The front brakes look absolutely huge under our Advan wheels.
The wheels barely clear the calipers, the Nissan design standard for clearance is 5mm and these wheels are maybe just over that.
The rear brakes look mean under the big Advans. We look forward to much less brake dust to constantly clean! We weighted everything and the new brakes are not only bigger with nearly 2x the swept are of stock but 40.4 lbs lighter. That’s all rotating and unsprung weight. This sort of weight reduction makes a way bigger difference on acceleration and handling than just removing the same amount of weight from the chassis.
Our car looks awesome with the new huge brakes. The dark gray rotors look good against the wheels and the super silver paint. The yellow calipers are a strong contrast to the grey rotors and add to the striking looks.
When we took the car for a test drive, we were not expecting that much of a difference and the stock GT-R brakes are nothing to sneeze at. Our Brembo big rotor, wide annulus brake upgrade had made an incremental improvement that was decent.
When driving the car all we could say was wow! The difference was huge, the pedal was super hard with no mush with very little free travel. The brakes had so much pad area, the initial force needed to slow the car was very little and the build-up of braking force was very linear and progressive. Unlike any other combination of pads and rotors, the CCM brakes made very little dust and what dust there was, was not sticky or corrosive and simply wiped away.
The reduction in rotating and unsprung weight was instantly noticeable. The car was much more responsive and the ride was better. The CCM brakes were as good as the brakes on our Project Porshe GT3RS which had the best brakes we had ever felt on any car to date. The Nismo brakes were also silent with no squeaking and squealing that CCM brakes are usually known for. Our Porshe brakes can be noisy especially when cold but not these Nismo units.
We were skeptical that the Nismo brakes could be that much of an improvement but we were wrong, the cost of entry is high but they really add to the enjoyment of the car. The street price for these brakes is around $15,500 but maybe you can be lucky and find some cheaper used ones as we did. In either case, the cost can be worth it, the performance gains and improvements in feel are pretty great!
11 comments
As always, great content. Thanks for all the info on parts I can only dream of having. I feel I can’t even afford to read the article. (I’m one of your IG followers and long time SCC subscriber)
I personally don’t think they are cost-effective but they sure are cool!
did you guys weigh the rotors? kinda curious about the actual weight difference over just the generic 30% lighter…
Yes on the last page, we saved 40.4 lbs over the OEM brake system.
With such a difference in rotor diameter and a greater difference front vs rear, does the brake bias change at all? 40lbs of rotating and unsprung mass saved is crazy. Makes the price seem realistic if you’re chasing the absolute best feeling possible.
No, it doesn’t change, it’s factory-engineered.
I had always been told that larger rotors on a street car are actually detrimental, since it takes longer for them to reach optimal temperature for good braking. Does the same apply to carbon ceramic rotors?
That’s not true at all. Bigger brakes allow you to run streetable less aggressive pads on the track. Race pads will literally eat rotors on the street in a few hundred miles. Big brakes allow true dual-purpose use. More brake power is typically also easier to modulate.
Just out of curiosity, can you recommend any places to source these on the used Japanese market like you guys did?
I used google to find a set and had a Japanese friend ship them to me.
There’s a website called, Croooober.com, that you might want to check out.