2002-2009 Nissan 350z Brake Upgrade Options

By Core Brake Parts Tech Team — Circleville, OH warehouse

Upgrading the brakes on a Z33-generation Nissan 350Z starts with one question that has nothing to do with brand: does your car have the standard calipers or the optional Brembo calipers? Nearly every performance pad and rotor for this car is cataloged as two separate part numbers, one for each caliper, and they are not interchangeable. Once you know which car you have, the upgrade path is straightforward: choose a pad compound that matches the temperature you actually generate, then choose a rotor that can shed the heat that pad creates.

First, identify which brake system your 350Z has

The 350Z was built with two different front and rear brake packages. The standard system uses a sliding-style caliper. The optional package uses fixed Brembo calipers, which are physically larger and painted a bright color from the factory. Look through the spokes of the front wheel: a fixed Brembo caliper spans the top of the rotor with pistons on both the inboard and outboard side and no slide pins, while the standard caliper has a visible bracket and slide pin boots.

This matters more than anything else you will decide. Pad shape, rotor outside diameter and rotor thickness all differ between the two systems, which is why every performance part for this car is listed with the caliper type in its title. Confirm the caliper before you buy, not after the wheels are off.

Pad compound is the upgrade that changes the car most

A pad only works inside a temperature window. Below it, the friction material never develops bite. Above it, the binders break down and the pedal goes long. Picking a compound is a question about your driving, not about how aggressive you want to sound. Hawk publishes an operating range and an optimal range for each compound, which makes the comparison concrete:

Read the low end of those ranges as carefully as the high end. Performance Ceramic is optimal from the moment you leave your driveway, and Hawk describes it as extremely quiet with ultra-low dust and gentle on rotors. HP Plus does not reach its optimal window until 300 F, which on a street car means the first stop of the morning is noticeably softer than the fifth. DTC-60 does not even begin operating until 400 F, which is why it belongs on a car that gets driven on a circuit, not to work.

DBA draws the same line even more sharply with its Race Performance pads. DBA states the RP range is designed for track or circuit use where temperatures run above 350 C (662 F), uses a semi-metallic carbon fibre compound for stable friction at extreme temperatures, and is explicitly not suitable for road use.

For most 350Z owners, the honest answer is a quality street compound. If your car is a weekend canyon and occasional-track car, HP Plus is the sensible middle. Reserve the race compounds for a car that arrives on a trailer. Browse our full range of brake pads, or start with the Hawk Performance Ceramic rear set for non-Brembo 350Z and G35 if you want a quiet daily-driver setup.

Rotor options: slotted one-piece versus two-piece floating

Once the pad is generating more heat, the rotor has to get rid of it. There are two meaningful rotor upgrades for this chassis.

One-piece slotted performance rotors

DBA's 4000 Series T3 is a direct-replacement single-piece rotor built around the company's Kangaroo Paw internal vane pattern. Instead of straight vanes, it uses a series of 144 diamond and teardrop patterned pillars between the rotor faces, which DBA says produces up to a 30 percent increase in surface area and a 20 percent improvement in cooling efficiency over a traditional straight-vane design. The T3 slot pattern is bi-directional with additional CNC-machined tri-symmetrical slots, which DBA credits for quieter operation and a more responsive pedal.

The 4000 Series also carries DBA's thermo-graphic heat paint, which is genuinely useful diagnostic hardware on a track car. Three stripes change color permanently once the rotor has held a given temperature for more than ten minutes, so brief spikes do not trigger a false reading. The green stripe changes above 458 C (856 F), which DBA treats as the top of the normal operating range; the middle stripe marks 550 C (1022 F); and the red stripe changes above 630 C. If you come off track and the green stripe has turned, you now know your pad compound and brake cooling are the limiting factor, not a guess.

Fitment for these follows the caliper split, and on this chassis it also follows model year. We stock the DBA 4000 Series T3 front slotted rotor DBA4600S for 2003-2007 Brembo cars, a matching rear DBA4601S, and a separate DBA42308S front rotor for 2006-2007 cars. Check both your caliper and your year.

Two-piece floating rotors

The next step is a two-piece rotor, where a cast iron friction ring floats on an aluminum center hat. GiroDisc builds the hat from 6061-T6 aircraft specification aluminum and states the design removes 4 to 8 pounds compared with an OE cast iron rotor. That weight comes off the unsprung, rotating mass at each corner, which is the most valuable place on the car to lose it.

The ring is attached with high strength alloy steel drive pins, cadmium plated for corrosion resistance, that let the iron grow and shrink with heat instead of coning under it. Anti-noise spring clips on the rotor side eliminate the rattle normally associated with floating rotors. GiroDisc also warns against drilled discs for hard use, noting that most pad manufacturers specifically recommend their race pads not be run on a drilled disc because of cracking risk from thermal cycling. Worth remembering if cross-drilled rotors are on your shortlist for looks.

Two-piece rotors are the right answer for a car that sees repeated heat cycles. For a street car that sees one track day a year, a good one-piece slotted rotor and a better pad get you most of the way there for far less outlay. Compare the full selection in brake rotors.

What to replace at the same time

A pad and rotor upgrade exposes weak links elsewhere in the system. Plan on these in the same session:

• Fluid. Old fluid absorbs moisture, and moisture boils long before the fluid does. Flush the system with fresh fluid meeting the specification printed on your master cylinder reservoir cap before any track use.
• Flexible hoses. Two-decade-old rubber hoses expand under pressure and soften the pedal. Stainless braided lines restore pedal firmness. See brake lines and brake hoses.
• Hardware. Replace the clips, shims and abutment hardware rather than reusing corroded pieces, and service the slide pins on non-Brembo calipers. A sticking pin will ruin a new pad in a weekend. Shop brake hardware kits.
• Calipers. If a piston is seized or a dust boot is torn, no pad will fix it. Check brake calipers.

How hard is the job

Pads and rotors on a 350Z are a normal weekend job for someone with a jack, jack stands, a torque wrench and a caliper piston tool or C-clamp. The rear takes slightly longer because the rear rotor doubles as the drum for the parking brake shoes, so a rear rotor that will not come off is usually a parking brake adjuster holding it rather than rust. Use the torque values in the factory service manual for the caliper and bracket bolts rather than guessing, and never reuse a stretched or damaged fastener. The one step people skip is the one that decides whether the upgrade works.

Bedding in the new brakes

Bedding lays an even transfer film of friction material onto the rotor face. Skip it and you get vibration that feels like a warped rotor but is actually uneven deposits. Hawk's published street procedure is 6 to 10 stops from approximately 30 to 35 mph using moderate pressure, then 2 to 3 hard stops from approximately 40 to 45 mph, then 15 minutes for the system to cool before normal driving.

For motorsport compounds Hawk uses a longer sequence of slowing without coming to a stop, building from medium speed through race speed, then parking the car for roughly 20 minutes or until the rotors are completely cool. GiroDisc makes the same point generally: any time different friction materials or discs are introduced, a bedding procedure should be carried out. Do not sit at a light with the brakes hot at the end of either procedure, because a pad parked against a hot rotor leaves a deposit you will feel for the life of the rotor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Brembo and non-Brembo 350Z brake parts interchange?

No. The two systems use different pad shapes and different rotor dimensions, which is why pads and rotors for this car are sold as separate part numbers for each caliper. Identify your caliper before ordering.

Are slotted rotors better than drilled for a 350Z?

For hard use, yes. GiroDisc notes that most pad manufacturers specifically recommend their race pads not be used on a drilled disc because of cracking risk from repeated thermal cycling. Slots clear gas and debris from the pad face without introducing those stress risers.

Can I run track pads on the street?

You can physically fit them, but you should not. DBA states its Race Performance pads are not suitable for road use and are intended for temperatures above 350 C (662 F). Hawk's DTC-60 does not begin operating until 400 F. On a cold street stop, neither compound is doing what you need it to do.

Will upgraded rotors alone shorten my stopping distance?

Usually not on the first stop. Your tires set the first-stop limit. What a better rotor buys you is consistency, because it manages heat over repeated stops so the pad stays inside its working range instead of fading.

Do I have to replace rotors when I change pads?

Not automatically, but replace them if the rotors are below the minimum thickness stamped on the rotor, are cracked, or have a wear lip you can catch a fingernail on. Mixing a new pad with a rotor carrying an old transfer film is also a common cause of shudder after a pad swap.

What is the DBA heat paint actually telling me?

That the rotor held a given temperature for more than ten minutes, not that it briefly touched it. A changed green stripe means the rotor passed 458 C (856 F), which DBA treats as the top of the normal operating range, and that is your signal to look at pad compound or brake cooling.

Sources

1. DBA USA - 4000 Series Brake Rotors - Kangaroo Paw 144-pillar vane design, up to 30 percent surface area and 20 percent cooling improvement, T3 bi-directional slot design
2. DBA USA - Thermo-Graphic Heat Paint - stripe color-change temperatures of 458 C, 550 C and 630 C and the ten-minute dwell requirement
3. DBA USA - Race Performance Brake Pads - RP range intended for circuit use above 350 C and stated as not suitable for road use
4. Hawk Performance - Performance Ceramic - 100-650 F operating and 100-450 F optimal range, low dust and noise claims
5. Hawk Performance - HP Plus - 100-800 F operating and 300-600 F optimal range, autocross application
6. Hawk Performance - DTC-60 - 400-1600 F operating and 700-1100 F optimal range, racing application
7. Hawk Performance - How To, bed-in procedures - street and motorsport bedding procedures and cool-down times
8. GiroDisc - Technical Info - 6061-T6 aluminum hat, 4 to 8 pound weight saving, drive pins and anti-noise clips, warning against drilled discs with race pads