Seconded. Brakes and Oil Cooler should both be treated as a "Requirement" for our car. Lack of oil cooler will not kill you. Lack of brakes however, CAN.

According to Bryan, though, the stock brakes, even the base brakes, are more brake than a lot of cars already on the track.

And yeah, brake fade can cause an accident, or you could feel the brakes slipping when they start to fade and safely pull over.

It is what it is. I'm getting a brake upgrade regardless.

Correct, they are a lot more "brake" (physically in size) than many cars on the track. However, their fade characteristics are fairly scary compared to many other cars. It tends to come rapidly and without warning. This may be a symptom due to PROFESSIONAL drivers pushing it harder, faster - a novice may take longer to heat them up and in turn, overheat them. But the potential easily remains that they can and will fade quickly compared to other cars - even others with smaller overall physical dimensions.

RCZ and I believe TravisJB have both experienced this - they called it "icing up".

BTW, the swiftness in the fade was evident in the Car and Driver test that caused the NISMO to crash - it came on so suddenly and without warning, they COULDNT safely pull over. Scary!

Yikes!

Well, the OP has sport brakes already anyway, so he'd probably be ok getting oil cooler and pads/fluid/lines before tracking, wouldn't you think? And that's not all that pricey compared to replacing the brakes.

Ice mode is not heat related. It's a failure mode of the z's abs controller.


The issue with the sport brakes is the way the calipers trap heat, failure is sudden. Theres almost no fade before near-total failure. It's a confusion issue.

Ahh, very true, I remember now. Sorry, been a while since I talked about ice mode.

Either way, brake fade comes sudden and without much warning.

I think to save money and time I will get the oil cooler on my first oil change, the brakes on my first fluid / pad change, and get the exhaust when cash permits. I can get the intake after those mods. Maybe that will cure the itch temporarily.

Well, theres some good over-the-counter creams that'll help...but its kinda the gift that keeps on giving....

Srsly though, nothing cures the modding itch I dont think :-p.

I'd recommend getting a real oil cooler than the Nissan one thats coming out, but thats me.

Yep. It's almost definitely a caliper heat handling defect. Guys swapping to a different caliper with the same rotors have seen good results.


Ice mode is a whole 'nother issue...not even gonna touch that.

I have Mod knowledge. Mod Squad knowledge!!!!

Far out, man. Groovy, baby.

RE:
nothing cures the modding itch I dont think :-p.

I want to spend more on mods, but only if it adds performance. Brakes fill the bill. GTR start button, Fairlady badges, etc are cool for others but not I.

Instead of modding I am thinking another car entirely. Keeping the Z and getting an E type convertible too. That way I can still sink money into a car.

I've been scratching my head for the past 8 or so hours and can't figure out if HFC's will fit with the F.I. LTH's and CBE or not. I just saw the video of Semtex's Z after he installed the headers and that was exactly what I was looking for. That **** sounds all business.:leghump:

You'll find most people who did headers thought it wasnt worth the labor/money, since you have to drop the motor I believe. The gains arent like on an LSX motor, assuming you're coming from that :)

I wasn't necessarily looking at the gains, more so the sound... Maybe while I have my day off I'll analyze it some more. A lot of money just to make it sound slightly different.

Then my point is even more valid - and you highlighted it lol. A lot of money for a different sound.

Just get HFC's (or test pipes if you can actually get away with it...) and a good CBE.