Brakes Unhappy After Track Day

[180 wanabe]

Hi guys

Took my V to QR yesterday for the sprints/clubman and had a ball

Car surprisingly handled very well for a stock setup and I was only lapping 1 sec slower than a Supercharged 350Z with semi slicks + brembos "although he had different discs and pads"

Now for the bad news, my brakes did start to suffer massive fade towards the end of lap 4 which I expected as I didint have high temp pads

They managed to hold out until the end of the day so I would have done @ least 25 laps but they did feel rather cooked at the end of the day so much so that the slots in my front discs were now full of pad dust/metal

I had new front pads and slotted rotors fitted about 10k ago although the rears @ the same time were looking ok so I left them alone

Now when I was almost home I noticed the brake warning light coming on when I was braking although the brakes were still working they didn’t feel anywhere near as good as they did before I went to the track

I parked the car @ home and left it overnight

I started it up this morning to find that the SLIP and VDC off lights are now always on + the brake warning light comes on whenever I touch the brake pedal

I noticed that the brake fluid was @ about 1/2 full im sure it was more like 3/4 full the last time I checked

I also noticed that the back left disc was looking particularly worn

Id say its time to get new rear discs/pads + a top up for the fluid, Im guessing there might also be some air bubbles in my brake lines as the fluid would only be dot 4 or whatever Nissan put in when I had the front pads/rotors done

Im hoping that after replacing the rears and having a bleed done things will go back to normal

What do you guys think

[austingtir]

Looks glazed to me and generally pretty rooted.

I would buy new discs and if you want to track the car again i would buy two sets of discs one set for cheap pads you dont care about for road use and the other i would buy carbotech pads from the usa with their own disc set so you dont contiminate the disc.

Just buy the cheapest discs you can find here in NZ i use BNT for that.

I used carbotech on my gtir they are awesome.

Just check if carbotech make pads for the g35 and you should be golden.

I havent changed the brakes on these but id expect there is a pad sensor to tell you they are worn or something. I cant tell from that pic if the pads are down to the backing plates or not.

Edited August 19, 2010 by austingtir

[Kam-80]

Ew. Those rotors are cactus. Time to change up...I would hazard a guess that your pads weren't coping with the temperatures and pretty much deposited themselves all over your rotors. Go with good pads and good fluids and your rotors shouldn't ever look like that. My rear rotors are stock and have done around 10 track days, only just starting to lip. VDC and SLIP light can come on if you have a big off or spin, try resetting the ECU and driving around for a few k's, should go away...if not maybe get it checked out.

Sounds like some good driving over there...Supercharged 350Z guy NOT representing!

[180 wanabe]

Took it easy on the drive to work and when I parked the car turned it off then back on the lights were back to normal hope the stay off when I go to drive home 2nite

Def need new discs and pads for the rear will check out some ds2500 pads for the front

Also wondering if swaybars will make a noticeable difference who else tracks their v ?

[ChrisB]

Took it easy on the drive to work and when I parked the car turned it off then back on the lights were back to normal hope the stay off when I go to drive home 2nite

Def need new discs and pads for the rear will check out some ds2500 pads for the front

Also wondering if swaybars will make a noticeable difference who else tracks their v ?

If you brake fluid is low, it will cause the VDC off to light up. I found with my V36 that the VDC light would come on and stay on after driving up a hill. After topping up the fluid it has not done it since.

[mosoto]

Also wondering if swaybars will make a noticeable difference who else tracks their v ?

Best and 1st handling mod you should make to the V.

better brake fluid will go a long way to preventing fade under high temps. Your current fluid has probably been cooked hence poor feel etc.

[180 wanabe]

Iv got to do something about the POS open diff as well, traction controll was kicking in a lot!

so yeah im thinking in the order ill get it done

Better pads/fluids/new rear discs

Swaybars

LSD

[scathing]

Car surprisingly handled very well for a stock setup and I was only lapping 1 sec slower than a Supercharged 350Z with semi slicks + brembos "although he had different discs and pads"

Sounds like the problem was him. The Z33 is lighter and more rigid than the V35, and R-Comps alone should have made a massive difference.

I noticed that the brake fluid was @ about 1/2 full im sure it was more like 3/4 full the last time I checked

Low brake fluid will trigger a fault code in the car's VDC system. It'll drop into "limp home mode", where those dash lights come on and it disables ABS/VDC. Sometimes if you have massive spins the VDC will shit itself due to the crazy inputs through the ABS sensors and throw up a fault, but restarting the car usually fixes that immediately. If you parked the car up and it was still doing it, then it'll be something else.

Fix up your brakes, and the problem should go away.

[180 wanabe]

Sounds like the problem was him. The Z33 is lighter and more rigid than the V35, and R-Comps alone should have made a massive difference.

I must have had a larger set of balls when it came in to corner entry.... hmm cooked brakes road rubber myself putting my faith into the VDC to sort things out if I stuffed up.

Id say the only reason he was 1 sec quicker was because of the straights