I do like the looks of the brembos...a full one inch larger in the front, but I have never seen a brake stop comparison. I am thinking my brakes are probably overkill already (I run a 98 SE with sort of street sticky Goodyear F1 GS-D3's). I am only using Hawk HPS pads because I don't like my wheels and/or side of my car covered in brake dust each week and I am not racing on the track right now.
I do plan on getting into Solo events, we have a lot around me especially now my brother picked up a Porsche 996 and the PCA guys events are plentiful.
R & Ring my brakes is simple, but at the same time I don't want to do something with minimal performance. My plan is to get a garage (buying a house soon) and do a KAT conversion on my car (everything else is now done...but I live in an apartment and doing a KAT now would be rushed). However, if I can snag a set of Brembos that I see come up 'ugly' everyone in a while, I'd clean them up and powder-coat them again.
With my KAT I only plan for sub 350hp. I really don't want to deal with a 10sec daily driver. I want good midrange (street) power even if it sacrifices my ultimate times.
My R33 caliper's I had black powder-coated and I sanded the top of the lettering (tried to paint them white, but even with a 000 brush the paint was rolling off the powdercoat...once I sanded them they looked good as they were). I have open style wheels, and while it's not a common event...seeing someone stop while walking past my car and take a look at the brakes feels pretty good though.
My brother on the other hand is constantly talked to in traffic and while parking. He has got the full factory Aero kit, black on black with the carbon fiber package...picked up a 2000 model with only 30k on the clock and 2 owners. Less than $40k. Thing hauls a$$ even without a turbo and is extremely civilized yet sticks to the road.
Thanks
Å
Are the Skyline Brembos worth it on our cars? I have R33 GTST (296x30/297x18)..
Re: Are the Skyline Brembos worth it on our cars? I have R33 GTS ... (alkemyst)
I wanted to add, when I bought these calipers I really needed brakes (I had a broken rear right caliper and all my brakes were beyond servicable limits by the time my fiasco ended).
I bought a set of mint R32 GTR 296x32/297x18 calipers, rotors, ebrakes with all hardware.
What I got after 6 weeks was R33 GTST's with two front lefts (or rights), a rear caliper with a chunk missing...$30 in nuts and washers missing, and rear rotors 2mm out of spec and fronts that had to be turned to the last spec.
2 months later I got the proper front caliper...however none of my stuff was ready to bolt on...the brake lines had been cut but not plugged...I flushed them and total crap came out of them.
Then it was a matter of trying to order the rear brake caliper rebuild kits. another 2 months of promises...finally my wife was in Japan so picked up 6 sets. You can now get them easy since the 2006 WRX has the same kit on the rear sumitomo calipers.
Same thing with my GTST ebrake cables...she picked them up in Japan.
So I had to use these. I really wanted the larger 32mm front GTR's, but I was in a bind. If I had known the cost I ended up with I would have bought new fronts from Japan Nissan...I would have been about $500 over what I ended up paying, but I would not have had my whole white S14 covered in rust specks that took over a month working almost 64 hours to clean up + there is still some I am cleaning off each washing.
My brake job was a nightmare.
I bought a set of mint R32 GTR 296x32/297x18 calipers, rotors, ebrakes with all hardware.
What I got after 6 weeks was R33 GTST's with two front lefts (or rights), a rear caliper with a chunk missing...$30 in nuts and washers missing, and rear rotors 2mm out of spec and fronts that had to be turned to the last spec.
2 months later I got the proper front caliper...however none of my stuff was ready to bolt on...the brake lines had been cut but not plugged...I flushed them and total crap came out of them.
Then it was a matter of trying to order the rear brake caliper rebuild kits. another 2 months of promises...finally my wife was in Japan so picked up 6 sets. You can now get them easy since the 2006 WRX has the same kit on the rear sumitomo calipers.
Same thing with my GTST ebrake cables...she picked them up in Japan.
So I had to use these. I really wanted the larger 32mm front GTR's, but I was in a bind. If I had known the cost I ended up with I would have bought new fronts from Japan Nissan...I would have been about $500 over what I ended up paying, but I would not have had my whole white S14 covered in rust specks that took over a month working almost 64 hours to clean up + there is still some I am cleaning off each washing.
My brake job was a nightmare.
I'd probably say the skyline brembos are overkill. You know you can pick up aftermarket rotors stateside built for alot of cars. I know Project Mu USA keeps a bunch of random stuff in stock that I never would have thought they would. Brake pads are plentiful for your application and I'd probably look into a set of aftermarket rotors and better pads since you've already got the GTST calipers on your ride which are already a bit bigger than the Z calipers which are already considered overkill. You see where this is going?