Hello, I just bought my G35 2003 coup and it needs a few things done to it. The first one being brake pads and rotors. I have checked around and looked at rockauto and places like that but I want to know what the G community thinks! Same for the tires and spark plugs. Stock rims, with brembo brakes.

 

Congrats! Ehh, you will find a VARIETY of answers from hardcore track drivers to wannabee ballers lol. Fwiw, I too shop a lot on Rockauto. If you don't care about being a baller and just daily drive the car with the occasional romp, I'd get Centric Premium high carbon blank rotors with the E coating. Tape the friction surface with masking tape after degreasing the protective oil coating, scuff and spray several coats of flat black or semi gloss black overlapping/overspraying from rotor hat about 1" into the friction surface so you don't develop a small ring of rust at the area Centric failed to cover. Second I'd combine that with Stoptech Streetperformance pads or Axxis ULT. If you want less brake dust and long lasting quiet pads (perhaps less intial bite) I know Wagner Thermoquiet pads will treat you well for a few years if you're not hard on your brakes. Not sure if they make them for Brembo models but they sure work awesome on my wife's car LOL. Don't forget CRC or similar synthetic brake grease.

For cheap but good tires, I like my Hankook Ventus V12s. They're quiet and offer decent sidewall response and grip as opposed to those hard old Bridgestones. I heard the Dunlop Star specs kick *** and are a good value in 18" as well. Keep your stock wheels for those or for snow tires. Upgrade to nicer/bigger diameter wheels if you wish/have extra disposable cash. The car is not gonna be an ISF, M3, 911 type S lol. I'm not pretending. My suspension is stock. I care about making steep driveways, speedbumps, parking garages. I don't put aftermarket sways because the car will tend to oversteer. I used to think I was an amazing driver, but that was simply not realistic and I don't want to upset the calm but balanced demeanor of the car haha. Make sure your sparks are NGK premium platinums so they will last the 100k the oem intended. You don't want to replace those too often lol. I've used the NGK Iridiums on my racecar with nice results, but an inline 4 is super easy to replace and they aren't supposed to last the 100k oems were. And I drive the thing 3 times a year. Use Nissan MTF or Redline MT-85 only to replace the manual trans oil. The other sh*t will grind when cold. A good cheap conventional grade rear diff oil is Castrol 80W-90 Hypoy C. I'm not even sure if they still make it but it's dirt cheap and it's quiet when the weather is in the teens lol. Bleed your brakes and clutch master/slave with new DOT3, or DOT 4 if you wanna feel important and change the power steering with fresh ATF. This is no nonsense work to keep your rig going!

 

Check our MARKETPLACE under vendor brakes. I love my HAWK HPS pads, almost zero dust and double the life of OE pads. (Use our SEARCH function for "Bed In Process" for 30% better stopping ability.) They'll also have the rotors you want, you'll have several choices....I like DBAs! Tires, check www.thetirerack.com they sell tires at wholesale and deliver to your door. Welcome and Good Luck!
Gary

 

As a fellow Rockauto shopper I would say that going with the vendors is wayyyy more expensive. Fancy yes, but expensive. Also, there are more than a few posts about Hawk HPS pads on more than one forum saying that they SUCK at cold braking and have less initial bite than oem or a German style pad even when warmed up. I'd go OEM, Stoptech/Axxis ULT, Wagner Thermoquiet (quiet/cleaner), maayybe Centric Posiquiet as a dark horse. If you're gonna spend that much more on pads might as well go with the best ceramic Akebono has to offer. I hear only good things about those pads in that price range.

 

There's only one reason anyone would dislike the HAWK pads, they didn't bother to do the bed in process! This 15 minute process is done after the pads are installed, heating them up so the rotors are covered with material from the pads.This simple process will give you 30% better stopping ability. HAWK pads will double the life over OE pads installed correctly along with the bed in process. What dust, almost doesn't exist!
Gary

 

Yeah, I'm sure those are the people who reuse their rotors unturned so the pad isn't making quality contact with the rotor. I bed every set of pads I install and do so on a fresh set of rotors. So far I've installed a couple sets on various cars with the Thermoquiets, Stoptech street performance, and Axxis ULT all with good results. The ULT are on my G35C and my S13. The G has been wearing them since 2007 and I daily drive the car under suburban driving. I put about 10k mi per year. Hawk must make quality pads since they're so popular among enthusiasts. It just bothers me that they're a bit more expensive than what I like to use and people still talk smack about them. I'm just about getting the car functional in the most practical and economical way.