Ok standard 60-0 braking distance is 125ft.

 

I have near stock setup: New disks all round standard size, front are grooved, rear standard, brake pads are mintex, brake fluid is dot 5.1, and finally I have braded brake lines.

 

Results: 60-0 braking distance is 113ft. So thats 12ft knocked off the distance, I suppose it all helps.

 

To put it in perspective I tested the brakes on my dads 2 year old Ford Focus and got 111ft 60-0. So my zed has virtuall the same 60-0 stopping distance as a modern family car, which I suppose is not bad. But yes I agree with many on here the brakes on the zed should of been manufactued with much more powerfull brakes as it is a car capabe of extreemly high top speeds.

The braking effectiveness of new cars nowadays is mental though, my mrs' meriva will happily throw driver, passengers and shopping through the front window if you flex your big toe too hard.

 

Add to that decent ABS and new-fangled Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD)

Cornering Brake Control (CBC) and Emergency Brake Assist (EBA) :wack: and you can see why.

 

Would be interesting to get a few results :cool:

Yeah one thing I noticed when testing the Focus was just how sharp the brakes was, you only have to press lightly and it brakes hard, were as with the zed you really have to press very hard to get the same results.

Yeah it gives you a shock doesn't it hehe! I wonder if there's any way an older car's braking could be improved to that extent. Must be an improvement in the servo or something?

 

My S13 brakes are awesome compared to what they were as standard, but still nowhere near the likes of a Focus for responsiveness and ease of use.

Its the responsiveness that takes away the "feel" though. You can tell whats happening and control the braking better in the zed without the snappy response.

 

The Zed brakes are good, when they are working correctly, most are running around with tired braking systems, the most common fault being seized caliper pistons and owners dont realise that they are running around with 2/3 pot brakes instead of fully functional 4 pots.

Aye true.

 

Also, its amazing what difference simply changing the brake fluid can make, something a lot of people overlook.

I was thinking of maybe changing the brake fluid to dot 4 race spec as I have heard dot 5.1 which I use can cause spongy and unresponsive braking.

 

Yes I know what you mean Legreth about loosing the "feel" by gaining responsiveness as I think the brakes on the Focus are way too responsive and less predictable, but thats ok for a family car. I would of liked the zed to be a bit more responsive though, who knows what it would of been like when it was a new car.

I got -1.05 G (SS Gtech meter) from my new brake discs (Brembo plain rotors) and Axxis ultimate pads, before the ABS kicked in.

I prefer the progressive feel of zed breaks to more modern day cars on off approach, i had a primera for a courtesy car a few years back and hitting the breaks at 5mph nearly put me through the windscreen :D,