In this one pic, why does it look like there is so much swept area being missed by the pads? It's as if the calipers are too small and the pads are not large enough to cover the full area of the rotor. Am I missing something?

 

Yeah, looks odd don't it?

The car had just gone for its break in of the brakes. The instructions say you should go from 60mph to 5mph 10 times in a row and not stop completely the whole time. When they stopped the car completely they did it with the E-Brake.

Not 100% sure why it looks like that though.

J-Ritt?

 

it seem like you skipped a section in the intructions for the rear, and thats why you dont have the full pad/rotor contact. you have to grind down the caliper mounting ear so that it is completely flush with the new adapter bracket. once you do this the caliper will drop down about another .25 inches and this will fix your problem. this happend to me when i installed mine. also if you like i can email you the actual illustration if you dont have theinstall manual. all this is on page 11.

 

Then Ill have to tell Rocky to read the instructions better next time when he install's new parts!

I didnt do the install. I just took pictures every now and then.

 

Good catch on the caliper!! This is why I love you guys!!! We will fix it next week when the car get's back from the stereo shop.

 

These are great pads, but, they are for the rear of the stoptech big brake kit. The front uses the Axis pads. Just in case they were installed differently...

I actually ran the Textar's at watkins glen in October (used PFC97's up front), and they held up extremely well.

 

I dont know where rocky installed those pads... I am going to ask him monday.

 

Jeff/Jason, it actually looks like you have blued the rear rotors?? Or is that just the pic?

 

It has something to do with them being new and heating up. Not really sure exactly. I wonder if Rocky *the installer* cleaned the "anti rust coating" off the rotor's before he installed them.

 

Do we really need a break that big in the back and will that cause the rear to lock up prematurely?

 

ZRed is spot on with his assessment of why the pads are not covering the entire rotor.

The rear will not lock up prematurely. Too much rear bias would lock the rears and cause a spin...we avoid that by optimizing the front to rear brake bias. This is done by using the appropiately sized pistons in the brake calipers front and rear. If a 2 wheel kit is installed...the front calipers are matched to the torque characteristics of the rear stock caliper.

 

Thank you for that!! I'm always learning new things daily!!!

 

have had the 4 wheel stop tech brakes with porsche rear pads and performance friction front pads for several months. They are awsome on the track and squeal like crazy on the street! But I love them. I do experience some "shudder" when first on the track but this gets smooth with some cleaning of the pads and HEAT.
Does anyone know of a tire trailer and hitch for the 350Z?

 

So if i did fronts only, then later on decided i wanted rears i would need a whole new 4 wheel brake kit with the appropriately sized pistons?

Also if i just get the 2 wheel kit and it's matched to the torque of the rear i won't be picking up any additional stopping power? I know your kits dissapate heat better than stock and benefits would be realized from repeated stops but what I'm really asking is what is the benefit from the 2 wheel kit for street situations?

 

Pad Shredder, try re-bedding your street pads once you swap them back on after a track event. Each time you swap between track and street pads, you should rebed them.


It depends on the application, but sometimes yes.



Again, the amount of brake torque we put on the front end depends on the application. Sometimes, the stock setup is front biased (most of the time for safety reasons), while other times, it has more rear bias than you would expect. The idea is, we figure out the optimum balance to use all 4 wheels to stop the car. For expample, a monstrous front caliper swap from another make of car (i.e. Porsche big red brakes) would put a huge front torque bias on the car...then your rear wheels are doing much...stopping distances can actually get longer than stock. That's the whole point of StopTech's system...we take the time to do the testing and make sure that does not happen when you add a big caliper.

As for the benefits on the street...they'll look pretty. Seriously, heat capacity IS the main benefit of a kit. Anyone that tells you a Big Brake kit is going to stop your car a massive amount shorter on the street is yanking your chain. Stickier tires do that. That said, proper brake balance can improve stopping distances by some feet...but that varies...and the difference is not as massive as many manufacturers claim. Lap 10 or 20 is where big brakes will make all the difference in the world.

 

thanks for all of your responses to my questions, you cleared alot up!

 

J Ritt: Thank you for responding to the questions on this thread. As a new distributor we are learning more each day from Forum Members, installation, and the responses from the manufacturers like yourself. We really love working on these cars and the support from you and others really keep the "FUN" part in it. Thanks again, Jeff

 

Thanks for posting that clarification. It often seems like a lot of people purchase expensive big brake kits assuming that their stopping distances are going to shrink dramatically, and then they are surprised when that's not the case. Many magazine reviews I've read have actually shown 60-0 distances *shorter* with the stock brakes! (But usually only a couple of feet.... if any.) The real difference is when they hit the brakes over and over and over, such as on a track or during some serious canyon carving. Then the stock brakes start to fade very quickly, while the big brake kits just keep on stopping consistently.

The only real exception to the stopping distance might be when the stock brakes of some model of car have excessive front (or rear) bias. This could make a car have abnormally long stopping distances. Then a Stoptech kit comes out that is more optimally balanced, and thus makes the car stop much shorter. It's not really the bigger brakes which are doing that, but rather the better front/rear bias. (And that's a good thing!) But isn't the Z's brake bias pretty good from the factory? (Brembo vs non-Brembo?)