I was wondering what the difference between the actual size of the brakes that came on the 05+ g35c and the 06+ 350z and the brembos that came on the 03-04 g35c and 350z's. Reason I ask this is becuase I want to upgrade my OEM brakes on my 03 g35c and I am getting new wheels soon and I was told they dont clear the brembos but they clear the OEM brakes for my year. If anyone knows, let me know please. Thank you.

 

From my understanding the 05+ brakes are just as big as the brembos only advantage to the brembos is that they can withstand more heat...like tracking the car for instance. Other than that in city driving you wont notice a difference.

-Sean

 

idk i have 05 and have driven an 03 with brembos i cant tell the difference in driving but it think the 05 brakes should clear the wheels, brembos no!!!

wait do you have brembos?

 

Reason why the 05+ non brembos have more clearance is because they are 2 piston vs 4 on the brembos. The 2 pistons are on the engine side vs 2 pistons on the engine side and 2 more on the wheel side for the brembos. The brembos are way thicker/wider

 

Oh ok so 05+ brakes should be fine with my wheels then. Thats good to know. Also do you all know if the rotors on my non brembo 2003 would work with the 05+ calipers?

 

Ummm, i dont think so...You will need new rotors as well.

Even the bremobs will clear stock wheels reguardless of size...the OEM brembos clear the factory 17s, 18s, and 19s

-Sean

 

Clear the factory COUPE wheels. yes

But the OP was asking about some other type of wheels

 

Ahh, didn't catch that last part. Just oder the wheels with a different offset...?

-Sean

 

I dunno. I'm just jealous he got that local deal for so cheap! ugh!

 

Here's a rehash of a post I made a month or two ago about this exact topic that should settle any questions you may have about the differences in brakes between a Brembo-Equipped '03 and '04 Coupe vs a 2005+ 6MT Coupe:



The '03 and '04 G35 Coupe Brembo brakes have larger rotors than the newer Coupes. The front rotors are only marginally larger, but the rears are Significantly larger.



'03 and '04 G35 Coupe Brembo Brake Specifications:
-Front Rotor Diameter: 12.76"
-Rear Rotor Diameter: 13.07"


'05, '06, and '07 G35 Coupe Brake Specifications:
-Front Rotor Diameter: 12.6"
-Rear Rotor Diameter: 12.1"

There are other details to the story though aside from just rotor diameter. The surface area of the front pads on the 2 cars we are comparing is not the same between the old Brembos and the new Infiniti brakes on the '05 to '07 Coupes. The new Coupes have more front pad surface area than the old Brembos, but the newer Infiniti brake pads are also thinner in terms of width than the Brembos(which means that they are more prone to fade because the useable surface area of the rotor absorbing heat is less, especially when you couple that with the fact that the diameter of the Infiniti front rotor is slightly less than the Brembos). The front Brembo Rotors are also 4 piston calipers, whereas the performance version of the newer non-Brembo Coupe brakes are 2-Piston(which means that the Brembos will have greater breaking force applied to the pads as well as more even distribution of the braking power across both pads and all portions of each pad).

The surface area of the 2 cars front brake pads is something like this(for one pad)

Brembo Front(0304 Coupes) 8.73" Sq.
Infiniti Front(05-07 Coupes) 10.239" Sq.


As far as the rear brakes between the 2 generations of cars, there really is no comparison... the old rear Brembos are conclusively FAR superior to the new Infiniti rear brakes in all performance aspects. The rear Brembo pads are 37% wider(about half an inch) than the newer Non-Brembo ones, and the diameter of the rotor is drasticly larger than the new Non-Brembo brakes on the Coupes, which should significantly reduce brake fade, as well as the Brembo rear brakes being 2 piston and the newer Infiniti Non-Brembo brakes being only 1-piston.

The surface area of the 2 cars rear brake pads is something like this(for one pad):

Brembo Rear(03 & 04 Coupes) 5.34" Sq.
Infiniti Rear(05-07 Coupes) 4.24" Sq.


All that being said, the Brembo brakes will have a very significant amount of useable surface rotor area advantage over the non-Brembo newer brakes, both because of the increased diameter of the rotors, as well as the wider section of the rotor that touches the pad. The only real advantage to having the newer brakes over the Brembos is that they have more surface area on the front pads which means that they might grip slightly better when they are cold in particular over the Brembos(but keep in mind that the newer front pads are also thinner than the Brembos, resulting in less useable rotor surface area), .. but the Brembos are also 4 piston, which makes them a more efficient brake per square inch of pad surface area than the newer Infiniti Brakes. Aside from performance, the newer Infiniti brakes are thicker(measuring a new pad from the edge of the pad that would touch the rotor to the backing plate), which means that they are likely to last much longer than the Brembos. I believe they are also made of a harder material, which means that they don't grip quite as well as the Brembos and which is also the reason why the Brembos give off soo much more brake dust. The Brembo rotors also have a thinner wearout allowance, which means that they can't be turned that much(meaning you're likely to be replacing them much more, instead of just resurfacing them) in comparison to the newer non-Brembo Coupe rotors.


There is no question about it that the Brembos are the far superior setup in terms of raw performance when compared against the newer Infiniti non-Brembo brakes..... but the newer Infiniti pads/rotors last longer and dust less, as well as cost less to maintain.

 

the '05 brakes work very well but the brembos always have a great stopping advantage -- are they the best? no they still warp from high temp heating but for what they are you can't complain.

 

Nice review. I'd like to add that 4 pistons might mean more even force and maybe better brake feel but ultimate force onto the rotor is measured by total piston area. So one would need to compare the total piston area of the 2 non-brembos vs the 4 piston brembos.

But again very nice review and info. Thanks!

 

great review. i love my brembos!

one question, how long do the brembos last (mileage wise) based on normal wear and tear driving?

 

you can't say that b/c it depends how you drive. i've seen some people go through brembo pads in 1 month's driving hard.

 

Yes, and ultimately all brake calipers are designed to apply the same pressure as an OEM caliper. Otherwise, they would upset the braking balance.