At last ... after a long delay, the recently released 13" front and rear Stoptech big brake kit have arrived and ready for duty. Initial impression is very positive ... increased pedal feedback, better modulation, etc. We will see after I put her through the paces at Buttonwillow Raceway this weekend.

Here are some teaser pics. Sorry for the under exposed pics ... digicam setting was off.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3


Clint (THX723)

 

Clint,
is that the same gas station that you took pics of your new advans in a while back? :-)

 

Haha ... I knew that would come up again. No, this was at a Mobile station :P It was dark and the only well lit place was the gas station.


Clint (THX723)

 

you guys in cali have it great with all of the great track venues available. very jealous.

Nice brakes BTW. Did you do the install?

 

Hey,

They look real good clint!! Great ones...

P.S. why do they look kinda SMALL!! :P (INSIDE JOKE BTWN CLINT AND I)

Ed



2003 Transport V35SKYLINE. Team Transport! www.teamtransport.org

 

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky you, ahhh finally a damm close up of those wheels, they are BEA-UTIFULL!!!! I love the break kit, i would have gone with bigger rotors and cross drilled IMO, i guess thats just better for looks though, love em though!! Man i want to come down to Cali, you guys have great meets and other events, it would be sick for Gsquad to meet up with you guys!!


Martin
2003.5 BS G35
Nismo Aero/Sport Package
0-60 5.4 - 1/4 Mile 14.16 *GTech* and on 19's!!

 

niccccceee...i like.

 

Keep us upadated. I'll be curious if the Stoptech's dial out some of the rear bias that fries the stock rear brakes on track days - hopefully they do. Better modulation would definitely help too. You must track your track quite a bit if you went with rears also. Do you think they will fit under most aftermarket 18" wheels? Thanks for the info.

 

Martin et all,
Thanks. The choice to go with 13" rather than 14" Stoptechs was predestined. The 17-inch wheels/tires I use at the track will not accomodate the larger 14s. I would have like the 14s to better filled the 19-inch street wheels, but that is not to be. From a peformance stand point of view, however, there little to gain going from 13s to 14s, but more unsprung mass to carry. So, in a way it was a blessing in disguise. Also, it's a little easier to the bank account

Slotting is generally preferred over cross-drilling for heavy duty application. The many holes serve as stress points for cracks to develop and they offer little to no benefits with respect to cooling of the rotors. The main purpose to have them is for excavating hot exhaust gas generated by the pads and for that the slots works just as well.

I do track my car quite regularly. Although the tight schedule hasn't allowed me to do more lately. I did take notice the Z/G rear brakes seem to get more abuse than one would expect ... for the non-Brembos at least. I believe it's related to the computer auto biasing that lends the rear more load. I giggle everytime I look at the size of the rea non-Brembo pads. They are simply too tiny for a 3500+ lbs. car. These beefy Stoptech rear should last a longggggg time.

I just got back from Buttonwillow this Saturday. With the race pads, they bit like the Bulldog at all four corners. There was absolutely no fade either At the end of the day, both the front and rea rotors show little to no signs of wear. That is too darn cool!

FYI ... I touched up the images above; made them a bit brighter to offset the underexposure.


Clint (THX723)

 

clint, mind if I ask what pads you're running street and track?

 

Prior to the Stoptechs:
Street: OEM
Track: Hawk HP+ (F), Hawk HPS (R)

Post Stoptechs:
Street: Axxis Ultimate (F), Hawk HPS (R)
Track: Cobalt Spec VR (F), Hawk HP+ (R)

I'm running the Axxis/Hawk combo simply because that's what the Stoptechs come with. Personally, I would have like to move away from those Ultimates due to their horrible dusting issue (as bad as the OEM pads). I wouldn't have minded a full Hawk HPS front/rear combo.

As for the track, I would have liked to run Cobalt Spec VR all around, but at this time the rear VRs aren't yet available for the rear. So, I had to settle for what I can get in a relatively short notice and that was the Hawk HP+.


Clint (THX723)

 

yeah, cobalt recommends the gt-sport pads for the rear to be used in conjunction with the VR's in the front. I'm gonna try the gt-sport pads in the rear with some endless cc-r track pads in the front for the track.

One last question:
Are you bedding before getting to the track or are you taking the first couple of laps a little slower and bedding them in there?

 

Yes according to their website (which happens to be outdated I was told) it recommends the VR/GT-S combo for the Brembo equipped 350Z. In talking to their lead designer, I learned the GT-S rear were getting discountinued. What he recommended was to run FULL VRs front and rear with these Stoptechs. Unfortunately, the VR rears are not yet available.

The GT-Sport compound is in the same class as the Hawk HP+. It is much less abbressive to the rotor and generally slightly better in all categories in comparison to the HP+. An excellent choice for AutoX and light tracking.

I do bed the brakes at least 2 seperate times with every pad material swap. The race compound especially require this done correctly, or you'd end up with badly shimmering brakes. Each time, it takes roughly 10 stops from 100mph down to 10-20mph to bed correctly. The street compounds are performed from 60mph instead. The trick is to brake just hard enough to not allow ABS pulses to kick in.

Stoptech has some good info in how to properly bed-in brakes and the theory behind it Here.



Clint (THX723)

 

Sorry to jack your thread.
I've seen stoptech's info on bedding. It's just that it might be a little hard to find a strip of highway where you can do this at some sane time and I definitely don't need another ticket. :-)

Since I'm relatively a newb at the track, I think I'll try the gt sports out for next season.

Did you happen to get any info on when the vr's for the brembo rears are going to be out?

 

Nice brakes! I know I pm'd you this question but how do you like your Advan wheels after having them on for a while. How long did it take to get them in? Buy from Gruppe-S?

G35C 6MT/Dynashield/Z-Tube/JWT Pop-Charger/Nismo Exhaust/Ultimate Cats/UR Pulley/ Tein H-Tech Springs & 30% Tint