F50/Q45 Brakes

[seldomseen]

What's the consensus on good aftermarket OE size rotors/pads for the Q45? The OE rotors are simply garbage and warp to easily under conditions that shouldn't cause warping. I'm thinking of matching decent aftermarket OE sized rotors with OE pads since they're quiet.

Any recommendations?

[paranoidjack]

What's the consensus on good aftermarket OE size rotors/pads for the Q45? The OE rotors are simply garbage and warp to easily under conditions that shouldn't cause warping. I'm thinking of matching decent aftermarket OE sized rotors with OE pads since they're quiet.

Any recommendations?

Well, you'll probably get a few flames for that. I've always used OEM, as do most members on here, and like them. I recently bought Brembo blanks for the front, and they warped in 15,000 miles with new pads, shims, and lubed and cleaned slides.

I'll always stay OEM. Rest assured Infiniti wouldn't put parts on a $50,000 car that were garbage and warped easily. You must have another issue causing your problem - checked hub runout lately? Caliper pots?
Modified by paranoidjack at 2:05 PM 6/4/2009

[seldomseen]

Nope...no other issues causing the rotors to warp. Many other Infiniti owners seem to have experienced warped rotors under conditions that shouldn't cause warping too. Warped rotors seem to be a very common issue with many Infinities and the dealership doesn't offer any sort of viable solution. I agree...when the rotors are even and the pads are good---the OE brakes work well.
Modified by seldomseen at 11:07 AM 6/4/2009

[paranoidjack]

Nope...not other issues causing the rotors to warp. Many other Infiniti owners have experienced warped rotors under conditions that shouldn't cause warping. Warped rotors seem to be a very common issue amongst '02-'07 Infinities.

Dang! Sorry to hear it. Seems even Infiniti has suffered the quality decline eh (g50 guys chuckling at y33 owners, pipe down, I'm talking about y33-f50).

Have you checked the hub runout? Not visibly with the eyes, and perhaps f50's are more prone to out of spec runout for some reason...who knows, maybe a component of the shipped brakeset was more likely to induce runout? Worth a look, pretty easy and inexpensive.

Maybe this thread is of use to you?

zer...50307

Oh, and GO SOX! Man Boston is tearing it up this year...shame about the Celts though....

sunny beaches of cape cod

[maxnix]

Absolutely love the Stillen Brembos that Joe has on special occasionally. Drilled and plated, they last 4X (to date) as long as OEM without vibration.

OEM pads the best unless you are racing or driving in the mountains.

[qship96]

I think Stillen has dropped the G50 Brembo rotors from their catalog----they seem to have given up on all things G50 related.

[Q45tech]

Rotor temperature is a direct result of rotor weight. A 20% [4+ pounds more] ................heavier rotor will GAIN 20% less heat.A single stop frpm 60mph will increase front rotors by ~~ 150F above the prior temperature.To cut gain in half you will have to double the weight of the rotor!Simple HS math finds this: 4,000 pound car traveling 60 mph has 353,000 pound feet of energy.

It would be helpful if we had a record of your driving [style] and what the peak rotor temperature was.

"The 2007 General Motors Corporation Yukon front rotor cast from traditional grey iron steel weighs 26 pounds."

RX8 front rotors weight 18.5 pounds.Q45 rotors weigh about 20 pounds. [earlier 300zx and Q45 ~~ 19 pounds]A new LS460 has a 23 pound rotor.

The solution always turns out to be thicker and heavier rotors but that means different calipers and a total redesign.

When you measure a rotor you will find 2 [9-10mm] outer surfaces with air space between them. The metal thinness is the problem not the air space.

[elwesso]

I wonder about the ability to use Z32 rotors on a Q45.. They're only 2mm thicker and everything else should be identical.. lots more options!

Itd be interesting to try.

[maxnix]

Rotor temperature is a direct result of rotor weight.

Q45 rotors weigh about 20 pounds. [earlier 300zx and Q45 ~~ 19 pounds]A new LS460 has a 23 pound rotor.

The solution always turns out to be thicker and heavier rotors but that means different calipers and a total redesign.

When you measure a rotor you will find 2 [9-10mm] outer surfaces with air space between them. The metal thinness is the problem not the air space.

They're only 2mm thicker and everything else should be identical.. lots more options!

But no gain if all it is is space. What is the difference in mass?

[Q45tech]

Even a gigantic 24 pound rotor will heat up at 83% rate compared to oem.Where oem might get to 1000F [in a single stop from 150 mph] the monsters would still get to 830F.

All about cooling ducts and the proper pads to match the temperature.One piece rotors warp faster than two piece units.

The 300zx rotor has the same metal thickness, just more air space, why the weight is ~ identical.

[seldomseen]

Okay, so what's a good aftermarket OE size rotor for the F50/Q45? I'm just going to mate them with OE pads, since the pads are quiet and clean. I don't want any Autozone/TrackAuto or Meineke garbage though... Worse case scenario, I will just replace them with new OE rotors/pads if that's what it comes down to.
Modified by seldomseen at 6:40 AM 6/5/2009

[Q45tech]

The trick with any rotor is to measure the installed runout and make sure you have used BrakeAlign shims [correction plate] to get it down to 0.001" max runout per FSM.

http://www.brakealign.com/pages/products.htm

[maxnix]

You stick with stock size rotors unless you want to spend really big bucks on Brembos or APRAcing and the like.

Check with Joe.