ConnorW06
-
Posts
169 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Store
Posts posted by ConnorW06
-
-
Afternoon all,
A little while back I purchased the StopTech & Hawk complete brake upgrade pack from Adrian (https://www.torqen.uk/nissan/350z/brakes/pack-deals/4036-350z-stoptech-hawk-performance-complete-kit-for-brembo-brakes-slotted-350ztq-cshb-s.html) and after having them on the car for around a month, driven a good 1,000+ miles and had a track day, decided it's a good time to write a honest review about my experience with them. In short, they are RIDICULOUS, an outrageous improvement over the standard OEM Brembo discs and pads, and I'd be lying if I said they didn't genuinely surprise me on the track, which I will get onto below...
To give you a bit of backstory....
I've had my Zed now for a good 4 years now and when I bought the car it had Brembo discs and Brembo pads fitted, and although they weren't massively sharp, I always thought they provided sufficient braking force, and how the pedal felt under my foot didn't even cross my mind. I ran this setup for around 3 years and early last year they needed replacing due to wear, having not had any problems with them, I had no doubt in buying the same setup again, Brembo discs, Brembo pads and replacement standard fluid. All fitted, I continued to daily my car as I always do and as expected, they were fine - or they were, until I decided to go around Donington last year at Japfest. After I warmed them up, I gave it the beans and after 2 short laps, I started smelling some seriously hot brakes, experienced quite severe brake fade and had a lovely hard brake pedal (I presume this was due to the standard fluid boiling), I had to back off and could only go around the track giving it about 60-70% capacity, only due to the brakes. Although I wasn't expecting any miracles from the Brembo setup, I did think it was going to last longer than a few laps before they started to fade, so I was pretty shocked to see they were completely shot after 2 laps and the rest of my session was a bit of a waste; although I did have a hell of a lot of fun! It's worth noting at this point once I had come back into the pits I made sure I didn't put the handbrake on etc to make sure the brakes didn't stick, however during the journey home a few hours later, under heavier braking I felt a slight wobble and alas, the discs were slightly warped... What surprised me here is that I had done some 'fast' road driving before with some harsh braking into corners and NEVER experienced any brake wobble or fade on the road with the Brembos, just goes to show how much harder you're going into the corners while on track!
Fast forward to a few months back and having just booked up yet another Japfest Donington track session (yep, I'm my own worst enemy) I umm'ed and arr'ed whether I should just refresh the standard Brembo setup again for around £300-£400 all in, preparing myself for being potentially in the same position I was last year, or bite the bullet and buy some upgrades. I read some reviews online and although everyone mentions they are a vast improvement over the standard brakes, I was slightly worried as my Brembo setup was perfect on road, but failed massively on track, I wasn't after an improvement on the road, I was after something that I could beat down on track, and be confident they weren't going to let me down..
Having purchased a few bits from Adrian before, I decided to have a look on Torqen and send him over a message asking for some advice (I won't blow too much smoke here but Adrian honestly knows his stuff and gets back to you at all hours of the day, think we had some late night convos about this so I'll take the time to apologise here for that Adrian!). Having some doubts about how much 'better' these upgrade packs could be, and after numerous conversations I decided to bite the bullet and order the Stoptech discs, Hawk Ceramic pads, performance Fluid and Braided Lines - had all these items fitted at Kaizers so thank you to the chaps there! Adrian kindly sent me over the recommended bedding in procedure for the discs and pads which I made sure I did to the T, immediately the pedal felt completely different, initial impressions were very good. Once I had driven around 500+ miles with the brakes I was happy they were fully bedded in. From cold the brakes provide a marginally better stopping force than standard but the pedal feel is a lot better, very progressive and the harder you stomp on it the harder your face tries to come off, something that comparing this setup to the Brembo one I had before, was something I couldn't believe has changed so drastically! I felt like with the Brembo discs and pads once you had pressed the pedal down around 70% there wasn't a lot more to give, this is not the case anymore!
A few weeks back we travelled down to Japfest Donington and although for the odd month and miles I had driven in the car up until this point were fantastic, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried about what was going to happen to my big juicy brakes when I went on track, as the issues at last years Japfest was niggling at the back of my mind... We pulled up into the pits and although I was very excited, I was honestly worried about what was going to happen. We completed a few warm-up laps and then we all hit the loud pedal and went for it, hard! Once these brakes are properly warmed up they genuinely seem to get better and better to more you hit on them, and I was honestly giving the car absolutely everything It had going into each corner and I just couldn't believe what was happening. The feel, the physical stopping force, everything about these things just blew past my expectations and then some, I was grinning from ear to ear throughout the whole session and came back to the pits having had admittedly the best time driving my 350z since owning it, I sat there in disbelief that something as simple as this upgrade pack could make such a vast difference to the feel and capabilities of the car using the standard calipers. I'm not one for being gobsmacked by much, but these brakes blew me away! I drove 150 miles back home after beating down on them and on the way back they didn't miss a beat, a completely opposite experience to what I had last year!
Considering the whole package costs around 2 and a half times more than what I had paid for the Brembo setup (and I wasn't getting braided lines and racing fluid in the Brembo cost) these things seem like the deal of the century for the sheer performance, feel and improvement over the standard setup. Would I recommend it? Without a moment of hesitation, absolutely!
Thanks again Adrian!
-
1
-
-
Just saw a 350z with a big wing parked up near the fish and chip shop in Colchester, not sure if you saw me or not but I stuck my thumb up as I turned down the road!
Lovely Zed!
-
Spotted today at around 1:45pm turning out of Canhams road. Black 350 with aftermarket exhaust, sounded awesome!
-
On 13/10/2017 at 09:14, baileydom said:
Hang on, there are more Zeds driving around Colchester!? I've only seen them parked up on roads!
Second this! I've seen a couple parked up in drives and at the side of the road but very rarely ever see them being driven!
Do you live around the Colchester area too?
You aren't GT_Injection's friend by any chance are you?
-
On 11/10/2017 at 09:11, GT_Injection said:
A mate of mine has a 350 also, and mentioned to me about this post last night!
Thought I need to reply to that!
Awesome! Keeping it Japanese in the family haha. Oh nice! I'm from Colchester, had my Zed nearly a year now.
Well I did think that, but it's worth keeping both hands on the wheel when going round that tight bend
Be good to get the Zed's together, and get some photos!
Haha that's awesome! Seen a couple of Zeds around Colchester but they are a rarity! Does your mate live around the Colchester area too?
I've seen one parked up in West Bergholt before but it's always sweet when you see another on the road!
Definitely be good to get some photos at some point for sure!
-
51 minutes ago, GT_Injection said:
Hello mate, that would be me! You from the Colchester area? Your zee sounded good while you headed towards Sainsbury's!
No way?!
So glad you checked on here, I was with my brother in my car (Dad was in the GTR) and I said I'll make a post on the 350 forum and see if the owner of the blue Zed was on here - we had our fingers crossed but knew it was abit of a long shot!
Im from the Sudbury area but work in Colchester and my Zed is my daily so you'll see us around that area and Stanway. Where abouts are you from? Haven't seen your Zed around Colchester before? Only caught a glimpse but she looked good!
I was going to give you a wave when I saw you the first time but I was manouvering around the carousel (I can't be the only one who calls that banked corner the carousel, right?) so had both hands on the wheel!
-
Spotted a blue 350z with aftermarket front bumper in Colchester today near the big Sainsbury's. I was following a grey GTR! Followed us onto the A12 for a little bit and then turned off :-)
-
Any more updates with this awesome build chaps?
-
Hahaha it's so funny you should post this!
I was cleaning my car a few days back and as I was drying her off a bird shat all over the front of my car! Only benefit was that because it was juicy and fresh it came off nice and easy, but it's the first time I've ever had a bird drop it's guts over my car while cleaning or drying it!
Genuinely think they aim for the clean cars though!
-
1
-
-
Motordyne TDX2 paired with some ART pipes!
-
GTR is my dream car..sold my GM 350z few weeks ago look
very similar to yours..i,m started to miss it now.
Wish my dad had a descent car back in his days
he had a truimph dolomite lol
Mike K-g
Ahh that's a shame! Have you replaced the 350 for anything else yet? There isn't a huge amount on the market which is similar in terms of power and looks for the kind of money 350s are going for.
Some of those Triumphs are going for a pretty penny these days! Especially the Dolomite Sprints!
Did you do any post work on the photos? Looks like you added some contrast/colour/ambience which has caused that cloud effect. If you are using an SLR buy a polarising filter sorts out that problem.
Hi coldel, only thing that I done (which is probably the culprit) is bracketed either side of the correct exposure and merged the images to HDR, because of how blue and bright the sky was on the day mixed with the darker area we were parked in to take the photo's. The actual colour of the cars and details came out perfect and really true to life, it was just the sky that seemed to take a hit. Ideally you would probably mask the sky out during post and bring it down a couple of notches, but I was abit short for time haha!
-
It is really nice, really dirty low down, accentuates all sounds from the engine, but the pops and bangs are just wicked with the TDX.
I was running straight de-cats, maybe the ARTS reduce the drone maybe. I know that 70mph 6th gear was a ball ache on the motorway, maybe it's just my age showing. Funny thing is the V8 and 6th gear is bloody heaven, it's like everything has been switched off, sound levels are blissful. Yeah I am getting old lol.
Oh and yes, fitment is fiddly, get it wrong and you have a number of rattles coming from underneath!
Haha I've got to say I do like to change to the pops and bangs map every so often just to hear how ridiculously loud some of them can be! It is surprising how deep it can be up to about 3k RPM and how it starts to absolutely scream over about 5k, the TDX2 is a superb bit of kit.
The V8 must sound incredible once you're getting on it though! What exhaust set up are you running on it now? Still decat?
Niiiice that audio was spot on I have been trying for a good few months using a number of different phones to catch the sound from a fly by with my mates but it never picked the noise up like it was in person. Yours is very clear.
Thanks mate, I was surprised how well the GoPro picked up the audio yet removed the road and wind noise. Definitely the best recording of my exhaust I've had so far from any phone or video camera I've tried.
-
Last one, new order sent to Nismo, it will take a while to manufacture and shipped to UK.
PM sent!
-
Might be worth contacting some of the guys who break cars on here mate like Emperor. Failing that have a sift through the 9 cars on this website and see if any of them have the covers you're after (The black 350 that's the 5th one down seems to have them) and ping them an email.
http://www.partshark.co.uk/used-car-parts-breaking-vehicles/nissan/350%2Bz/
-
This is one of the reasons I kept my TDX with the V8. When driving with the V6 the drone was pretty heavy, but with the V8 there's hardly any drone at all. It's mad! The exhaust now in comparison sounds totally different, in fact absolutely perfect now the drone has gone.
Nice vid, def catches the sounds nicely with no road noise.
Would love to hear that V8 in person with the TDX2! Must sound the nuts! I was surprised with the sound from the camera to be fair, was expecting alot more wind and road noise, I'm sure you can tweak the sound settings before and after you've recorded but I wouldn't have a clue!
There is almost zero drone on mine which is weird considering you had some on yours? Only thing I must say about the exhaust is the fitting was a little fiddly to get everything to clear the respective parts so nothing is touching. We had to pack the centre box up that meets with Y pipe and tighten everything up before removing the packers, otherwise it just sat on the brace which caused some vibration in the cabin. But now I've got a solid 8mm of clearance which is perfect.
-
Sounds fantastic imo.
Really would love to hear that on full WOT going through the first few gears or through a tunnel. I bet that'd sound amazing.
Thank you mate, camera still doesn't do it justice but it does sound incredible. I'll get myself a proper GoPro mount so I can record horizontally and give it another go I think. I was slightly concerned whether the GoPro was even going to be still on my bumper when I got back home
! Obviously the App was playing havoc and wouldn't connect to the camera so I couldn't even check from inside the car! -
Had another attempt at capturing the Zeds exhaust sound but with my brother's Go Pro Hero 5 Black. Did quite a good job, but still doesn't capture it like it sounds in person (same as all other cameras).
Tried to capture some varied driving incase anyone is looking at getting this exhaust setup, but I'd thoroughly recommend hearing it in person if you are. Little clip of the idle at the end too! Make sure you view it in 1440p!
Edit: I'll apologise now for the vertical recording, wasn't using a GoPro mount so could only fix it to the bumper vertically :-(
-
2
-
-
Damn, these look great! Put me down for a group buy!
-
Scott! Had a quick look at your website and you've got some great prices on there. Looking forward to seeing what else is available!
-
1
-
-
Easy answer, upload to YT
Yeah that's what I've ended up doing, was just curious if there was a way to embed a video on this forum removing the option for people to share the video outside the forum. I've put the video as Unlisted on YouTube so that only people with the link can view it. But I was curious if there was any other ways..
-
Was trying to get a video to embed into a post, but struggled to get anything to work that wasn't on YouTube. Photobucket won't embed videos, only lets me embed photos :-(
-
Here you go Mark
-
3
-
-
Hahaha nightmare trying to get this stuff to work!
-
'
All Encompassing Wheel Size & Offset Thread
in Wheels
Posted
Afternoon mate!
I ordered mine through ProjexUK after finding out the only other way was to order them from the states direct with hefty import fees, was a while ago now but im sure if you give them a bell they'll be able to advise you! I've got some more pics of my car with the wheels on as I've done a few more bits with the car since them photos, if you PM me I'll send you my number and I'll send them over! I'm also on stock suspension!
Feel free to fire over any questions you've got!