ajahearn

iTrader: (3)

I'd like to improve the braking of my 02 without spending a serious amount of money. I've seen many posts that discuss how to do this in various ways.

From my perspective, replacing the calipers is considerably more money than I want to spend at this time. Tires also fall into this category but I determined that when they need to be replaced that I will put better tires on. These two cases being eliminated that leaves me with the following:

1) better pads. $50 and seemingly worth doing (reviews and C&D article). I've opted for this and based on several reviews I ordered some Hawk pads. From the service manual, it seems that replacing pads on the 02 is pretty much the same as it was on my 89. Unfortunately Russ's write-up in the How-To is gone (sorry to see 5thgenmaximas.com go).

2) better rotors. <$200, most reviews agree that at least slotted is better (and they look pretty cool, I don't care what Baer says). I know there has been serious debates over the various options here and I won't go into this. The service manual shows this again is pretty much the same as it was on my 89 so I'm in hot pursuit of new fronts.

3) fluid. Seen several recommendations for Motul. I've never bleed my brake lines. Is this hard to do? Is there a how-to somewhere? Does it make sense to do this if you don't replace the lines with stainless steel?

4) stainless steel lines. Seen many recommendations for this. Again is this hard to do? Any how-to's? What lines are actually replaced? Presumably the lines from the caliper to the ABS system.

Thanks in advance.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

this is the most inexpensive way to upgrade your brake...and if you are looking for instruction, u can check out Hayne's Repair Manual. I think russ forwarded all his instruction to y2kevse, I think....
I will recommand Poterfield's, 110 for all 4 if u mentioned to them that you are from maxima.org. check out maximadriver.com 's faq.

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2) better rotors. <$200, most reviews agree that at least slotted is better (and they look pretty cool, I don't care what Baer says). I know there has been serious debates over the various options here and I won't go into this. The service manual shows this again is pretty much the same as it was on my 89 so I'm in hot pursuit of new fronts.

acutally....larger surface area rotors are prefered for heat releasing. IMO, same size of rotor replacement is kinda waste of money. But a lot of people here had direct replacement of rotor because 2k/2k1 rotors are POS....

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3) fluid. Seen several recommendations for Motul. I've never bleed my brake lines. Is this hard to do? Is there a how-to somewhere? Does it make sense to do this if you don't replace the lines with stainless steel?

4) stainless steel lines. Seen many recommendations for this. Again is this hard to do? Any how-to's? What lines are actually replaced? Presumably the lines from the caliper to the ABS system.

Thanks in advance.

I am not sure about different brands of oil...but the stainless steel lines, I've heard that they help to prevent brake line expanding. It replaces the brake line that comes off the body to the caliper.

I think your main focus will be getting better pads.....or try to find 300zx brake from junkyard.

ajahearn

iTrader: (3)

I saw that Y2KevSE did this with his car. I was a little concerned given that the 300Z's haven't been made since 96. Does it really make sense to use 5 year old calipers?

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

why not? I think he bought it brand new and I dun think there is much a big difference between the present caliper and the caliper that was made with the technology from 5 years ago.


besides, 300zx tt is a fast car and its brake system is able to handle it.

mingo

iTrader: (4)

you are correct, replacing the caliper may hurt the pocket book if you bought them brand new.. Honestly if i could do it all over again, i would have purchased brand new calipers instead of buying used Z-calipers. Don¡¦t get me wrong, my brakes still work like a charm, but it's just that i would have a bit more self reassurance knowing that my brakes would be less likely to fail on me because they are new. but since brand new calipers would cost about 600bux a pair (or was it a side?) as opposed to around 200bux at a junk yard you could see why i went with the used set.

as far as rotors, assuming that you did a 300zx retrofit, u'll need to trim 3mm off the radius of the rotor which equates to 6mm total off the diameter, that makes the rotor just about the same size in terms of diameter as the stock rotors. The only difference is the thickness between the two, the z rotor is significantly thicker which helps the rotors stay cooler.

i would recommend slotted rotors over cross drilled rotors or cross drilled and slotted rotors mainly because you lose surface area with cross drilled rotors as well as structural integrity. With a cross drilled rotor you lose about 20% of braking surface. I¡¦m sure we all know that brakes use friction to slow the car down so with 20% less friction the car won't slow down as fast. The holes and slots are there for out gassing. i think slots are efficient enough for that. the only reason why we see many exotic cars with the cross drilled and slotted set up is because they have larger rotors which means that the calipers are pushed further out giving it more brake torque (think of it as using a ratchet/wrench, the further out u grab on the bar the more torque you have) also because of that they can afford to lose some surface area. we must remember our brakes are only good as our tires, having the best brake set up will not equate to shortest stopping distance.

The number one thing to look into if you want to upgrade your brakes are obviously your pads.. i too recommend the porterfield r4s brake pads (r4s is for street use) however they do dust a lot.

the next thing i would consider is replacing the stock brake lines with stainless steel brake lines, it eliminates the flexing of the brake lines which enhances brake performance and also gives you a more consistent pedal feel.

since your going to switch the brake lines might as well flush the system out and replace the brake fluid with something that has a higher boiling temperature such as motul (as u stated above). With a higher boiling temperature the brake fluid would not boil as easily as opposed to the oem brake fluid reducing the chances of brake fade. Once your fluid starts boiling in your calipers you'll get air bubbles in your system that would cause brake fade.

Replacing the calipers is not all that important. Having a 4 piston caliper just allows you to modulate the braking better; the force of the pistons pushing out the pads is distributed more evenly as opposed to the stock single piston set up. For the most part single piston is good enough. cheston aka chebosto has told me that he feels that his stock calipers work better than the z brakes, he went from stock to z brakes back to stock.

as far as installing brake components, i advise that you have someone that has done brake systems before assist you, because obviously brakes an aspect of the car that should not be tampered with unless you know what you're doing. a faulty installation can cause serious injury or death. i'm not trying to scare anyone here by saying that just keeping it real. i hope this post answers your questions.

Ahhh lengthy post here's the cliff notes **********************

i say yes to 1,2,3,4.

SVTTODAMAX

The best thing you can do is get a stickier tire. Tires can improve stopping distance by up to 30-40%, depending on the tires you currently have.

ajahearn

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have a couple more items which need clarification. If I wanted to replace the fluid, it seems like I would have to drain the old fluid out. I don't believe I can bleed the lines as I don't think there is anyway to tell the new fluid from the old. Is this correct? My car is pretty new so the fluid is still pretty clear. Is Motul fluid a different color?

mingo

iTrader: (4)

motul is slightly darker than the brake fluid nissan uses. (it's more orange) if you take it to a shop that does brake fluid flushes they can get all the old fluid out, flush it with some cleaning chemicals, then they flush the chemicals and some how dry it all out, then they pour the new stuff in and bleed it until there is no air bubbles. you are right though, if the brake fluid is the same color it would be real hard to tell the difference. but fortunately motul is a different color.