how good/bad are stock s13 brakes?

[MoogieBoogie]

I'm debating whether or not to upgrade my brakes to the 300ZX setup or not. If I do, there are some additional costs involved in addition to the brakes - I would need the 5 lug hub conversions ($425 from IntensePower) and 5 lug SE wheels ($150 average from NICO Classifieds). I would rather not drill the rotors to stick with the 4 lug setup.

So under general street conditions, are the S13 brakes good enough? There are some cars that come with crappy brakes, and I would like to know if the S13 is one of them.

Thanks,-Brian.

[240marcuSX]

get some good pads, and brake lines and run a good fluid and you should be fine.

300zx brakes are way overkill, especially for a street car.

[sr20-thoj]

I would like to know this also..

[armysweitzer]

it all depends on your driving, no body should be street racing/driving fast but if you try to slow down quickly a couple of times with stock brakes they will overheat BADLY

the advantage of going to a larger break is more surface area for pad/rotor which means it resists heating better.

Personally I didnt think 300zx wasnt need right away for me so I went with the q45 upgrade because they clear pretty much all wheels 15 and up which i liked. Power wise I love em there brakes meant to stop a 4000lb car on a 2600lb car so....

However we all males will be males so saying to yourself "ill never race on the street" or bs like that is a lie so just spend 300bucks on a nice brake set-up so we dont have to explain to anybody why you couldnt stop in time...my .02

[(Yoshi)]

My S-13 is base model w/ no abs and on dry and even wet my car stops amazing you just have to be carefully on the snow. I went from 75 to zero in no time flat (tested safely not on the street). My breaks are amazing and are stock.

[240guyNY]

yeah but do that 3 or 4 times consecutively and test the times then, i gaurantee you''ll see much longer 75-0 times.

[240guyNY]

in my opinion it really depends how you drive and what your gonna do with the car. If you drive fast and/or plan on doing auto-x, go up to q45 at least. If your going to go sr20det and up your HP to like 270 HP, upgrade the brakes, i think i faster car should always have better brakes. Personally im going to go for the Z32 brakes for function and for looks, b/c theyre much sexier than floating calipers (240sx,q45). If you just drive a little fast every once in awhile and want some better braking performance and resist to fade, just get some good pads (axxis, ebc, hawk, personally i like axxis), maybe some slotted rotors (brembo) and better brake fluid

[fatboy]

on my 240, i braked from 100-40 several times and no problems at all. i had some cryo rotors and hawk pads. no problems at all

[240marcuSX]

"If you drive fast and/or plan on doing auto-x, go up to q45 at least."

except, that if you upgrade your brakes with another system like that, you will be way out-classed based on that alone.

"just get some good pads (axxis, ebc, hawk, personally i like axxis), maybe some slotted rotors (brembo) and better brake fluid"

Best bang for buck, and what id recommend, but it isnt madtytedriftolicious.

[MoogieBoogie]

Are aftermarket rotors/pads noticeably better than stock? I've always thought that stock Nissan parts were best, given that Nissan spent all the time on R&D.

[HashiriyaS14]

Are aftermarket rotors/pads noticeably better than stock? I've always thought that stock Nissan parts were best, given that Nissan spent all the time on R&D.

The stock brake hardware is definitely not as good as it could be.

This is for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it was all designed in 1988.

Furthermore, stock brake pads are designed to produce very little noise and dust, often at the expense of braking capacity. The brakes on the stock S13 are certainly adequate in all normal street-driving applications, they're not in any way dangerously inadequate, but upgrading rotors, pads, and lines will do a world of difference if you plan on pushing it a little. I also recommend Motul 7 brake fluid.

Getting Z32 brakes with huge aftermarket drilled/slotted rotors and carbon-metallic dust-tacular brake pads is obnoxious overkill for normal street driving. Also, upgrading only the front brakes with larger calipers and rotors will kill your stock brake balance, which IS near perfect, so you don't want to mess with that. Upgrade all four corners to Z32 or not at all.

[Red coupe]

it all depends on your driving, no body should be street racing/driving fast but if you try to slow down quickly a couple of times with stock brakes they will overheat BADLY

get some good pads, and brake lines and run a good fluid and you should be fine.

300zx brakes are way overkill, especially for a street car.

the stock brakes could be better but they will hold up pretty well with a decent pad....Im not super hard on my brakes my self but I still have not gotten my Hawk HPS to fade even with brief spirited down hill runs(usualy dont keep it up for more then like 5 minuts at a time though) or with auto crosses...

Most of our 240's probably came with some cheap pads so they seem worse then they really are. I doubt most here would need more then a good set of pads. If your thinking stopping distance that is mostly tire anyways.

[rsmithdrift]

My brakes get some pretty damn bad fade. I have new pads (dunno what kind it was done prior to me getting the car) and they only have 5k miles on them and if I hit them hard they fade like a SOB. I just loose all of my braking control, like if I push harder it doesn't make the car stop faster, even though there's plenty of brake pressure. It just feels like crappy small rotors and underpowered calipers to me. Then again, I'm used to my 300zx's brakes, so maybe that's just what it is.

But yes, they are fine for normall driving.

[nismofly]

remember bigger brakes will make the car stop slower

*good* pads, blank rotors, lines, new fluid

if youre fading stock brakes with good parts on the street, theres something wrong, and its not the rotor and caliper size, its the parts youre putting into it

[Red coupe]

I have new pads (dunno what kind it was done prior to me getting the car) and they only have 5k miles on them and if I hit them hard they fade like a SOB.

There is your problem...New doesnt matter...I dont think there is any benifit to having a new pad, they aren't really worn out until the compound is gone, or glazed over from being cooked.Crappy pads fade easy, good pads work much much better.

[nismofly]

yeah thats like saying "my autozone pads are brand new, why do they fade?"

its not the age, its the compound

pads that are meant to last are going to suck, just like tires that are meant to last

[amolao]

For street use go stock....thats all you need...Im running Brembo slotted/drill rotors with stock system and I get a little fading with them....is common. But next time Im going with just slotted or solid ones......

[Red coupe]

Personaly I would get better pads and solid rotors before stock pads and slotted roters...slotted drilled isnt gonna do much but wear pads faster unless your really beating on them...

[nismofly]

drilled does nothing, absolutely nothing

drilling rotors is for looks

slotted will prevent the pads from glazing, nobody driving on the street will need this

solid rotors, like brembo blanks, good, bitey, high temp pads, braided lines, high temp fluid