Peeps,

 

Ive been looking around at brake upgrades, brembos and alike, which is all well and good. But it got me thinking.....

 

Why are zed brakes so poor? What is the design flaw in them that makes them so ineffective in comparison the zed's rivals?

 

Now is it that they are just getting old and the calipers could do with a re-build and the brake system needs emptying and renewing?

 

Because looking at the face value of things, they got 4 pot calipers with a reasonable size discs, and yet some how my mates legacy could outbrake my old zed and he only had 2 pots and pissy little discs!

 

So can anyone give a technical reason into why the brake setup is soooo POO!

 

Nick

Heavey fast car + OK'ish brake setup = not great brakes

 

Cant help more than that though.

Both reasons !

 

1. Many have sticking Pistons, so only operating on 2 or 3 pots ! Common problem

 

2. The disc size is to small for the Weight of the car and the Calipers are not as stong as the Brembo setup that many other cars received.

 

The R33/R34 Skyline GTR got the better brakes despite being of similar power and weight.

 

Other lighter less powerfull cars from other manufacturers got the same Brembo setup - eg. Mitsu Evo

 

They have the brake setup the Z32 should have received as standard.

If the standard brakes are in tip top condition then they are acceptable, as has been said, by this time most are not.

See i thought that the R32 had the same 4 pot setup as us, its only the very last R32 Vspec II that got the brembos (prior to the R33's etc obviously)..... But ive never heard R32 owners complaining overly about the brakes?

See i thought that the R32 had the same 4 pot setup as us, its only the very last R32 Vspec II that got the brembos (prior to the R33's etc obviously)..... But ive never heard R32 owners complaining overly about the brakes?

 

R32 is lighter...but you'll also see a lot of R32's upgraded to the Brembo setup or larger.

People will say that a refurb and new fluid will make all the difference, which it probably does.

 

But having not driven the car when it was new I don't know what you should expect from the stock brakes. The car certainly takes a lot of stopping without a refurb or upgrade.

 

Certainly they should be good enough after a refurb if you drive defensively but but who wants to do that all the time, an upgrade is probably the best bet.

The best stock brakes I've felt on a Z32 were on a 1989 300zx NA (which has the smaller NA setup) .....becuase they had recently been refurbed and the Lighter NA weight helps too.

So which does everyone think is the biggest flaw in the design then?

 

Is is that the discs are just too small, or is it that the calipers are just not strong enough.

 

What im trying to get at is, is it really worth doing a bigger disc conversion and keeping the standard calipers really worth it, considering that one of the biggest flaws is the standard caliper itself?

Gotta say since I noticed a big difference in changing the brake master cylinder a few years ago and that was after I changed the discs and pads! Seems to have better clamping pressure...

the discs are far too small, I have standard brakes (except for ebc discs) that work perfectly and are fine for average driving but driving hard you can feel them starting to go so i have to brake earlier and earlier to stop them heating up too much.

My brakes were OK when spot on, you could squeal the tyres at about 60mph on the right road surface. However, I drove Timmy Turbo's and it was absolutely lethal. Glazed pads, glazed discs, and probably sticking pistons, virtually nothing happened and I thought I was going to break the seat mountings at about 30mph. New discs and pads made a big difference, but it was never as good as mine.

 

The calipers are OK, but bigger discs help a lot, the clamping force is OK, but MA (Mechanical Advantage) is improved.

 

I reckon with bigger discs, new fluid and refurbished calipers you'd be fine for most road use. I decided to go for a 350Z setup, because they were almost new, looked great and I offset the cost by selling my standard setup to the 200sx boys.

I would recomend the GTR setup over the Big discs with adaptors - Why? Becuase although the Big disc conversion will be a dramatic improvement and probably offer as much as 75% of the improvement that the GTR setup offers its all about value for money when you consider that some retailers sell the kit for £450, but you can get a GTR front setup for around £500 and sell your old stock setup for £100 !

 

If you can get the Larger disc conversion for cheaper, then its a better deal ofcourse.

I have drove a Zed fitted with 350Z racing discs which are a larger diameter and entails a block/bracket being fitted to move the caliper out from its original mounting, and the difference is fantastic, even tho' it only moves out by 35mm. Definitely a mod worth doing especially if you source the discs from the US.

I think ill end up doing is replacing the fluid, make sure the calipers are in full working order, cylinder brace and fit braided hoses for the time being, and when i have some spare cash go for the full brembo (front and rear) setup.

 

Cheers for the answers peeps

the brakes on my old 2+2 were pretty good. Key things you need:

Decent pads! I had Axis metal matrix pads

non glazed/warped discs

braided brake hoses

fresh fluid

reseal the calipers if they are worn