S14 Brake Upgrade!!!

[Pento240sx]

Yes, they will crack sooner or later.

So the cross slotted rotors are better than cross drilled slotted rotors right?

[Clawhammer]

You'll never be unsatisfied w/ Z32 brakes...

When you make multiple stops from the triple digits, say 120 to 0 and your brakes start to fade at like 30mph and there's a red light in front of you...you tend to become unsatisfied with your z32 brakes...not that I would know anything about that.

[i240sx]

If your car was an automatic at one period in it's life, it has or rather should have the auto brake booster. The automatic trans cars had a larger brake booster to accomodate the increase in weight (auto trans is heavier than the man trans).

very nice thank you...so all i need is a 5spd swap and z32 front brake....

[IanS]

When you make multiple stops from the triple digits, say 120 to 0 and your brakes start to fade at like 30mph and there's a red light in front of you...you tend to become unsatisfied with your z32 brakes...not that I would know anything about that.

Thats not the brakes. A fade of that sort would lead me to believe you are either using a cheap inferior pad compound, or your brake fluid is beginning to degrade, greatly decreasing its boiling point.

Change to some decent pads, and flush your fluid with DOT 5.1, then retest, I would bet money you will have different results.

[Clawhammer]

Could be very true, I'm running OEM Nissan pads right now on unknown rotors. I plan on upgrading to some hawks or something and powerslots since they're the only slotted rotor that can be found for 26mm z brakes. Another reason I am unsatisfied haha.; I wish I had 30mm. All in all though I love my zbrakes. I don't know about the fluid, It's only a few months old but then they say location is everything. Moral of th e story is I drive my car hard, street or track; it needs to perform in all areas. I hate how many bone stock cars I see rolling around with engine swaps. /sigh

[Pento240sx]

Well I got The Q45 Brakes already check them out.Here is the link:zerothread?id=361653
Modified by Pento240sx at 5:36 PM 8/23/2008

[IanS]

I hate how many bone stock cars I see rolling around with engine swaps. /sigh

It all comes down to tuning ability. With the exception of Hawk pads, and DOT 5.1 fluid, my brakes are factory. I even have the stock calipers at 200,000 miles. I can easily slow my car from 100 miles an hour. With stock pads and old fluid, I could induce fade after only 2 stops, with good pads and fluid, it can withstand 5 or 6 stops before I get the same effect. As I said before though, my second set of Hawk pads are about 90% worn, and my new, bigger stickier tires can handle much higher specific brake torque. Its time for Q45s.

[IHeartRPS13]

Ian are you doing both front and rear or just front? I was thinking on doing just the front but i don't know how that would affect the bias. Supposedly its 78% front somewhere in that area. Is that too much?

[IanS]

Ian are you doing both front and rear or just front? I was thinking on doing just the front but i don't know how that would affect the bias. Supposedly its 78% front somewhere in that area. Is that too much?

I am currently running Q45 front brakes. Ive had them on for 2 days, and my initial impressions are exceptionally good. There is a little to much front bias by just doing the fronts, but Ive found that by using good pads in the rear it tends to offset the difference a little.

I run Raybestos semi met pads on the front, and Hawk ferro carbon pads on the rear. I haven't experienced any problems with front wheel lock up, and it is front bias just enough to help bring the rear back when it decides to step out.

Pad choice plays a huge part in brake feel. Ceramic pads will be quiet, and have low dust, but they wont stop very well, and the pedal feel will be sucky.

Semi metallic pads will dust more, and they may squeal a little, but they will provide a much more reliable stop, time after time.

In the industry ceramic pads are pitched as the top grade, but in the performance world, semi metallic is the way to go. Most performance pads are semi metallic, they just use clever names to hide it. Fero Carbon, is a sneaky way of saying a compound of ferrous metal, and carbon.

[IHeartRPS13]

HPS or HP Plus?

[IanS]

HPS or HP Plus?

hahahaha

I really dont remember, its been over a year since I put the rears on.

[got chub]

i have z32 conversion F&R on my s14 and i have had blank(brembo), Drill/slotted(ebay) and drilled rotors(ebay)and i saw no difference in performance or life of the pad or rotors. my first set of pad were HPS all other have been the HP+. i like both pads but for the street the HPS was better durning the cooler months(dead middle of winter)

the JDM/Euro s14 came with the 4pot brake standard

[MAXIMUS Nismo]

Larger front rotors, wehter blank. slotted, drilled or a combination do more than provide more surface area for the pads to grip. The pads surface area doesn't change.

It's like putting your hand on a small desk or a large desk. Your hand will only touch the part of the desk it is in contact with no matter the size of the desk itself.

From what I understand, the main goal of larger rotors, better fluid, and multi piston calipers is heat dissipation.

All that energy you have with your forward momentum has to go somewhere when you stop. The whole braking unit help to dissipate the heat generated.

Calipers and Pads press against the rotors generating heat. The heat then goes into the rotors which get rid of it in various ways. Slots on the face of the rotor, the "vanes" in the middle of the rotor's edge, and the diameter of the unit itself comes into play.

The larger the diameter, the more heat it can hold and dissipate before it gets overloaded and warp.

The heat also go into the calipers which transfer it to the brake fluid.The bad part is when there is too much heat and your fluid starts to get so hot that it boil.

Then you have NO stopping power.

The braking system is a complex unit from your foot to the contact patch on your tires.

This si all I can remember for now based on what I've read in the past.

[MAXIMUS Nismo]

Oh yeah. I also have 30mm Z brakes on my 14. My reason for getting them is that I used to drive very hard when I first got the car and I would cook the brakes often and warp my rotors.

Back when I got them, they were the most popular mod and it looks like they still are.

I don't drive that fast anymore but I still l still like them. My long term plans include forced induction of some sort.

AS for the Z MC issue, the calipers will lock up my tires as it sits now so I don't think I need more hydraulic force right now.

I did upgrade the rear pads with hawk HPS to match the fronts.

[IanS]

Larger front rotors, wehter blank. slotted, drilled or a combination do more than provide more surface area for the pads to grip. The pads surface area doesn't change.

It's like putting your hand on a small desk or a large desk. Your hand will only touch the part of the desk it is in contact with no matter the size of the desk itself.

From what I understand, the main goal of larger rotors, better fluid, and multi piston calipers is heat dissipation.

All that energy you have with your forward momentum has to go somewhere when you stop. The whole braking unit help to dissipate the heat generated.

Calipers and Pads press against the rotors generating heat. The heat then goes into the rotors which get rid of it in various ways. Slots on the face of the rotor, the "vanes" in the middle of the rotor's edge, and the diameter of the unit itself comes into play.

The larger the diameter, the more heat it can hold and dissipate before it gets overloaded and warp.

The heat also go into the calipers which transfer it to the brake fluid.The bad part is when there is too much heat and your fluid starts to get so hot that it boil.

Then you have NO stopping power.

The braking system is a complex unit from your foot to the contact patch on your tires.

This si all I can remember for now based on what I've read in the past.

You are right on pretty much everything, I just have one addition.

By using a larger diameter rotor you increase your effective torque on the center line of the axle. I works in the same way as a gear drive, the further from the center line, the less energy it takes to apply the same amount of force.

[JDMskrilla]

the drilling is simply to discipate the heat better, it was originated on racecars in the 60s to give the gasses that build up between the pad and rotor an escape route, some people say that when they get too hot they crack between the holes, this may happen in an extream performance situation such as autocross/time attack etc, which is why they aren't favorable for racing.. The slotted is simply to remove a miniscule layer off of your pad so that you have a nice new clean surface to cram onto your rotors. they also are used as a channel to move heat, gases or particles away from your braking surface. Racing like F1 uses carbon-carbon brakes because it withstands heat much better, however they must be heated to reach optimum performance, but when you approach a corner at those speeds im sure it happens rather quickly.

[JDMskrilla]

I didnt realize how old this thread was, I dug it up in a search...