Best Brakes for the Buck$$$?????

[ganma_ca]

Anyone have any ideas from experience what the best brakes for the buck would be? ie: brembo/endless/project mu/wilwood/k-sport/stock/z32/ oh and about a $900 budget..... I'm not looking for something that is going to cost like $1800 per pair pshhh naawww. I'm not that bawler. But I need to redo my entire brake system and am thinking about going with everything oem but a few things for example upgrading to the Z32 MC yes please! And some nice pads like hawk/endless/project mu. So I guess this topic would encompass everything. Like what kind of pads does everyone like, and calipers, and brake lines???? Thanks guys

[CakeEater]

What is your intended use for the car?

Daily or track only?

Daily with some track?

I would say for the best bang for the buck get Z32 calipers and Brembo blank rotors.

Hawk HPS pads for the street and swap them for HP+ pads when at the track.

Get a good set of stainless braided conversion lines. With a Z32 master and the above calipers/pads/rotors/lines you will be incredible impressed and happy with your purchase.

[ganma_ca]

Cool thanks for the heads up! I don't track the car at all, or rather I should say the street is my track, and I go through regular pads waaaaaayyyyyy to easy, so I figured by buying some more performance oriented parts I will have a much longer time before I would have to replace them. On average every 3 months I have had to replace my brake pads and every 5 months rotors(even after being milled) So time to step it up to some better parts that are going to at least give me a year of good service without having to drop an @$$ load everytime I need some new pads/rotors....

[CakeEater]

Alright then. haha

Stick with the HPS pads and you'll be happy. The Brembo blanks can take a lot of abuse.

[ganma_ca]

Yay for Brembo, and ideas about slotted, or should I just stick with the blanks? I don't want crossdrilled, who knows I figured slotted would help with cooling, but cross drilled seems like they would brake no pun intended after to much heat. Though sloted also would lead me to believe that they would munch through pads so to speak, or cause uneven wear. I think Hawks, or even EBC(kinda of been reading some reviews on EBC green/redstuff) Wondered about how good they really are??? But have heard a lot more about Hawk which is why I'm thinking I'm going to stick with them. My friend said to use the Z32 calipers that I wouldn't need to mod anything, that they would just bolt up. Any truth to that? I know it's been covered before. Somewhere...

[r34 gtr]

Z32 brakes just bolt up. Make sure you get front, rear, and hand brake assemblies. You will not find anything comparable for twice the price.

[CakeEater]

Get the blanks. I've seen Z32 blanks go through absolute hell and back with not a single issue. They were on an S14 touring car here in Can, and were beat on for many races before needing any kind of service.

I would have them on my own car but I have GTR calipers/rotors and they mostly only come cross drilled (which have good stress cracks and the rotors are only 6 months old).

For a complete setup you will need Z32 calipers (bolt up), rotors (need to re-drill to 4 bolt if your not 5), stainless braided conversion lines, rear e-brake assemblies, Z32 MBC, good quality brake fluid.

[blownhemi]

zerothread/79500

Z32 fronts might not fit depending on what wheels you have.

Although best bang for the the buck are probably the '89-'93 Q45 calipers. Bolt on, 2 huge pistons, floating caliper, so it doesn't stick out as much as the Z32 ones, and takes a 28mm thick brake disc, IIRC. That should definitely last a while.

Only problem I had with those and the stock 7 spoke alloy wheels is, the calipers didn't clear the slimline type of wheel counterweights, that are put on the inside, we had to scrape them off, and put on those older type outside counterweights, which do not look as nice.

[sjbsuperman1425]

i dont have brakes yet, but im going with the Q45 front, stock rear setup. Z32 brakes require different rims atleast for the stock 89 rims, but if u can get Z32's for cheap and have rims that they'll fit under, get them. They are pretty awesome even with the stock BMC.

[Ca_Silvia]

Don't do the z32 rear brake conversion, only do it if you are going to go 5 lug. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

[mbmbmb23]

Don't do the z32 rear brake conversion, only do it if you are going to go 5 lug. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Why not? Rear Z32 rotors can be drilled to 4 lug same as the fronts.

Only do the rear if you get the proper Ebrake lines to work with your car (R33 or Z32 2+2 i believe). The standard Z32 Ebrake lines are too short and slicing the lines doesn't work well at all. Get the longer ones so you can use the proper mounting points under the car.

[ganma_ca]

once i figure out how to post pics i will show you guys all the awesomeness I have now. I went with brand new sumitomo Z32 aluminum calipers, ichiba wheel spacers all around(15mm) stock reman rear calipers, hawk carbon ceramic pads all around, z31 new bmc master c, ap stainless red anodized brake lines all the way around, and z32 vented/slotted rotors up front, and ebc slotted stock rotors rear. Now all I need is some new cool wheels to clear because these stockers are faaarrrrrr from it. Anyways just an update

[Ca_Silvia]

Why not? Rear Z32 rotors can be drilled to 4 lug same as the fronts.

Only do the rear if you get the proper Ebrake lines to work with your car (R33 or Z32 2+2 i believe). The standard Z32 Ebrake lines are too short and slicing the lines doesn't work well at all. Get the longer ones so you can use the proper mounting points under the car.

Its not worth the added time and money for such a marginal increase in brake size. Unless your lapping your car hard and need better rear braking then definitely it makes sense. Otherwise a good set of pads and decent rotors should suffice for DD abuse.

I guess i might be a little confused as my Silvia came with rear disk brakes stock, i have no idea if 240's are the same.

[sjbsuperman1425]

240's have stock rear disc brakes. I dont see the need for Z32 rears either, as most of the braking is utilizing in the front anyway. I think its more the bling factor of having them say "Nissan".

+1 for good pads/rotors for rear brakes!

[ganma_ca]

^ pretty much thinking the same thing

Seriously so you can say you've got more bling for rear calipers big deal. I'm not out at the SCCA events beating the sh*t out of my brakes every 2 seconds, and it was time for new calipers anyways so I figured why not just upgrade, and I have no doubt these Z32 front calipers combined with all the other parts I have now will stop my 2600 pound chassis on a dime lol. Anyone ever experimented with different pads though? I'm curious to know what people think about all the options out there. I've heard a lot of good things about Hawk which is why I got mine, and will update after I've had them out a few times for a bit.

[Ca_Silvia]

Front Z32 brakes is top 2 best upgrades ive ever done on the car. You won't be dissapointed.

I started on Project Mu D1 pads, f***ing amazing brake pads but they are close to 200+ for a set. I now rock Hawk pads and i do not like them. For Z32 brake pads thats all ive tried.

I was thinking about going EBC next time. Should be getting new pads and rotors this summer.

[ganma_ca]

Well F'in crap now someone speaks up about hawk pads not being the way to go lol I guess I will have to try them myself, well all I know is that I guarentee they are loads better then the rabestos stock pads I had with the stock calipers lol. I think next time around I'm going big with endless, all sorts of race drivers use them so that can't be sh*t. If you don't mind me asking whats crappy about the hawk pads? I need some that will not fade fast and last a lonnnnng time, with very abusive braking now and then, but never for more then a few hours period I guess?

[mbmbmb23]

I think its more the bling factor of having them say "Nissan".

The reason people use the rear Z32 calipers is to keep the brake bias correct when using a Z32 brake master cylinder.

[Ca_Silvia]

Well F'in crap now someone speaks up about hawk pads not being the way to go lol I guess I will have to try them myself, well all I know is that I guarentee they are loads better then the rabestos stock pads I had with the stock calipers lol. I think next time around I'm going big with endless, all sorts of race drivers use them so that can't be sh*t. If you don't mind me asking whats crappy about the hawk pads? I need some that will not fade fast and last a lonnnnng time, with very abusive braking now and then, but never for more then a few hours period I guess?

For me i only put 6-8000km on my car a year and while its mostly drift duty, ie. your not really using the brakes all that much, i still blew through a set in 2 years. Never once driving on a road course lapping.

To me aftermarket pads with more aggressive bite i expect to have more wear, more dust, more noise but to have them needing to be replaced after 15000km is brutal. Ecspecially when i really don't drive that hard, brake wise.

[ganma_ca]

Well you don't have to necessarily use the Z32 rears and Z32 MC to get a good fr bias. I am keeping the stock rears and used a Z31 MC which is a 15/16MC and not the Z32's 7/8's MC which I have heard supposedly is perfect for a near stock feeling bias when using z32 calipers up front and keeping the stock rears. I guess only time will tell. And as for the hawk pads, well **** that's pretty horrible as I plan on doing some very aggressive mountain driving as well as taking it to the track at least a few times. Like I said I'm no scca fanatic but I'd like to take it out there a least a couple times over the next 2 years without having any problems. Heck I think I might use them for a bit, and then when I have some more $$$$ saved up just buy the endless pads and return joyus for like 2 years of insane driving with out any fade lol