kazakhstan calling .............hi all , as a new Zed owner i was

last time home revelling in the ease in which the car picks up its skirts and heads for the horizon ..........until horror ..!!

farmer F***wit pulls out on me in his combine harvester

 

i did not revell in the way the horizon was still rushing towards me with my anchors full on ..........pray tell what is a good quick fix

for the crap brakes until i can afford some Brembos ??

 

Steve

Did your wheels lock up?

 

Good pads make a big difference.

 

There is no definate answer to brakes, bigger is usually better but when you are stuck with the size of brakes there is little you can do.

 

Firstly pads will make a difference. The pads on a Z should be quite high performance, but this makes them terrible at low temperatures, say for the first 5-6 miles or so. But once warmed up they will be good.

 

If you where driving quite fast, your brakes could have over heated. All you can do is change them for some Kevlar or EBC Red Stuff pads, which are designed to work at higher temperatures, at the cost of bad performance when cold.

 

You could get your brake lines completely beld and have fresh fluid put in. If your brakes over heat and boil the fluid (Its not that hard to do really) the fluid will be ruined and make things worse.

 

You could get Braded Brake Lines. As things get warm and you press the brake, the pressure causes the last few inches of brake line which is rubber to expand. This is pressure being wasted. You may not think its much but times the wasted pressure by 4 and its significent.

 

Your pistons could need resealing.

 

There are a number of other things you could do, but these are the easiest/cheapest/most common things to do.

 

Stuart

thanks Stuart,

 

i have heard of green stuff pads .......my son has them in his clio

poor lad .......let him drive the Z he couldnt stop smiling all day afterwards,

 

what is a good brand repacement race spec brake fluid ? as i intend to have braided hoses put on and a master cylider support bracket so might as well go the whole hog and have new red stuff pads as well as per your advice , do you knw anything about 3G discs

i have been recomended those as a straight replacement for the OE discs ??

 

Steve

Hi Steve,

I have the 3G disks .. 20GR as I recall. I am very happy with them .. I combined them with redstuff pads.

 

Once I fitted them there was no sqealing and the braking is very good, in fact even at cold they aren't that bad at all.

 

I did get some synthetic fluid as well but will replace when I upgrade to the braided hoses.

 

Chris

So ya going to learn Russian when winter comes there or study zed?

 

If your new zed is an old UK zed then I'd bet on a couple of stuck caliper pistons each side

is it just the uk zed that had probs with seized caliper pistons as my import has very very poor braking. going to have a look at weekend. cant afford to upgrade just yet.

 

cheers ..lee

i have just had an email from Alisdair at 3G barkes who has offered me 310mm rotors with red or black anodised bell mount

and billet alloy OE 4 pot caliper relocator bracket with race spec fluid 465 hard earneds .sounds good to me ,

 

the zed is 94 jap spec import ee moi ruski eta ochin harashow spaseeba, ya nyet nada ochit pa ruski yezik.

Steve

 

You at kivo, KPC or TCO?

 

bet no zeds out there?

im at kivo which is now called KPObv i have been at unit 3 for 5 and a bit years now, sounds like you have some experience of

sunny kazakhstan WillieO

 

Steve

Nope never been there - yet. Just some contracts for heavy electrical power equipment and could never get over calling a London telephone number to reach a person via sat phone in sunny K. Also making brandy from wine by freezin off the water when its minus 40 in mid winter!

 

Sorry to digress from zedery.

 

Anyway on zed brakes I'm nearly sure I've seen a road test way back when new and a stock zed with Nissan pads could pull up in about 50m from 70mph. The latest 5 series BMW saloons dont do much better today!

 

Sure it maybe couldnt do it in that distance too many times in quick sucession!

 

So the big brake kit would give more stamina for absorbing and radiating the energy but if you have sticking pistons then you risk warping the new and expensive big discs.

 

I fitted stock size 3G 30 groove and only after fixing the calipers.

 

Brakes fine now

Willie

thanks for that Wilie

 

i will have the calipers checked out for piston siezure prior to putting the conversion in place but i have had the wheels off the ground at each corner and had my friend to dab the brake

pedal while i tried to turn the wheel , it grabbed fine and released

when the pedal was released so i dont think i have siezed pistons

i think it may be more like glazed pads and knackered brake fluid

 

Steve