Sport/nismo brembo GT front caliper upgrade
 

Thinking about swapping out nismo front calipers to brembo GT caliper upgrade over my z1 2 piece rotors. Does anyone know what pads available and where can be purchased? Specially looking at carbotech brake pads. Also its been a while since last thread so if anyone has extended period of time tracking with these calipers, is it worth the upgrade?

You should probably tell us what sort of driving you're doing, what mods you have, and what tire set up

Well the car is mostly for track use, it has GTM supercharger with over 515whp and 390wtrq, fortune auto 500 suspension coil overs with 16k/12k springs and running re71r at the moment. Z1 2 piece rotors with Carbotech 10/8 XP pads. Also running brake cooling ducts. My issue is that I get brake pulsation after ~2 days of use from front rotors. I assume is just pad deposits from excessive heat. It only happens at low brake application. Full braking is smooth. Rebedding does not help. Was going to go up to XP20/XP12 next on stock calipers but wanted to know if brembo caliper upgrade would be worth before spending tons of money on full bbk setup.

Have you considered buying temp stickers to stick on your stock calipers, see how hot you are toasting them?

If it’s over oem size rotors, the benefits I can see would be the GT calipers are bigger heat sinks, and may provide better/finer brake modulations at threshold.

To be honest, especially at your power level, I would do full setup (calipers and bigger rotors) for higher heat capacity.

I have never tried the temp stickers. Have a event coming up end of July so might give a look. Obviously I would love to get full BBK but I'm shopping for a house and spending 7k+ on the car right now it wouldn't be a wise choice. So just looking a good alternative at the moment that wouldn't break the bank. Another issue is that I can't seem to find where to purchase pads for the brembo calipers.

I used to get the same thing and tried many ways to prevent it when I switched to Frozen Rotors blanks seems to have solved the problem. I don't think changing the calipers will do much to change that. Add another minute to your cool down before you chock your car in the paddoc.

Light weight rotors (2 piece) are great and have a lot of benefits. But they do have drawbacks. Dump X amount of energy into half the mass of steel the temp change will double. Making warping or other damage much easier, but for race teams swapping rotors out daily is just the cost of doing business. I don't have the funds to do that so I'll stick with my cheap heavy rotors that last a few weekends.

There is a guy in the track section who had similar issues with the z rotor kit. I would replace the rotors first before getting a full bbk.
Racing Brake, DBA, and stop-tech offer two piece, bolt-on solutions that seem to hold up better to track abuse than the z1 rotors. Interestingly, they are all a pound or two heavier than the z1 rotors. Could be something to that...

Since its my 2nd set of z1 rotors and had the same problem the first time, it did cross my mind.. why are they half the cost of the other reputable brands? Possibly that's the way to go in my case.

If you’re overpowering the z1 two piece rotors its time to go more than a caliper upgrade

Its prolly time for some AP racing radicals

I saw on FB that one of the GridLife time attack guys was having issues where his Z1 2-piece rotors would separate; if I recall correctly it happened on more than one set as well. However, I'm not sure how hard his driving is compared to yours but it's still something to be aware of.

Instead of stickers- I use infrared temp reader. It will show if temperature is an issue and helped me to pick correct pads.
It can be bought for $40 or something...can be used to take tire temps too.

I've had no problems with Racing Brake 2 piece rotors.

If I read their website correctly, the racing brakes are 3mm thicker than stock? So even more mass to dissipate heat, but not the weight savings of z1

rb is twice the price tho!

Less weight, more problems. More weight, no problems. Want do you want?

I've reading up and I think I am going to pull the trigger on racing brake rotors. Which pads are you running on the track? thinking going XP20/12

The radicals were my favorite bbk to get but according to Z1 and conceptzperformance, the AP radicals I and II are not available/or discontinued which is littel odd

10/8 for now.

thats odd

anyone else heard this?

I was looking and heard the same thing, I saw Stillen even took them off the site. I did not try to contact AP.

Looks like it's across all platforms. Wonder what's up

This is one of the option I am looking in my brake upgrade, besides AP racing, I think oem sport rotors size is enough for our cars, so getting the caliper kit will be a very cost effective way to upgrade, also I think not all bigger brake kits will be compatible with 18 inch wheels, unless they come with same oem size rotors.


About 2-piece rotors, I have been using Z1 rotors, and they are working for me, I saw what happened to Austin in gridlife, I assume the time we get in track per session is short to put same type of stress on the rotors, but I drive it very hard when I hotlap my car. I used xp10/8 before, and changed to endless mx72 plus and I like mx72 better (even with used rotors). I was planning for XP12 all around but at the end went with endless.

Quick question - I run the same 2PC Z1 rotors on mine, the same Carbotech XP10/8 combo, and I also get significant pad judder. Could it be the pads? The judder developed after my first few days at Autoclub speedway on the Carbotechs. My car is a bit heavier on Hankook RS4, but also has stock power.

I'm not discounting the fact that it could be the rotors (it's so bad I've since switched back to the stock rotors), but just curious as the pads are an easier/cheaper fix.

I've read elsewhere that the Carbotechs seem to lend themselves to a lot of pad deposit, which may be the cause of the judder.

Bad rotors
Improper or insufficient bedding process
Bad hub?

I'm starting to wonder if the Z1 rotors and X10/8 pads don't like each other.

Instead further experimenting with different rotors/pads combos, I’ve decided to pull a trigger on stoptech trophy sport bbk with 380mm rotors option. Will do front upgrade only at this time and see how’s the balance. With right pad combo might get away with it. Haven’t decided on the pads yet though

Did the vibration go away after swapped to stock rotors?

I did a followup a month ago with Stillen on the state of the Radical kits for the 370Z.
They are the importer of the AP Racing Radical kits to the US, and stated they are discontinuing because AP racing was difficult to get parts in quickly.

I was pretty devastated because I've been eyeing the kit for about 2 years now and had just decided to spring for the Radical II kit.

I have 18 inch wheels so the stoptech 380mm trophy kit is too big, but the Radical II just fits.

My Z1 rotors are starting to show hairline cracks and my Akebono calipers are still leaking at the track, so I want a larger and thicker rotor to dissipate heat faster.

in that situation the Brembo kit seems to make sense

the only other big name alternative is fancy Endless/Project Mu stuff

I haven't been able to confirm as I've also switched back to stock pads for the street and haven't been to the track since.

How about their 355mm rotor option? That should fit 18inch wheels

Alcon as well, they have a 360mm kit, that should fit 18" but not sure. But I think Brembo caliper kit is very viable after discontinuing AP.

This thread has caused me to do more reading into what makes a caliper track more or less track worthy

Apparently, the term "RadiCal" covers a wide variety of calipers made by AP racing that actually have different features, such as being a true monobloc, anodized v powder coat, brake dust boots or not, etc. differences and caliper and rotor design mean that a smaller caliper and rotor with all of these features can out perform a lesser set with more size

The brembo GT kit that uses stock size rotors actually has many race worth features and therefore, when paired with good rotors, is a true track upgrade despite not being a flashier "big brake kit" with a giant rotor

Thinking of getting the Brembo 6 pot upgrade too but according to Mike who had them installed said they are not well balanced (with the OE rears) for the track? And not all 18s will clear...

Anyone else have these installed and comment on them?

There is a 4 piston rear upgrade as well

Brake clearance depends on spoke design for a particular wheel. Diameter usually isn't the problem, at this point

Not all wheels clear akebonos either due to the specific face

I am still waiting for my stoptech trophy 380mm rotor kit to arrive. Will still use stock akebono calipers in the back. Stoptech trophy kit comes with 2 piston calipers in the rear for the 370z as opposed to 4 piston entry bbk kit so I assume stock rear calipers should do the job. I have a track event on the 26th so Im hoping I will get my hands on it before. If I do, I will share my impressions here. I decided to go with Ferodo ds1.11 up front and keeping carbotech xp8 in the rear.

Sorry a dumb question...can the 4 pot Akebonos fit in the rear?

If you mean putting the front calipers on the rear. The answer is no. They won't bolt up unless you made adapters. Then your brake balance would be all screwed up.

I see. Was thinking to get the 6 piston front BBK and possibly move the OE 4 piston to the rear lol...

Will the OE 2 piston rear be fine then with the BBK 6 up front? Track use wise

Are you actually tracking your car?

People have used the 6 piston front with the oem 2 piston rear. Think it was with the 355mm front rotors. If you use the 380mm front rotors. I think you would be better off with the 4 piston rears.