I am curently in the process of ordering parts for a f/r 300zx brake swap.
So far, I have rotors and ss brake lines. I am stuck on which pads to buy, though.
I’ve looked at Endless CC-X pads, but they are super expensive and probably overkill for what I will be doing. Project Mu B Force pads are relatively cheap, but I can’t find them any where.
Anyways, for all the people that have done the brake upgrade, what pads are you using?
What would you recommend for someone who will be doing mostly street driving and the odd track day/drift class?
Make Nissan
Model 300ZX
Year 1996 - 1990
Item Front Pads - PBR Metal Master
Detail High Performance, Non-asbestos, reduced brake dust, fade & squeal, provides Ultimate Stopping
Part No. D706M
Price $85.00
Qty. set
Doesn’t State weather they are 30mm or 26mm or is there a differance?
I don’t like the Project Mu BForce pads. IMHO, they squeak a lot for a pad which isn’t very aggressive. I’ve managed to fade them before, but you can’t expect maricals to happen from a street pad.
For the money, I’d go with Hawk HP+ pads for street. They squeak, they dust, but they don’t fade. My car was 3200lbs dry, and had tiny 10.8" front rotors and a single sliding calipar setup. These still took me around Shannonville full-track 6 laps, then I decided to cool down the car. At Mosport DDT, these pads went forever (cooled down after 12 laps) without fading.
The Hawk Blues and Reds do chew up rotors, but are superior to the HP+'s. Even after cryogenically treating them, the rotors only withstood 1 set of pads.
Endless NA-M/NA-D combo are by far the best pads I’ve tried for my driving style. They have great initial bite, which allows for huge weight transfer. Almost to the point that you have to worry about the car going squirrelly. They love heat too, which is a bonus if I ever decide to track the car.
I haven’t really driven these pads in cold weather yet. So no comment on how they perform in our fridged climate. I’d probably recommend against it. It’s best to run 2 seperate sets of pads and rotors anyways.
Suprisingly stock Nissan pads are very good, especially for street use!
I used to swear by Hawks, I’ve run both black and blues, mostly blues… they are loud, dusty, hard on rotors, don’t last as long as you’d expect and were as expensive as hell!
Now my favourites are Porterfields, race compound (R4?). Still expensive, and hard on torors, but no-where near as noisy as the hawks, and slightly cheaper. They are not suitable for street use though!
Right now I have stock 300zx nissan pads on my stock car, and they lasted half the season, made no noise at all and never faded! I only put them in out of desperation and was plesantly surprised at how well they worked.
I wouldn’t recommend this at all… Especially for the non-experienced user. Different pads front to rear will change the braking effiency and thus the ballance as they warm up… What I mean is that a thoeretically better pad will likely require miore heat to be better, so when it’s cold won’t work as well, thus causing even more of an in-ballance between front and rear, thus causing accidents.
Stick to the same pads front and rear. If you want to ballance your brakes get an adjustable brake bias valve. ~$60 from any stock car race supplier.
Martin, how difficult would said brake bias valve be to install?[/quote]
It will depend which master you use, and how many outlets it has… The one on my race car has only two outlets, one for teh front and one for the rear. Others I have seen have had two for the front which would cause a problem.
The bias valve I have is a simple pressure reduction valve, so basically you install it in-line with on the front in this case because it’s the front brakes that will be too efficient. I have mine mounted on teh side of the steering coloum, but I’ve also seen them mounted on the transmission tunnel near the park brake. If you never nee dto adjust it while you are driving, you could also mount it under the hood which would be much easier.
Honestly, the rotors are so f’in huge and oversized relative to the weight of the S chassis. Davie, with the white race-prepped 240 some of you guys saw, had stock ZX pads on R32 GT-R brakes and he could run all day in 30 degree weather. Remember, stock 300ZX brakes can give a 3500lb Z32 a few decent laps on most tracks.