Nissan 370Z Forum - It make any sense to just upgrade rotors?

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- - It make any sense to just upgrade rotors? (http://www.the370z.com/brakes-suspension/23837-make-any-sense-just-upgrade-rotors.html)

Yup, do be careful if you overheat the brakes too much and too hard. I lost a brake line on my 350Z with base brakes after 20 hard track days and 45K miles.

My 370z could pull more Gs under braking than my 350z on the same brake pads (370 has 265 RE11 and 350 has 235 RA1s). I could also get a lot more laps out of the 370 before starting to get a hint of fade. My 370 on RE11 was 1.5 sec faster than my 350 on RA1s at VIR.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeauNC (Post 707780)

I've done VIR full course with a 350Z and BASE brakes. With Hawk HP+ pads I could get 4-5 laps before getting brake fade. My factory rotors lasted until 80,000 miles or so before I was getting vibration when braking. The last 20,000 miles or so I used HP+ pads for daily driving also, so if I had switched back to a less aggressive pad the rotors may have lasted a bit longer. From my experience, the 370Z with sport brakes should be MORE than track capable with the right pads and fluid and should last 80k-100k miles unless you use aggressive pads and do a lot track days. My fastest lap at VIR was a 2:27 with no mods other than brake pads, fluid, and 275 width tires on all 4 corners. I had puny brakes, the 14" brakes should be amazing.

If I remember correctly, the RA1's are a far stickier tire than the RE11, so that is quite an improvement on brakes alone. I only had 8 track days and about 800 miles on my old Z. I wish I could have afforded more. Track driving is more addicting than crack I'm pretty sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cossie1600 (Post 707836)

I wouldn't say it is far stickier, but definitely stickier.

370z lap at VIR
YouTube - 0810 VIR 370z hotlap 217.AVI

350z lap at VIR (with traffic or should i say a-hole blocking me)
YouTube - 0907 VIR Nissan 350z blocked by BMW M3

I just pulled the datalog from 2007 with a 350 Enth (stock with XP10 pads) vs 370 sport (stock with XP10 pads)

http://a.imageshack.us/img823/5051/350370vir.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The top chart is the speed at different points at VIR (starting from the VIR sign at the S/F). The middle graph is the delta (difference between the two laps). The last one is the longitudinal G's. As you can see, the 235 RA1s were stickier than my 265/285 RE11 as indicated by the faster cornering speed (blue is 370 and red 350). You can see the 350 can start into the corner faster or at least at the same speed as the 370, of course the difference ends as soon as I hit the gas. As far as braking, you can see I can brake into the corner much later in the 370 than the 350 at the two heavy braking spot despite carrying 3-5 mph extra and having less grip. This translates to a peak of 1.29G in T1 vs 1.09G in T1 on the 350.