best bang 4 lug brak upgrade

[240marcuSX]

I recently raced at a NASA event, and it was a really fast course, so naturally at the end of the straights, i was having a bit of difficulty because my brakes suck.

what i have: 90' 240sx no abs 4 lug hubs

what i want: best upgrade that i can get for about say.....$500? or somewhere around there, i want to stay 4 lug, because i have too many freaking 4 lug wheels to change. it would also be helpful if the brakes would clear the stock teardrop wheels, at most with a really small spacer.

or if someone can point me to some really sweet rotors that i can use stock calipers on, or something, im hurting, thanks.

[Dori Dori]

And you're using what kind of pads, fluid, lines???

Generally, if you upgrade those, you'll be fine.

If you feel like you need something bigger, go with the Q45 brakes. I'd still recommend good pads, fluid, lines, and rotors. The Q45 brakes have a floating caliper design, so any wheel should clear them.

[240marcuSX]

i have stock rotors, lines, and fluid, brembo/oem pads.

do you know where i could get my hands on some q45 brakes? what lines, and fluid would you recommend?

btw, im still gonna hit you up in january for a hlsd.

[nismofly]

id say try more aggressive rotors, fluid, pads, and lines also

check spl, they have eveything on that list aside from the rotors

[Dori Dori]

OK, well you definitely need to change those pads, lines, and fulid.

Hawk makes my favorite pads...I used HPS for a while, but have been using HP+ recently. They are noisy and dusty, but the bite is in-fuqing-credible. HP+ are a good compromise though if you like doing track events.

For fluid, Motul RBF 600 is what I run. A lot of people here like Super Blue...its OK and a bonus is that it's much cheaper than Motul.

And get some SS lines. I forget, but I'm 80% sure that Q45 brakes can use stock lines, so even if you replace them now, you won't have to worry about them not working with a possible caliper upgrade.

Your best bet for these calipers is to just go to a local junkyard. If you don't have any luck with that, you can always buy/scam some rebuilt calipers from any autoparts store.

[240marcuSX]

wouldnt i have to get the q45 brakes redrilled to 4 lug?

[way2much]

marcus

try this and let me know how it is

http://www.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=92268

[driftin8ez]

ok to clear up some things about q45 brake upgrades.Very cost effective and i love them:-)Get lines from spl $80? They will work on both your stockers and the q45 calipers.They will clear the tear dropsGet the calipers from a local junkyard i got mine for $70Get good pads (hawk)Good fluid I think GM has a good dot 5 brake fluid for use in there high end mustang and it is like $8 a bottle. Never tried it.Get good rotors!!!! Don't get auto zone specials like i did. Brembo blanks at the least.Also you do have to redrill the rotors to be 4 lug. Very simple. Take and old rotor and place it on top of the q45 5lug rotor and line one of the holes from both rotors up. Now clamp them down so they dont move. Use the old rotor as a giude on where to drill the next three holes. If you want to get fancy you can fill the old 5 lug holes with jgweld and grind it flat as to not throw off the balance of the rotor.I did my complete upgrade woth cheap autozone rotors for like $333! Very cost effective.

[Dano]

altima brakes w/upgraded pads/fluid. problem solved.

-Dan

[C-Kwik]

Don't the SE-R Spec-V's use a 4x114 Lug Pattern? I thought someone put Spec-V wheels on a S13. If that's the case, I would expect the New Spec-V Brembos to fit. According to the nissan site, it's 12.01 inches in diameter. Not sure of the thickness though.

[nismofly]

actually thats an interesting thought, unfortunatly i have to get up and go to class in a few hours so im going to bed, but ill be looking forward to seeing if someone knows how good this works

[jmauld]

Just order a set of carbotech pads and good fluid. You'll be good to go.

You don't need expensive rotors either. Just get a good set of rotors from a parts store. The Raybestos premium rotor is a good one, and isn't overly pricey. The above parts should be about half of your budget. SS lines would be nice, especially considering that your stock lines are 14yrs old.

I've done VIR-Full on the above setup with a S14, and the only problem I had was that I didn't bed the pads in enough, and my first session was a littly dicey. After that they were fine.

[Dori Dori]

Don't the SE-R Spec-V's use a 4x114 Lug Pattern? I thought someone put Spec-V wheels on a S13. If that's the case, I would expect the New Spec-V Brembos to fit. According to the nissan site, it's 12.01 inches in diameter. Not sure of the thickness though.

I doubt the spindle is the same, but you never know. Chances are, some kind of bracket would have to be used.

[aither]

You can always drill out the 300ZX rotors to the right bolt pattern. No need to stay with stock or 180SX or Q45 brakes if you don't want to. If you are racing on fast circuits, then it would be a really good idea to consider front Z brakes. 26mm brakes with a 5 mm spacer will be fine.

[240marcuSX]

yes aither, i was considering that also, i do want something that can hold up in real racing, that i hope to do eventually, are the 26mm 300z brakes the non-turbo brakes??

how many pistons are the q45 brakes?

[jmauld]

yes aither, i was considering that also, i do want something that can hold up in real racing, that i hope to do eventually, are the 26mm 300z brakes the non-turbo brakes??

how many pistons are the q45 brakes?

What racing series would a 1990 240sx be able to race in and still be competitive?

The only one that I'm aware of is ITA, where you have to retain the stock calipers and std sized rotors. Seems to hold up for those guys.

Anyway, my only point is before you go blowing a lot of money on upgrading the brakes, you might want to at least consider maximizing the potential of what you already have. You did ask for the best bang 4 the buck, I think.

[240marcuSX]

well obviously i dont mean professional racing, but i would like to be competitive in solo, or nasa events at real tracks like vir.

but im still doing auto-x for now, i just dont want to buy some great brakes for auto-x, and then have them suck for later uses is all.

thanks for helping me clarify jmauld.

i think ive got a good idea where im heading with this, thanks everyone for the assistance, now ive just got to find where im gonna buy this stuff.

[TrunkMonkey]

Don't the SE-R Spec-V's use a 4x114 Lug Pattern? I thought someone put Spec-V wheels on a S13. If that's the case, I would expect the New Spec-V Brembos to fit. According to the nissan site, it's 12.01 inches in diameter. Not sure of the thickness though.

just a note. the oem brembo brakes on the '04 spec v will only fit with the '04 6 spoke wheel. the '02-03 5 spoke wheel requires a spacer to clear the calipers (i don't remember how big). even though our wheels have a 7mm lower offset, spacers may be required to clear the pathetic spoke design (or lack of).

-demetrius

[Chingon]

read up on the q45 oem pads. If I remember correctly, nissan put an excellent compound that is very hard to beat even by "high performance" pads. Search here on nico about it.

[Red coupe]

were the brakes doing bad because they were to hot and fading? or were they simply not stopping you soon enough?