Z1 2023+ Nissan Z Forged Street Big Brake Upgrade (Front & Rear)

[Landon]

Here are some pictures. The first picture is showing the car is still on a car jack. That's why it's sitting so high up.

I will post more pictures of the car when in normal sitting position tomorrow.

 

[Landon]

Another question, the new big brakes do make the squeaking sounds when coming to a stop at low speed. Is that normal for new brakes? No squeaking sound while driving at a slow or faster speed. Just when I come to a complete stop is when I can hear the squeak sounds. I hope the squeaking will go away after more stops.

Also, when I push the brake pedal to stop, I have to push the brake pedal more now or all the way to the flow to make a complete stop. Before, I did not have to push all the way down to the floor in order to come to a complete stop.

 

[FSUZ33]

Sounds Like you’ve got three things you need to tackle.

1. Long brake pedal (pushing all the way to the floor) is bad. You’ve almost certainly got air in your lines and/or calipers. You need a full brake system bleed ASAP. I don’t know how bad it is, but it’s risky driving it in this condition. If you have to drive it, it may help to begin stopping sooner, and press and release the pedal a couple of times while coming to a stop, rather than pressing once and pushing harder and harder. This could help build better pressure behind the pads.

2. After everything’s bled and you have a firm pedal back and solid braking, you need to bed the pads. This should help the squeaking. DON’T DO THIS UNTIL YOU BLEED THE SYSTEM, YOUR BRAKE PERFORMANCE IS BACK, AND THE PEDAL IS SHORT AND FIRM.
Z1’s Bedding Procedure (text pasted below)

3. Warning lights. I’m not sure about this. I suggest you take care of #1 first before diving into the lights. It may know you have an issue with fluid/pressure and that could be why you’re seeing lights. A proper bleed may help som/all of the lights. I’m only guessing though.

Z1’s Brake Bedding Procedure:

Bedding In Brake Pads: Z1's Procedure
After installing new brake pads or rotors, you must bed-in your new parts. Completely bedding in new brake parts is essential to ensuring your brakes are performing at their highest potential on the street or the track.

Background
The purpose of bedding in your brake pads is to allow your new pads to gradually increase in temperature, baking out excess resins and impurities and allowing a uniform transfer of pad material onto the surface of the brake rotors. To work at their highest potential, your brakes rely on adherent friction and the transferred pad material to improve the effectiveness of the pads. If a proper brake bed-in is not performed and an insufficient amount of material is transferred, the performance of the pads will be negatively affected. Over time, this can lead to uneven deposits of pad material building up on the rotor surface, resulting in vibrations and pulsations under braking.
Since some manufacturers use special pad coatings that may change the bed-in procedure, we recommend following your pad manufacturer's recommended brake bed-in procedure to ensure optimal performance
If you can't find a guide on brake pad bed-in from your pads manufacturer, follow the steps below.

STREET BED-IN

1. Perform 6-8 slowdowns from 40-50mph, applying moderate pressure to the brake pedal. Do not come to a complete stop.
2. Make 2-3 additional passes from 50-60mph, applying heavy pressure to the brake pedal. Do not come to a complete stop.
3. Allow the brakes to cool for 1-2 minutes while driving, then park the car to cool down for approximately 15-20 minutes. During this time, DO NOT HOLD THE BRAKES. If pressure is applied to the brakes while the car is at rest, material will be transferred leaving a pad imprint on the rotor. This will cause vibrations and simulate warped rotors.
4. The initial bed-in is complete.

TRACK BED-IN
Because track and race pads are designed to operate at a much higher temperature than street performance pads, you may not be able to fully bed-in new brake pads using the method above. For track and race pads, we recommend following Carbotech's pad bed-in guide below.

Once on track perform several moderate (medium) near stops (to a very slow rolling speed) to thoroughly warm up the pads and rotors. This should take 1-2 laps. This allows a thin layer of the pad material to be transferred into the micro-grooves of the rotor.

After the pads/rotors are warm, perform a series of hard near stops (to a slow rolling speed) until some brake fade is felt. This process should take about 2-4 laps (depending on the track). Once this occurs, then stay off the brakes (as much as possible) and bring your car into the pits/paddock to completely cool. Do not lock the tires during this operation.

Allow brake pads and/or rotors cool down to ambient temperatures; no less than 30 minutes. The total bedding procedure should not take more than 5-6 laps or about 10-15 minutes. Failure to properly bed in your pads could cause friction material to chunk and break up resulting in poor pad performance and pad life. Improper bedding can also lead to overheating your pads and causing them to glaze over, resulting in the car not being able to stop or slow properly.

 

[Landon]

The squeaking sound is gone now. I drove to the Nissan dealership and by the time I got there, no more squeak sound.

The Nissan Dealership did a full brake flush and now everything is back to normal. No need to push the brake pedal all the way down to the floor anymore.

The Nissan dealership was not able to get rid of the warning lights. There was a recall for all new Nissan cars to take into the dealership to replace a bad part. A part that is inside the front bumper and will take 5 HOURS TO REPLACE!! They told me all the warning lights should disappear after they install the recall part. They did say that there is nothing wrong with my Z and all the warning lights are in Yellow color which is NOT life threatening. If your warning lights are in RED color, DO NOT DRIVE OR TOUCH THE CAR!!

Another reason why those warning lights are showing may be due to the ECUTEK tune from Z1 Motorsports. They have not responded back to me yet.

 

[5thZ]

The squeaking sound is gone now. I drove to the Nissan dealership and by the time I got there, no more squeak sound.

The Nissan Dealership did a full brake flush and now everything is back to normal. No need to push the brake pedal all the way down to the floor anymore.

The Nissan dealership was not able to get rid of the warning lights. There was a recall for all new Nissan cars to take into the dealership to replace a bad part. A part that is inside the front bumper and will take 5 HOURS TO REPLACE!! They told me all the warning lights should disappear after they install the recall part. They did say that there is nothing wrong with my Z and all the warning lights are in Yellow color which is NOT life threatening. If your warning lights are in RED color, DO NOT DRIVE OR TOUCH THE CAR!!

Another reason why those warning lights are showing may be due to the ECUTEK tune from Z1 Motorsports. They have not responded back to me yet.

Can you clarify or provide the TSB/recall information that you refer to?

 

[FSUZ33]

Assume it's this. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

https://www.nissanzclub.com/forum/t...Nissan North,crash due to reversed connectors.

 

[Thefunk]

Just want to say that Z1's "big brake kit" are not truly big brakes. Their front and rear sizes are staggered (similar to stock) and the calipers are 4 piston in the front and 2 in the rear. True BBKs are 6 piston with large rotors front and rear. I guess if you have the Sport trim these would be a nice upgrade (they're rebranded Akebonos). I have the Performance trim with the Akebonos. They're great but I wouldn't rely on them for hard track use. After a single session with carbotech track pads and 2pc rotors, the front calipers got up to 270F and the rotors were around 320F that's after I pitted in and parked.

 

[5thZ]

Just want to say that Z1's "big brake kit" are not truly big brakes. Their front and rear sizes are staggered (similar to stock) and the calipers are 4 piston in the front and 2 in the rear. True BBKs are 6 piston with large rotors front and rear. I guess if you have the Sport trim these would be a nice upgrade (they're rebranded Akebonos). I have the Performance trim with the Akebonos. They're great but I wouldn't rely on them for hard track use. After a single session with carbotech track pads and 2pc rotors, the front calipers got up to 270F and the rotors were around 320F that's after I pitted in and parked.

I'm confused, because I had the Akebonos at Road Atlanta in summer also with Carbotech XP10s up front and XP8's in the rear without 2-piece rotors and I was absolutely fine?? The temps you listed are actually well within normal ranges? Did you not use RBF and you had an issue or something?

In fact the other 370Z and my instructor both had the Akebono's with no issues whatsoever. My other instructor, who is an actual endurance racer, is the only person who had a larger kit BBK.

 

[Landon]

Can you clarify or provide the TSB/recall information that you refer to?

 

[5thZ]

I wish that had any valuable info in it

 

[Landon]

I wish that had any valuable info in it

When I was there, they told me that they needed to take out the entire front bumper to install a new device. And it will take about 5 hours for installation. I think I am going to skip this recall because I don't want them to mess up my Z. My car is running just fine right now.

 

[5thZ]

Probably the sensor thing the other people said. Your Z manufactured in January 24? It'll be in your door jam on the sticker

 

[Landon]

Probably the sensor thing the other people said. Your Z manufactured in January 24? It'll be in your door jam on the sticker

Yes, 2024

 

[Thefunk]

I'm confused, because I had the Akebonos at Road Atlanta in summer also with Carbotech XP10s up front and XP8's in the rear without 2-piece rotors and I was absolutely fine?? The temps you listed are actually well within normal ranges? Did you not use RBF and you had an issue or something?

In fact the other 370Z and my instructor both had the Akebono's with no issues whatsoever. My other instructor, who is an actual endurance racer, is the only person who had a larger kit BBK.

I never said I had issues, but the Akebonos are not exactly "big brakes". I measured those temps after the first session of the day and ambient temps were about 75F partly cloudy. I also used RBF600 DOT4 fluid.

 

[5thZ]

Okay yeah, I agree they are not big brakes. But they are track capable brakes. If you look up the fluid temp range for RBF 600 and the Carbotech pads you'll see you're well within temp range. Not sure about what rotors you used though, but even stock one piece rotors are fine around that temp - granted you said those readings were after you pulled off, pit, and chilled in the paddock

While we're on the topic of you can find Castrol SRF within it's two year life span and don't mind the price I'd say consider it for next time!