Z Nismo @ Atlanta Motorsports Park

[up4speed]

I was the one who sent a pair in

My first set lasted for 3 full track days and about a month of daily driving. It was dumb to leave them on in between events but I was afraid of working on my car so I think they would have lasted longer if I kept them for only track use.

Good news is I got over that fear and learned to do a few basics like swapping brake pads, brake bleeding and changing rotors so now I use the carbotech street pads and will start a fresh set of xp-10's at road atlanta next weekend.

The front brakes are one of the easiest I've ever seen. Once the wheel is off, it's under 10 min/side working very slowly. I think the rears are the same. If you track your car, you should learn to do brakes, rotors, and fluid at a minimum. This way you can change them on your schedule, and you can save a ton of money.

 

[sdktheway]

The front brakes are one of the easiest I've ever seen. Once the wheel is off, it's under 10 min/side working very slowly. I think the rears are the same. If you track your car, you should learn to do brakes, rotors, and fluid at a minimum. This way you can change them on your schedule, and you can save a ton of money.

Those are the only things I know how to do so far! First time was a little stressful but you're right, most of this stuff is simple. I've also been doing some weight reduction on my bank account with my newfound addiction to harbor freight

 

[up4speed]

I noticed that EBC had a part# for Blue Stuff pads for our Z Nismos, but are unavailable for purchase anywhere that has their products. So I called EBC tech support. The person I spoke with said that they are still in production, and will possibly be available in July. I think that for now, I will continue to use stock pads, but will probably try the Blue Stuff when they are available. I think they will be a decent street/track pad

 

[up4speed]

I have an update.... I did 2 track days on my second set of stock pads, and they are toast already!
And I just discovered something really strange. The stock pads: part# D1060-6GR0A
were $88 after tax the last time I bought them (had about 10% off coupon). I thought that they seemed ridiculously cheap for factory Nismo pads and it didn't make sense to me. Well now they are approx. $250!! I guess they realized and changed the price. They were cheap on every site, and now they are at the higher price on every site, including Z1. I think I'll call to ask about them, just to know for sure what happened. It definitely makes my decision to go with the Carbo techs way easier now

 

[sdktheway]

I have an update.... I did 2 track days on my second set of stock pads, and they are toast already!
And I just discovered something really strange. The stock pads: part# D1060-6GR0A
were $88 after tax the last time I bought them (had about 10% off coupon). I thought that they seemed ridiculously cheap for factory Nismo pads and it didn't make sense to me. Well now they are approx. $250!! I guess they realized and changed the price. They were cheap on every site, and now they are at the higher price on every site, including Z1. I think I'll call to ask about them, just to know for sure what happened. It definitely makes my decision to go with the Carbo techs way easier now

Guess you got lucky on that 88$ one!
This car just has an insatiable appetite for front brake pads... i've been meaning to make an update after I noticed mine were gone from only 2 days at road Atlanta, and those were the xp-10 carbotechs. How are your dust boots looking? All my front ones looked pretty much like this...

 

[sdktheway]

I don't mean to dissuade you from the carbotechs because they're great pads and I did ~100 laps on them at road atlanta without issue, but I wouldn't expect to get a significant amount more life from them unfortunately . These were my front pads. Front left is at the top and had a noticeable amount more wear.

 

[up4speed]

Guess you got lucky on that 88$ one!
This car just has an insatiable appetite for front brake pads... i've been meaning to make an update after I noticed mine were gone from only 2 days at road Atlanta, and those were the xp-10 carbotechs. How are your dust boots looking? All my front ones looked pretty much like this...

Oh boy. I was hoping to get at least 5 days out of the Carbotechs. I guess not, apparently the car is very heavy. Your pads seem to have double the pad left on them compared to my stock ones. I don't remember the boots having any issue, but I'll look more closely when I install the Carbotechs next week.
I'm a little concerned about all the cracks in the pads. Did you bed them in properly? Do you know why they would be so cracked up? I have had pads crack in the past, but not on the Nissan. The first set of OEM pads that I replaced looked good, just worn.
Out of curiosity, did you replace the rotors, get them turned, or clean them before you put the Carbotech pads on after the stock pads?
For some reason, when I ordered them, they were adamant that I had to at least sand and clean the rotors before putting the new pads on, not sure why. I usually just clean the rotor with cleaner (as long as it's in good condition), and slap the pads on., then burnish them.

 

[sdktheway]

I'm a little concerned about all the cracks in the pads. Did you bed them in properly? Do you know why they would be so cracked up? I have had pads crack in the past, but not on the Nissan. The first set of OEM pads that I replaced looked good, just worn.

I was worried about that also but was in contact with Paragon asking them some questions and sent photos of the pads and rotors and they said everything looked good and the cracking was normal. I did my best to bed them in properly but I'm sure I could have done better. One thing I dont remember seeing on the OEM pads is those two little post mounts that are visible here. I've found it can start to damage your rotors if you get to those posts so while there is still some pad left, I wouldn't put that back in for another track day to try and squeeze that last bit out of it.

 

[5thZ]

This is really interesting. After 2 days at road Atlanta in my 370z I have more than half life left in my Carbotech xp10s (front). Did you bed them properly, ie, 100+mph down to near zero repeatedly? Carbotech pads have a unique process.

I also spoke to Carbotech and the owner basically said the Carbotechs are so aggressive that during normal driving to the bed in process it would remove the prior brake pad layer - so no need to sand the rotors or anything.

Maybe the new Z just eats them up. Or maybe you did a lot of tail braking?

The weight distribution is heavier in the front of the new Z compared to prior Z's I wonder if that has anything to do with it

I will take pics of my pads after I wake up and get out of bed

Has everyone run the xp10/xp8 setup like I'm the 350/370z or are people running xp12/xp10 setup in this car - or maybe something entirely different?

 

[sdktheway]

Did I follow the bed-in process precisely? No probably not, I had to modify it a bit due to being on public road. I think I did a decent enough job though and I wasn't getting any pad smearing/deposit on the rotor face at any time on track. The rotor face looks alright I think as well. Excessive/over braking could definitely be a factor and i've seen some people talk about how stability control/traction control can even be a factor here but I'm not sure if that apply to the fronts.

 

[5thZ]

Did I follow the bed-in process precisely? No probably not, I had to modify it a bit due to being on public road. I think I did a decent enough job though and I wasn't getting any pad smearing/deposit on the rotor face at any time on track. The rotor face looks alright I think as well. Excessive/over braking could definitely be a factor and i've seen some people talk about how stability control/traction control can even be a factor here but I'm not sure if that apply to the fronts.

Looks good! I have the same Paragon rotors. Good stuff. Did you ever get into ice mode or hit ABS thresholds?

 

[up4speed]

Did I follow the bed-in process precisely? No probably not, I had to modify it a bit due to being on public road. I think I did a decent enough job though and I wasn't getting any pad smearing/deposit on the rotor face at any time on track. The rotor face looks alright I think as well. Excessive/over braking could definitely be a factor and i've seen some people talk about how stability control/traction control can even be a factor here but I'm not sure if that apply to the fronts.

The pad transfer looks ok and fairly even. Beleive it or not, hard fast braking will keep them cooler. If you drag them to try to avoid hard braking, they will heat up more. As well as trail braking and hitting ABS and stability control.
Also, I'm wondering if the slots in the rotor accelerated the wear a little as compared to blank rotors (like the stock ones)? I think they do wear the pads a little faster. I actually like blank rotors the best for the track, since there are a lot of disadvantages with other types of rotors. J hook seems to be really good as well.

 

[5thZ]

The pad transfer looks ok and fairly even. Beleive it or not, hard fast braking will keep them cooler. If you drag them to try to avoid hard braking, they will heat up more. As well as trail braking and hitting ABS and stability control.
Also, I'm wondering if the slots in the rotor accelerated the wear a little as compared to blank rotors (like the stock ones)? I think they do wear the pads a little faster. I actually like blank rotors the best for the track, since there are a lot of disadvantages with other types of rotors. J hook seems to be really good as well.

What are the advantages of blank rotors compared to a two-piece rotor like the paragon pictured above? (aside from cost).

I took my stock akebono rotors out with carbotech xp10/xp8s for a weekend at road atlanta and the pads have half+ life left, but the rotors ended up warping a little

 

[up4speed]

What are the advantages of blank rotors compared to a two-piece rotor like the paragon pictured above? (aside from cost).

I took my stock akebono rotors out with carbotech xp10/xp8s for a weekend at road atlanta and the pads have half+ life left, but the rotors ended up warping a little

2 peice rotors are definitely the best (lighter is always better ESPECIALLY with unsprung weight), but that comes at a cost. There are pros and cons for every choice.
Your rotors most likely aren't "warped", there are probably uneven pad deposits that give it that feel. Doing a better bed in usually helps that, but sometimes it doesn't take much to cause that even if they were bed in perfectly. If for instance you don't do a proper cool down lap, then stop the car. The heat will then build up where the pads sit on the rotor, and may leave extra pad deposits, etc.
Also, very important... NEVER use a parking brake at the track after a session.
Slotted is very common at tracks, but I tried them once and they made a whirring noise that I didn't like, plus they eat the pads a little faster. I have had very good luck with blanks over the years, and they are cheap, so I try to stick with those if possible, plus if you think about it, the pad has the most rotor surface area on blanks (not sure if that would ever be noticable). The only rotor I would never put on my car at the track are cross drilled (unless the car came with them) because they tend to get cracks stemming from the holes. The key is to have proper pads for your driving style and a good fluid like RBF660 or Castrol SRF, and properly bed them, warm them up before laps and cool them down afterwards. If you follow those simple steps, you should have a great track day without brake issues.

Here is an article I just found, I feel they do a decent job of explaining the pros and cons:

https://nomoneymotorsports.com/2019...d rotors are a popular,much more than a Miata.

 

[5thZ]

I can't check for uneven bedding deposits anymore. Car got sold lol. Everything else you said makes sense though and is what I follow also