Some history...
I track my car on a pretty regular basis and the stock 07 brakes just never left me very satisfied. I was always having to back off under braking to keep the pads from fading (ran motul rbf600 so I never had an issue with fade there). Even with higher performance pads, I was still having fading problems after just a lap or two, depending on the track. Without a good race pad option for the later model calipers, I decided a while back to build a caliper bracket to allow the G37/370Z upgrade.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago...

I finally got the bracket configuration finalized and got a prototype set in from the machine shop. Bolted everything up to the car and swapped the oem rotors for a set of cross drilled rotors and oem pads for project mu B-force pads.

I was worried the larger calipers would cause a softer pedal, due to the increase in fluid capacity, but was pleasantly surprised to find a very firm, solid pedal. Even with brand new rotors and pads, I immediately noticed a difference in the pedal feel and bite. Just driving to my pad bedding area a few miles away, I already noticed a MASSIVE difference and while bedding, it just kept getting better and better.

After bedding everything in, the initial bite is great and the overall stopping power is even better. I'm running 275 wide toyos up front and if I don't modulate the brakes carefully they'll lock up and the abs will have to intervene. With the firm pedal, modulation is very easy and predictable, so they're not difficult to get used to at all, but there is a HUGE difference in stopping power and that does take a little getting used to, under heavy braking situations mostly.

Now to the track stuff...

I wanted to track test the new brackets before releasing the production sets so I signed up for the local nasa track day. These brakes are very impressive... I wasn't expecting this at all. With the pmu pads I was constantly able to brake later and later, until the tires just didn't want to take it anymore and started to get greasy from the heat. Driving the car as hard as I could, the tires started to grease up well before the pads started to fade heavily. I was consistently out braking street cars with great factory brakes (there were a few higher end porsches in my run group), street, track and race cars with race pads (i know as least one guy was running hawk blues, there were a few spec 944's, etc...)

I believe my much wider tires than most of the other cars had a lot to do with the extra braking grip, more so than just the brakes themselves, but I'm still impressed the pads were able to handle that much "abuse" and barely even flinch. I was not expecting that at all. Fade was minimal and never an issue and the pads would return quickly even if I just backed off to 9/10ths. I literally had to drive the tires off the car to start to get any noticeable fade.

I'm guessing when I move up to slicks on this car, I'll have to look at other pad options up front, but for now, and for anyone on street tires, this setup should be more than enough for pretty much any track.

Other mods on the car:
Bolt ons and ecu mods
jwt flywheel, 3.91 gears w/ limited slip rear diff
coilovers and sway bars
19" volks w/ 275/285 toyos
etc...

Click here for thread with more info on the parts


Now for some pics of course... (and yes, my lip took a shot from debris )

 

alot of people have reported rotor issues, on purely stock, street driven setups - curious to see how yours play out

 

^he doesn't have the oem rotors

 

good to see a nice review, I leaning toward this upgrade...but the weight of the whole set up kinda bother me....

 

Yeah, the rotor weight bothers me as well.
However, the added braking is worth it to me, so I'll deal with the weight penalty until I can afford to get a two piece setup down the road.


I've also seen issues with oem pads not holding up to track use on G37's. So far the pmu pads have held up and both pad and rotor wear has been very minimal.

 

You took a stock 350Z and added a body kit and spoiler increasing curb weight. Also big wheels and big tires compromise braking efficiency.

So with new brakes you essentually solved a braking problem that did not exist before the kit, wheels and tires.

 

What rotors are you running? I just recently purchased a complete 370 BBK set up from Concept Z Performance and I opted for the Slotted Stoptech rotors... I'm looking at a tracking my Z when I return home.

 

When you added a little spoiler and aero kit the weight increase isn't that much...typically less than 10 lbs of "sprung" weight. For 370z BBK that I researched, stock rotor each weights around 14 lbs while Stoptech drilled rotor each weights around 27 lbs of "unsprung" weight and that will make a huge different.

 

They're the Brake Pros/Stillen rotors. I've had the stoptech rotors on order for a long time, but they still haven't been able to give me a release date and I was tired of waiting. As soon as they get rotor blanks and start shipping again, I'll add them as an option with our kits.

Yeah, um no. I tracked the car when it was bone stock and I had the exact same braking issues then. The stock brakes are not meant for track use. They fade quickly and easily.

My wheels are lighter than the stock 07 wheels and I don't see any way to have a lighter weight, wider tire.

Also, as it sits now, my car is lighter than it was when stock.

 

OK cool. Thanks for the explaining.

 

Awesome pics... thats a nice freaking Z. Brakes look good as well.

What is the ground effects package (i.e. body kit) on there?

 

Great stuff.

 

Thanks. It's the Ings LX Sport lip kit.

 

Funny thing... stoptech rotors arrived in today... guess i spoke too soon.

 

I'm waiting for the 2 piece rotors.... to see how close they will weight to stock (non-brembo) 350z rotors......

 

For the record, the front stock rotors on the 370Z/G37 weigh 30 pounds each, while the rears are 21 pounds each. Our 14" BBK rotors with hats are just under 20 pounds each while the larger 15" rotors spec'd for those cars are about 21 pounds each.

 

any idea how much the 2 piece rotors will weigh?