front brake options
 

i'm finally down on my list to the point of taking care of my front brakes. the several time turned 1990 26mm front rotors apparently warped within a couple hundred easy miles of the last time i had them turned. i'm looking at my options:

all options will include ss lines and new pads whenever i do the job, and i will probably end up with a MC brace just for fun. it's looking like i'll get around to it in may.

with used 30mm calipers, and new OEM 30mm rotors, i can make out fairly cheap. but, i figure that if i'm doing it, i may as well upgrade a bit.

other options i've considered all use OEM 30mm calipers. there is the 350z rotor conversion (does this need a caliper relocation bracket?), and there is the z1 oversized kit with a fairly decent price ( http://www.importpartspro.com/z1bigbrfrup.html ), but i don't like that one a whole lot because of all the bad i've heard about drilled rotors. there is also the brembo kit that rolls in around $3k. that one's out.

so, i'm looking to do the best that i can for under $1k, on the fronts alone. what would you all suggest as the best bang for the buck on the front brakes? any options that i haven't mentioned (i'm sure there are, but are there any better ones?)? i also really don't think i need to spend 1k on it, but that's what i'll be willing to spend if there is an option that offers a significant benefit over others to make it worth it. i think $500 sounds more reasonable and i expect that the 350z rotors can be put on for around that?

thanks!

well dang. looks like i should have searched even MORE before posting. looks like not one of the oversized kits will work with stock wheels. i guess it's just down to which rotors to go with.

so.... what rotors do we suggest? any other options?

There are kits that work with stock wheels... VR4 rotor kit (ZTuner.com - requires front spacers, but nothing else) and the MWS Motorsports kit (MWSMotorsports.com). You'd need 30mm calipers for both kits, I believe.

sweet. checking them out now. thanks.

how bad are the spacers? really bad for the wheel bearings? or will it end up being the same?

There's the Skyline brake kit, but I'm not sure if they still sell this. That's what I have. I've been happy with it. Comes with 4 drilled rotors and larger front calipers. It ran about $1k when I bought it about 8-10 years ago. I haven't even changed the pads since then, but then again I've hardly driven the car in the past 5 years.

I hear what you're saying about drilled rotors. I'm wondering how much of the negative press around drilled rotors is over-hyped.

There is a strict dichotomy between good and bad cross drilled rotors. I've given this spiel multiple times, but I don't think ever on this forum, so here it is.

There are rotors that are meant to be drilled and there are rotors that are not meant to be drilled. Cheap ones are the latter, expensive ones (like the ones that come with Stoptech and Wilwood kits) are the former. Cheap ones are manufactured blanks that are drilled and sold as "cross drilled." They do not have spiraled veins and are drilled purely for decoration (the veins in addition to the drilling is where the extra cooling comes from). Good cross drilled rotors have spiraled veins that help draw air out, thus increasing the cooling ability. I believe that the Skyline kit does have spiraled veins to help the cross-drilling, but most of the "cross drilled rotors" on the market are just for decoration. Furthermore, the high-end ones are manufactured to be stronger to begin with to resist the structural weakening caused by drilling. The ones designed to be blanks aren't manufactured this way, and that is why some of them will develop spider cracks around the holes. But ultimately, the benefits of cross drilled rotors on an otherwise stock kit is minuscule... BAMFBK's will benefit more and only really under high-heat conditions of racing. They will *never* make a difference in normal driving or emergency stop situations.

And the "Skyline Brake Kit" is basically a Z32 kit with *slightly* thicker calipers and rotors... no offense to you, 91zxtt, since you already have it, but for the cost, it's become a joke when you consider kits like the MWS and VR4 kits which give more surface area, which translates to more braking leverage.

As for spacers, search. The 15mm spacers won't make a huge difference in anything... I wouldn't be reluctant to do it at all. In fact, prior to purchasing my 17" wheels, I had every intention of going with the VR4 kit.

thanks for the good responses. it's good to have the cross-drilling question cleared up.

thanks for the first hand advise on the skyline kit too.

I originally purchased Brembo drilled and slotted stock rotors from sportbrakes.com. I bought the Brembos for the quality that the name represents. I didn't want to spend my money on the Raybestocrap level of rotors. The Brembo rotors come as blanks and then someone else did the drilling and slotting. The gamble is with the drilling and slotting being done in a balanced manner.

There are rumors that these d/s rotors crack. Mine were used hard and tracked a number times, and I went through two sets of pads without any cracks or warpage.

The rotors are still performing well on my kid's slicktop since I went to the Wilwood BBK.

thanks for the response. i think that since i don't see any larger wheels in the near future, i'm going to go with the MWS oversized but in stock wheel option. they look pretty good. a decent upgrade from stock for sure, and i'm not doing any track driving with my car. i just want a good feel out of the brakes, and i don't want to hit the next deer that jumps out in front of me.... it happens a lot around here.

but, it's good to hear a first hand response about the d/s brembos for future reference.

now that i have everyone's attention about brakes, here's another one:
what is to be said of the idea of removing the abs system? i'm pretty sure mine is not working, and i don't really care to have it working. i can pump brakes, and i think it would be nice to have one less thing to go wrong. especially in this area.

so, firstly, is there any immediate reason that this would be a very bad idea?

secondly, would it be terribly hard?

it probably won't be easy, you got the ABS controller to eliminate and the wiring for it so it eliminates alot of tubing and cleans it up a little, but no benefits other than that, and you CANNOT pump nearly as fast as the ABS can, its actually one of my favorite features on a car, it saved my Z32 once. you should probably figure out if yours is working first, if so, i'd recommend keeping it

20 times a second?
















Get it fixed (if it is broken) and keep it. Its benefits FAR outweigh its drawbacks and it will stop the car faster on a slippery surface than anything you could do.

yeah!


also, just get larger rims. lol.

http://arizonazcar.com/300zxbrakes.html

BAM!

if you don't do any track driving. just get the kit from coz that comes with the brembo rotors and stuff...

http://www.conceptzperformance.com/C...3970.232.83.79

there is another one that is about 100 bucks cheaper that comes with PBR metal master pads instead of the hawks.... that kit has everything you will need, lines, and some good quality fluid (which is important). You really have no need for larger brakes if your not tracking your car any other than the show aspect.

thats my $.02....

i'm strongly considering the kit in that link. i'm torn between 3 different things. larger rotors in front, or brembo rotors all around.i don't know yet. they all cost about the same.

anyway, you've talked me into keeping the abs lol. i have never experienced their benefit, so i didn't know that it was really that great. i've been afraid to try unnecessarily with my car because the rotors are so old. i'll see if it's working when i get new brakes on there.

if you want to see if they are working i suggest doing it when its wet and in a black-top parking lot so that its slick and isn't so stressful on the car. though i doubt you'd do damage since that is what its purpose is, its just smarter. i got me some fatty rotors, cut cool, huge diameter, and drilled, check em out, and theres two sets of each per front wheel!!! lol

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...r/P8200117.jpg

ahh very special snw!

the reason i'm worried about braking too hard unnecessarily is that for fear of the rotors warping more or breaking. not damaging the abs. i'll have new brakes on soon enough though, and i'll find out if it's working.

omg don't wanna warp the rotors already warped that your replacing!!!!! and i doubt you could break them

me too, but the car shakes so much under medium braking at medium speeds. it sounds weird, but i guess i'm just being over-cautious.

Agreed on the benefits of keeping the ABS. It will NOT warp your rotors. If the ABS light on your dash lights up when you start the car and then goes out shortly afterwards, your ABS is working fine.

haha no it stays on the whole time. i have done a bit of work to try to fix it, but never have gotten it.

i'll probably get the kit from coz as well.

i decided on the kit that goes to 12.1 and fits inside the stock wheels. seeing as i get no problems from my back brakes anymore, i figure i can save the money i would spend on them to upgrade the front, and go back to the rear in a little while longer. but the brake job just got pushed back as my carrier bearing went out again. Z1 one-piece for me!

What the hell are you doing to these driveshafts? My CSB is 5 years old and still fine.

well, like i've said, i believe it's because there is a bad u-joint. i think the carrier bearing's life is drastically decreased by the bad u-joint. that's why it's definitely a 1-piece this time!

i'm going with Z1 too. they completely sold me when they said they'd give me a free poster of a 300zx with Kandiss on it.