotors..came to around $300..are these good upgrades or should i look for some other brand? i dont track the car, but i am planning a trip to the dragon! any help with this would be great as im REALLY mechanically disfunctional..but learning..Thanks

ThE_JacO

SS braided lines should be the first upgrade imo, squishy rubbery lines on a car like a Z are an insult.
If you don't want to buy slotted or drilled rotors stock ones will pretty much do the trick, and at that point pads don't make that much of a difference anyway.

Get a kit with a decent fluid, SS braided lines, hps or hp+ pads and decent slotted rotors (st are good value for money) and you'll be fine, you can find them by the bucketload in the vendors classifieds with various offers.

You're better off looking into the 500-600 bucks range at least though for that kind of upgrade.
300$ for rotors and pads won't buy you anything better enough than nissan OEM to bother.

As for the calipers, I assume that's a mis-reading or mis-typing on your end.
You would probably get used nissan micra calipers for 300$, definitely nothing that is an upgrade for a 350Z, let alone with rotors and pads included.

What kind of driving and how much braking do you plan on doing anyway? Lines will give you better and different pedal feedback and response pretty much right away, but don't expect a change of brakes, even an expensive one, to advertibly brake better.
The point of 99% of the brake upgrades are better operation under stress and heat, not reducing stopping distance. To reduce stopping distance on an emergency braking get good tyres

Same goes for choice of pads, there's tons of elements to them (and rotor+pad combos), and you can't win them all. It's always a balance between cold braking, heat resistence, noise, dust, rotor wear, pad wear etc.
You can't have a pad that lasts, is gentle on the rotors, doesn't dust and still works well at high temperatures. It's always getting a good balance between three or four elements (or less for more extreme application) you're interested in and having to forsake to some degree the rest.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Welcome. The number of potential brake options is unlimited. You mention calliper and $300. Doubt if you will find a complete brake for one wheel for $300. Can you point to an advertisement? THanks.

ThE_JacO

Either he forgot a 0, or I imagine he's still coming to grips with brake parts terminology and threw the word caliper in there thinking of something else

For the latter, a quick browse through wikipedia for:
-Brake Calipers
-Caliper Pistons
-Brake Lines
-Brake Rotors
-Brake Pads
-Brake Fading/Fade
and some time to think it over should demistify a lot.

I'd recommend searching through the forums too, but if my experience is anything to go by searching for brakes info returns something about Obama and elections in the offtopic section

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Like

Obama Vows to Give Taxpayers a Brake.

JENZ350

Thanks for the info...the person was a local guy that owns raceshopper.com...talked with him on the phone about what i was going to do with the car....my braking needs are basic...but with the trip im planning to the driving roads of North Carolina, i wanted to make sure i had enough stopping power for the mountian roads..not so worried about stopping distance as i would be about brake fade..

ThE_JacO

If it's just for safety for mountain road driving, the oem brakes will be fine imo.
I've driven heavier cars than the Z with much smaller brakes down some pretty fing scary roads, and if you're not constantly gunning it down and braking hard to correct, and pick gears well, you can do several hours of downhill before brakes fade advertibly.
But then I've pretty much grown up traveling back and forth from the city to the Dolomites on the Austrian border every weekend for decades, and driven those routes from 18 on, so mountain driving kinda runs in the family.

For some added fade resistance, if you have no track days planned, slotted rotors + decent pads will be plenty added safety margin, and SS braided lines are my fav brake upgrade personally (the only instantly gratifying one at least ).

For stoptech rotors, hps pads, noname or stoptech lines (or more rarely goodridge), and decent fluid, which is probably the most popular and peddled combination you'll find in the classifieds:
To stay on the cheap you can just do front rotors and pads if the back ones are still fine. That with F/R lines and fluid will probably set you back around 400.
Add the back and you're around 650.
Nothing wrong with that setup and very easily accessible.

If your guy is selling you ferodo pads (which ones?) and slotted ST rotors for 300$ F/R that's pretty damn good. I'd still add lines and decent fluid though. If it's only front it's nothing shockingly cheap, more or less the market price if not a little bit expensive.

Some other brands would set you back considerably more, and I doubt the difference would be worth it for such a simple and small upgrade.
I wouldn't go below that threshold though. There's only that much you can cheapen on brakes before you get something that cracks at the slots (DBA's stupid designs anyone?)

JENZ350

DS2500 pads

ThE_JacO

and is the 300 for just front rotors and pads and nothing else?

JENZ350

the pads were priced at $113, the ST rotors were 195.46...

JENZ350

yes fronts only

Slow*Jim

iTrader: (5)

I didn't feel a single damn difference when I installed my StopTech lines, even on the track. And I don't feel like quoting your entire post, but you may want to double-check your statement on pads not making that big of a difference.

Pads and rotor temperature are EVERYTHING when it comes to braking.

edit: stay away from the hawk hp-s pads if you ever plan on taking your car to the track. There are way better pads for the money - EBC Yellow, Project Mu, Hawk HP+, etc.

ThE_JacO

Always made a world of difference for me on 4 cars I consecutively upgraded that on, The Z being probably the 2nd one I felt most difference on, and that's driving mine without the lines (waiting to place an order on a kit), and a friend's who's only got upgraded lines and hps pads.

I should probably rephrase that then.
What I mean is that if you keep flat rotors, and only change oem pads for just a branded street pad of the kind meant to not squeal, dust or wear fast, I seriously doubt it's gonna make any difference for downhill driving. Plus many of the better performance pads and their operational temperatures are meant to go hand in hand with better rotors.
My statement is only meant for the context it was made in, not in general

I don't think they even try to tell people HPS is for track use.
Their offer for autoX, occasional track use and street performance all wrapped up is HP+.
I agree with that in full, but the OP said he's not after track performance.
I liked EBC, never tried the ferodos he lists or project Mu.