Deciding on a brake upgrade..

[elwesso]

So red, are you gonna go for it......??

Are you gonna beat me to it?

[redmanfx]

I'm doin' it. I ordered my stuff form Greg already and will be ordering the Studs and getting spacers tomorrow. I would love to beat you to it, but I can't actually start until my work schedule lightens up a bit. About two weeks.

I am going to paint the calipers so they can be seen. Have to decide on a color though. My buddy has a paint room in his shop, so that should add a tad bit to the BBS wheels I put on a couple of weeks ago. My car is slowly transforming.

red

[3rd Q]

Squeefoo,Good to hear from you! Your Q is the tightest, best handling, best braking one I've been in - and I've been in a few. Whatever you've done with the brakes works - it really makes your eyeballs bulge out when you stomp on them !

[elwesso]

Booyeah!! Thats waht I like to hear!!!

Paul ill let you drive my Q some time, and we'll put it to the test

[elwesso]

Just got the last bits of my brake upgrade, and will probably do it some weekend here in the near future.....

Anyone have a Gtech they want to let me borrow?

[franknitty69]

wes, i was following the thread and was confused as to what you went with?

z32 all around?z32 rear and r33/r34 front?or z32 rear and 3000gt w/bracket front?

thanks

[93180sxredtop]

if you have your old q brakes and calipers ill buy them off of you!!!

[elwesso]

wes, i was following the thread and was confused as to what you went with?

z32 all around?z32 rear and r33/r34 front?or z32 rear and 3000gt w/bracket front?

thanks

Frank... I ended up doing Z32 all around..... Figured it was the best bang for the buck, and anything bigger will just lock up the brakes!

if you have your old q brakes and calipers ill buy them off of you!!!

Im doing 260 shipped for the calipers and rotors, and the rotors are drilled...

[3rd Q]

Wes, I think you'll really dig the Z32 brakes. Squee's and my car are both '90s so it was a great stock versus modded comparison- big difference. Hope to hook up with you at some point - Indy and Chicago aren't that far apart!Paul

[Jeff Williams]

I just won the auction for the front calipers. The rears are in my office. I plan to paint them super gloss black, with "INFINITI" on the fronts, and the logo on the rears. The "NISSAN" logo is ground off the fronts, and I plant to grind off the "NISSAN" from the backs, to make a nice smooth place for the logo. Some drilled and slotted rotors, AXXIS pads, and SS lines will round out the package.

[elwesso]

I just won the auction for the front calipers. The rears are in my office. I plan to paint them super gloss black, with "INFINITI" on the fronts, and the logo on the rears. The "NISSAN" logo is ground off the fronts, and I plant to grind off the "NISSAN" from the backs, to make a nice smooth place for the logo. Some drilled and slotted rotors, AXXIS pads, and SS lines will round out the package.

Good show Jeff! Im not putting that much effort into it, im just sticking with OEM pads and rotors for now (since I got brand new ones of both with the auctions I won).. I guess after spending this money I dont really feel like spending another $150 on pads, $100 on lines, and more on painting the calipers and stuff

Jeff if you can do those logo's and make them look good, thatd be really stellar!!! id love to see it!

Wes, I think you'll really dig the Z32 brakes. Squee's and my car are both '90s so it was a great stock versus modded comparison- big difference. Hope to hook up with you at some point - Indy and Chicago aren't that far apart!Paul

indeed... Hopefully we'll have a meet or two and we could meet up then.... Once my Q is done with its "spring cleaning and maintenance" id loev to meet up.... driveshaft, oil seal, RSB, brakes and some other things and the Q will be ready to roll for the summer

[redmanfx]

I just won the auction for the front calipers. The rears are in my office. I plan to paint them super gloss black, with "INFINITI" on the fronts, and the logo on the rears. The "NISSAN" logo is ground off the fronts, and I plant to grind off the "NISSAN" from the backs, to make a nice smooth place for the logo. Some drilled and slotted rotors, AXXIS pads, and SS lines will round out the package.

Dag gon it! You guys steal my thunder all the time! I already have the stensil made for the Infiniti Logo! Too many of us think to much alike! I'm gonna have yellow calipers with the Infinit Logo on them in black.

red

[Jeff Williams]

There is a guy, that has a laser cutter, that can cut metallic sticky back film. I am going to try to get him to make me some logos and lettering. Not usre how it iwll last, but it should look great.

If it works out, I will hook you guys up.

[elwesso]

Is that kind of like etching into aluminum ducting tape??? I was under the impression that you were going to have something cut right into the caliper...

If you could do something where all wed have to do is shave, clean and stick on the calipers to get what you said, thatd be GOLDEN.

I kind of like to stick to my nissan heritage though.... you know what would be AWESOME (read GOLDEN) is to get the NICO logo etched on there.... Now that would be HAWT

[93180sxredtop]

Im doing 260 shipped for the calipers and rotors, and the rotors are drilled...

does that come with the pads? also need a master cylinder from a Q45

Thanx Guys!

[elwesso]

does that come with the pads? also need a master cylinder from a Q45

Thanx Guys!

Sure you can have the pads, probably have 60% life left...

I have the MC from a Q, email me... [email protected]

[squeefoo]

With all the talk about brakes, What are the softest, most easily worn away, pads for Z32? Is it the greenstuff? Or does anyone know of something softer? I only put on about 4 -5K MI per year and have it apart all the time to check up on things and rotate tires. I just have in the junk that came with the loaded calipers.

[Mark86T]

Wes, I know this took me a while but today I bolted on the 15" BBS Q wheels I have on the rear of my brother's TT. They work with the rear TT calipers.Mark

[elwesso]

Excellent mark!

Looks like Ill call Joe tomorrow and have him send me some rear Z32 pads...

[tubesguy2]

I like this system: The Z32 guy parts out or upgrades, we buy the Z32 brakes, we sell our brakes to the, what, 240 guy? It almost makes it seem like something I gotta do. Right after replacing the driveshaft, of course. - Pat

[elwesso]

I like this system: The Z32 guy parts out or upgrades, we buy the Z32 brakes, we sell our brakes to the, what, 240 guy? It almost makes it seem like something I gotta do. Right after replacing the driveshaft, of course. - Pat

NOW your catchin on....

If you do things the right way (the way I somehow did) you should be able to get half of your money back on the whole upgrade by selling your rotors and calipers...

[Jeff Williams]

I just ordered my zinc plated Brembo cross-drilled and slotted Z32 rotors. I got the 30mm fronts and the rears are all the same. I already have my rear calipers, and the fronts are on the way. I have some used pads, for the test fit, but will be getting new pads before I take her out.

I am going to try to find a g-tech in my local clubs, to get some before and after data.

Even if the performance is the same, as far as stopping distance and brake fade, I will have much better looking brakes.

[one ton garage]

Just wanted to toss out some info on this subject... first of all, you do not want to get one of those BIG rotor kits that use the VR4 rotors with the Z32 (and other similar nissan 4 pot) calipers. First of all, the offset of the rotors place the calipers further out/away from the hub, requiring a lot more spacing of your wheel to clear the caliper. Secondly, with the channel in the Z32 calipers, mounting them over a rotor larger than 11.8" in diameter nets you a brake setup that has the top edge of the brake pad hanging off the rotor, negating any perceived true braking benefit, other than the visual impact of the big rotor. A couple years back a friend and I made this big brake setup that allowed you to utilize a light-weight, 2-piece rotor setup with the oem caliper...all while offseting the caliper inwards to allow more wheels to fit over them...in this pic is a 12.72" rotor if I remember correctly, and you can already see how if you follow the arc of the part of the rotor that resides inside the caliper, that there is a pretty decent amount of the pad that does not make contact with the surface of the rotor. (This particular sample was made for 4-lug S13s, hence the rotor hat seen in the pic.) Anyway, we determined that although the amount of pad that was being unused was quite minimal (I forgot the exact % figure.. it's been a while), it was enough to make the use of a rotor that size pretty much futile.

Now about wheel clearance, not all wheels will need the same amount of spacing to clear the calipers... in fact, some might not need any at all. The disk of a wheel is what determines how thick its mounting pad is, this determining how far the spokes are pushed away from the hub surface. The higher the disk, the thicker the mounting pad, the more clearance the wheel has for big brakes. So unless you are running the exact same wheels as someone else who's already done what you're doing, you can't assume that, for example, all 15" wheels will require a 1/2" spacer to fit over the Z32 brake setup...etc.

[elwesso]

Great info one ton..

I was thinking the same thing that the bigger rotors wouldnt do anything without different calipers to "sit down" more "in" the rotor... Im glad you proved it to us before we wasted any money!! I think personally that the Z32 brakes will be plenty for 90% of people here with a Q... I will install mine this week (hopefully) when my clips come in...

And yes, certain 15s can clear the Z32 brakes. I saw someone at a meet who had some mesh 15s and they cleared fine... I think the 240 SE wheels will clear them too, but unfortunately the Q stock 15s wont clear them.....

Just another excuse to upgrade to 16s or 17s anyway!!!

[Jeff Williams]

All my parts are in, except for the caliper rebuild kits. Advance Auto has them at the wareshouse, and will be here in 3 to 4 days. I will probably have to put this on hold, if the Front Strut Braces come in this week. I still need the SS lines and DOT4 fluid. - I found an old Raceshopper coupon for $10. I wonder if it is still good.

The decal guy has my images of the "Infiniti" and Infiniti logo. Hopefully he can make me some, cheap. He sells the "Corvette" ones fro $5 on eBay.

Interesting information: I was searching for caliper paint, and decided on the Duplicolor Black brush-on. I don't want to look to "ricer", just make it look kinda like the "ACURA" calipers on the newRL.

The caliper paint is selling around $20 to $30 bucks on eBay, but Advance Auto has the Duplicolor on the shelf for $8 per package! Sometimes eBay is not so good. You just have to pay attention.

Whoever gets theirs done first, needs to post some pics.

[Rex]

... The caliper paint is selling around $20 to $30 bucks on eBay, but Advance Auto has the Duplicolor on the shelf for $8 per package! Sometimes eBay is not so good. You just have to pay attention.

Whoever gets theirs done first, needs to post some pics.

Yeah, my local Meijer has the yellow Duplicolor kit is clearanced priced at like 4 bucks, but you ain't getting me to paint mine yellow. The silver kit was either $15 or $18, IIRC. I'll hvae to keep my eye out for some silver/grey at a good price.

[redmanfx]

Yeah, my local Meijer has the yellow Duplicolor kit is clearanced priced at like 4 bucks, but you ain't getting me to paint mine yellow.

No. That's for me to do. And I'm putting NICO on those bright Yellow calipers! As soon as that is done I'll post some pics. About a week or so away.

red

[elwesso]

Brakes are going on this weekend... Ive put it off this long and ive decided if it doesnt get done this week, im not going to do it.....