hey irish, I ordered a set of these brakes as well....just curious of what size pistons you've got on them. Thanks

they're 1.62" pistons...

is this supposed to be the ideal sized-piston for our car regarding prevention of brake-bias? I've read a post in the NYC forum where this guys sells the similar kit and he vowed that his kit is better because of the matched piston size.

well, this kit is actually made for the 6th gen maxima/ Altima SE-R, which have larger single pistons stock than the 5th gens do. That said, I've always believed that our stock pistons were too small in the first place.

as to "a guy on the NYC forum" vs. an established company like fastbrakes.....I'll go with fastbrakes' opionion

I'm waiting for my set to arrive....fastbrake stated that they are currently on backorder. Let us know how you like them.

Our stock 1 piston is not small.
You have to match the diamter of the 4 pistons so it will be the same diameter as the stock maxima piston.

And your second statement- there are people that make parts that are better in every aspect then a company. Its a proven fact...
Research into things before you make statements like that. Or you sound like a newbie. :stfu:

fastbrakes is on backorder because they order their parts from wilwood.
And it isnt only fastbrakes but summitracing and other distributors.

so irish... im at fast brakes.com but they dont' have one for the 00-01 maximas... did u just go for the 2002-2006? v2002-2006 Maxima 13.6 inch 6 piston kit

matter of opinion...

actually, not necessarily true. If this was the case, why are the 6th gen calipers (which are much larger pistons than the 5th gen) so much more effective than our stockers. As long as the MC can handle this piston bore, the system will work fine.

oh, a "proven fact?" Ok, go ahead and provide proof.

what are you, retarded? It's called a "generalization," look it up.

In general, a large company is going to have better qualty control than a guy making stuff in his garage. Of coure that isn't always the case - there are some excellent small manufacturers out there - but when it comes to small tolerances, computer-designed and milled parts are almost always better than something done "by hand." Take Matt's z32 brackets for example....a great product, but the fit tolerances are always a bit off....Big companies have more money and more resources for testing at their disposal than the amateur fabricator.

:stfu:

Let me guess, you're "the guy on the NY maximas forum".....

If you want to get into a pissing match, please come with some actual information instead of lame vague statements. Otherwise, GTFO. Newbie.

the 02-06 kit will bolt right up. Our spindle mounting locations are the same.

so u don't need to change all the hubcentric rings or anything... it'll just bolt right up,,,

see i've been thinking about uprgrading my brakes for a while... but well i also want to be able to use my 18" rims w/ 35 offset and be able to use the stockies for the winter.. wat do u think since u've been working on different setups...

my winter wheels are the G35 coupe 17s (33mm offset) with Blizzaks on them, so I don't have any clearance problems. These wheels can be found cheap (<$500 for a set)

my stock wheels were sold long ago.....

btw, it's not the diameter that you theoretically have to "match," it's the total piston area.....(i.e. A=pi*r2)

irish, is it installed yet?

nah this weekend probably. we were out looking at TVs and baby stuff this evening instead.

calm down!

lol...can't help it. I just found out my set was shipped out today. Just can't wait. I hate my sloppy stockers @ >70k miles

def noob
but seriuosly...front brakes: 02 max - 2.252" bore piston, 07 max - 2.25", both use 15/16" master cyl. data straight from FSM. Mind sharing how you found out that 6th gen has "much larger pistons than the 5th gen"?

done "by hand"... who told you that? so..... in you opinion milling something on NV5000 is considered "by hand" these days???

I’m calling BS, the 6th gen calipers are physically MUCH bigger then the 5th gen ones.

really... we are talking bore diameters here, not apperance.

I guess this is a dumb question but I will throw it out there anyway. What is the weight savings from the Z32 to the Wilwood? I am looking from a performance standpoint versus a "look".

I have the Z32's right now. PC'd. And while I dont drive any where near you do with your Max (I do that with the MR2), I am tired of shops "doinking" my calipers because the noob monkey cant get the rims off without banging the caliper.

I read the thread and I guess I missed what you are running on the back.

Ok guys, I am on the NYC forum but I'm not "that guy" as you all refer to him. He is by no means is a bad guy. He is infact extremely knowledgeable. I have spoken to him over the phone, by PM and e-mail and have been impressed numerous times.

I also am using "that guy's" caliper mounting bracket for the Wilwood caliper and 12.6 rotor. I am nothing but pleased with the quality and craftsmanship he put into this. These are not "hand made" peices. These were made with a professional quality machine. He also did a crapload of research on calipers to choose the ones that match up with our MC. I'm extremely happy with the brakes. Just wanted to share my experience and opinion with you guys.

I wasn't referring to anything in particular.....but there are various "garage-made" brackets and components that are "hand made" (i.e. things that are welded together are not always perfect).....I don't know where you see me say that CAD-rendered milled pieces are hand-made. Oh, i didn't.

I can confirm that the 00 max is 2.252" (just mesured them with my vernier caliper). I don't have a 6th en caliper on hand (I sold mine), but maybe we can get one measured by someone....you may be right, but I could have sworn they were bigger pistons

true....we need a measurement to confirm your numbers.

are you talking to me? If so, my rears are stock except SS lines and HPS pads. I haven't had any problems with bias.

Thanks for coming in and clarifying - but the issue in question was "what size pistons do the wilwoods in his kit have?" Could you find out for us? Also, we're assuming you are talking about the forged superlites....or are you using a different wilwood (dynalite?)

And you could suggest he come visit here

By the way, I didn't mean to infer anything about him being knowledgeable or a "bad guy" or anything - but I'm sure you'll agree that there are alot of shady people making shady parts out there, and when it comes to someone we don't know making parts, it's all about reputation (Matt Blehm, for example)....we can't just assume that everyone knows what they're talking about or makes good parts until he comes in and shows us!

Wow Josh, I would never have thought.

thought what?

That you would get a real BBK.

You don't think, so it wouldn't have mattered

there's nothing more "real" about this than the z32 setup

rotors: same
calipers: same basic bore, both 4-piston
brackets: both use em
ss custom lines: both have em


not much difference, just hoping for a better fitament. The z32 performance is excellent, no complaints there.

Gotcha

the seller at NYC forum verified that his kit has piston size of 1.38" diameter.

the ones I was originally sent were the 1.38" pistons (the red ones). There have been more than one person on here who tried the 1.38s and had soft pedal and reduced bite, all ended up returning them for the 1.62s which were a considerable improvement.

Here aer a few snippets from other threads:

also Matt Blehm suggests the 1.62 vs. 1.38 - and I can't think of anyone on here with more brake experience/expertise than Matt.

Anyhow, I realize that the overall piston areas for the 1.38 numerically matches up well with the stock piston area, but sometimes there are other factors involved too - such as the design of the caliper, tightness of the cylinder, etc....that could require a different bore size.

I don't think either one is "wrong" but fastbrakes has changed their kit to have teh 1.62 rather than the 1.38, so there must be some reason for it

The diameter of the pistons are 1.38" as mentioned above. And yes, they are the forged superlites.

I will definitely pass on the invitation to this thread to him.

I didn't say that you were calling him a bad guy or anything of that sort. From reading the thread, I got the jist that most people here thought that he was shady. I definitely agree that there are people out there that are just out to make money and don't care about the quality of there parts. I have seen several different parts that he has designed and I am blown away by the quality of them all. I see where you're coming from, I will try to get him in here.

Here are a few pics of the caliper and mounting bracket he made:

it's interesting that his have a "step" in them - while the fastbrakes is a flat piece of milled aluminum with no step. I wonder why the difference - if his kit is thinner it seems it might push the caliper outward some, or it could be that his are thicker on the spindle side.

Interesting...

hey irish, I just received my set today...just curious, are the brake pads suppose to be smaller in surface area than the A34 pads (not as tall)?

yes, the swept area should be about 2", IIRC. They're a bit taller than the z32 pads, but smaller in height than the A34 setup.

Pad area doesn't mean as much as the even application of the pads that the 4-piston setup will accomplish.

I'm installing tomorrow morning if all goes as planned.

I assume that you switched to these calipers because the iron Z32 calipers didn't stop the whoo, whoo, whoo noise?

Just asking because I'm a little curious and board.

[quote=irish44j;5998708]
Let me guess, you're "the guy on the NY maximas forum".....

[quote]

Nope thats not me. I just bought a bbk from the guy.

According to him the brackets that come with his kit are maxima specific only...

Yep, that they are.

Irish, I contacted him via PM and told him to come in here. Hopefully he'll come in here and let you guys know what you want to know.

I have the aluminum z32 calipers, never switched to the iron ones because I didn't want the weight. For the last month or so the z32 setup was silent, and they are silent now that I have them back on too. If you look at older threads, I solved the "woo woo" problem a while back.

The spindle on the 5th gen, 6th gen, and Altima SE-R are all the same - which is why a stock 6th gen caliper and rotor can bolt up directly to the 5th gen spindle with no bracket and no modification.

i.e. if it's made for the 5th gen maxima, it will fit perfectly on the 6th gen and alti as well....

Your guy is missing out on a bigger market if he doesn't know this


cool cool...