custom brakes, quiafe LSD, hamann headers

[JoshB]

I just came back from the tuner this weekend after fitting a Quaife LSD with the 3:64 ratio, Hamann headers, Dinan stage 5 software and custom brakes. Unfortunatly the drive from New Hampshire to New York was exciting but for all the wrong reasons as it was night and I was running through the remains of hurricane Ida. Sunday was better as the sun was out and I could evaluate the mods ( the car already has a Supersprint exhaust, Dinan low restriction air boxes, performance package, chamber plates and 19 inch HRE lightweight mags with Toyo tires). It goes like the proverbial scalded cat now.
As far as the brakes I am reminded of Ettore Bugatti's famous quote when a customer complained about one of his creations by dismissively saying "I make my cars to go, not stop" I think the Z8 brakes are just fine for everyday driving or even a hot lap or two but estheticaly they let down the look of the car especially when you are running a wide spoke design like the HRE. The Brembos are nice but I could not justify the price of about 9000 bucks to install for a car that is not really going to flogged on the track. Stop tec only offers front brakes so what to do?. My solution was to get hardened rotors (same company that supplies Brembo) cross drill, slot and anodize them, put on carbon fiber pads, ss lines,custom brass fittings, flush the system and run ATE superblue fluid.Then for appearance I powder coated the Calipers red and then added a billet aluminum cover I designed. I wanted to invoke the fins on the old Girling racing brakes and design some thing that BMW might have if the bean counters had not gotten in the way.The cost was about 1/3 the price of the Brembos.Hey if Porsche and Ferrari etc can put their name on the brakes a Z8 should be able to as well.
JoshB
2002 silver/red/black

[macfly]

That is a very respectable solution, but I think you overestimated the cost of the Brembo's by around $3,300.

[Z8doc]

NIce touch and great solution but adding the Brembos would not be as much as you thought, certainly the Z8 stopping power of the OEM brakes is pretty good already, and upgrading to the slot/ drilled rotors combined with the ATE Blue fluid should prevent most situations of brake fade when doing "spirited driving" through the mountain / country twisties!. ;-)

However, on another note... in that top photo, it is just the geometry of the image or the light... but does the front wheel look like is sits about 2 inches off center to the rear in the wheel well?

[JoshB]

Hmm , I wondered about that pull to the left... actually the fronts are slightly turned and the the sun just going down probably combined for that effect.I wish I had cleaned the tires but the driveway was a mess after all the rain. The devil is in the details.
JoshB
2002 silver/red/black