2009 Nissan GT-R: Stop Me

Well that can't be true since apparently the best brakes are made in China.
http://www.bestbrakesusa.com/about_us.asp

hondacura4,
Uh, 2009 Infiniti FX brakes... fail.

"By hondacura4 on February 25, 2009 3:10 PM
Brembo like Bose is just a name as some factory brake systems are just as potent."

And a lot of times those unnamed, potent brakes are built by Brembo.
-mike

Not exactly an easy one to argue, as it depends highly on application. The 370Z brakes better than the 350Z, but does that mean Brembo sucks? No!

Stoptech is supposedly the best because they use steel for the caliper and they bolt the bridge together. I have a set of Stoptech's on my car, but I'm not completely sold. Stoptech is what is OE on the Viper ACR, though... and I see a lot of Corvette's and Porsche's with Stoptech's... but I suspect that has more to do with networking and homie hook-ups. I went with Stoptech since I got a hook-up...

Certainly depends on the application. Brembo makes tons of OEM applications that are plenty mediocre, they just don't brand them much.

I remember a case of there being 5 or 6 different big brake kits for the WRX back in the day...Brembo's was the worst performing and the most expensive. So they clearly don't get it right 100% of the time.

Stoptechs are definitely the best aftermarket application - because the company tests each application kit specifically for the model car that they are for. When you buy the Brembo Big brake kit, you are getting their standard caliper with the specific car install kit, whereas in a Stoptech kit, you will have gotten something that has been direct tested.

Now on OEM applications, Brembos will have been tested and designed specific to the car. I do believe that the the Brembo brakes, while better, are probably not so much as their price and reputation dictate. But they sure are pretty.

AP Racing anyone? My dad's Can-Am car uses them and I believe Caparo uses them on the T1.

And just like BOSE some of their braking systems aren't good at all (Chrysler SRT Brembo's) while some of them can be great.

When we were looking to upgrade the brakes on our race car (it had Brembo Monoblocks) every company we approached at PRI said "we are better than Brembo because..."

We stuck with Brembo and we are glad we did. We tried Stoptech rotors , but they were not as durable as the Brembos.

The "steel bridge" is marketing talk. Don't believe the hype.

Most of what stops the car is tire , then pad . The big shiny calipers , painted matching colors , thats for all you kids that don't know what the pedal is actually for.

cx7lover,
what huh
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=105027/pageId=63055
Edmunds says the 300C SRT-8's Brembos are good.

What I've found on the Magnum is that the power is there, just the pedal feel is not which plays a big part in driver confidence.

"Pedal is almost too soft, and effectiveness is not as good as expected for a brake system bearing the Brembo name. Luckily, distance is OK."

Gen Coupe.

Brembos are the best, period. As aftermarkets they are quite expensive but totally worth it when you take your car to the track. They don't heat up or soften up and I have yet to see a brembo that wears out quickly. I find it funny when the heavy GT-R stops better or equal to cars with carbon ceramics. Its even funnier when the 370Z with its conventional brembos stops shorter than the 911 Turbo with its ceramics. And the Z car costs less than 40k.

Hi Donna,
Great post, and that's a nice shot of this car's wheels!
Call me crazy, but I didn't even know Brembo made brakes! I remember watching his show when I was a kid. I even was on it! He was such a merry clown. I was usually afraid of clowns, but he was different.
It's been years since I've read about him, but I guess me moved into a new line of work? Who knew he was such a fan of cars?

I can't believe Brembo is being compared to Bose. At least Brembo has some credibility in the automotive community. Not so with Bose in the audiophile community.

ace47:

370Z doesn't have Brembo's, their brakes are made by Aisin. The Brembo's on the 350Z do fade after some heavy use, though. On other cars they may never fade. So, like I said, it is all about application.

tyndago:

Stoptech's are in fact made of steel vs. aluminum (as used by some manufacturers) and they in fact do use a more solid bridge with pins that actually bolt the sides together vs simply sit there and are held in by a flimsy clip. The marketing is where they claim this is a great deal better than the others, but they do in fact exist.

BOSE makes some good stuff. Listen to a select few of their Car Audio systems. Brembo has the same cache when you mention them to a consumer, "The Best". The Audiophile community is shrinking - Too small to care.

cx7lover - Are you implying that they both have the same cache to an uneducated consumer? Because that's the only consumer that thinks Bose makes anything decent in the audio realm. I would also beg to differ about the audiophile community shrinking.

Yes, because obviously Brembo doesn't make the best brakes, they're OE systems that stop shorter than Brembo systems.

And, Yeah, I'm not going to argue with you, you already have a bias against BOSE for whatever reason.
BOSE In-Car audio can be nothing short of excellent. Then they're the poorer BOSE systems (Mazda's BOSE systems). Audiophile's don't dominate the Audio market, if they did no one would buy BOSE because it's already preset that they can't make anything worth a damn.

Brembos are great with their carbon ceramic brakes.
Otherwise, AP Racing and Endless FTW! OK, maybe Alcons too.

Well, Brembo makes brakes for Ferrari's F1 team and some of their finest street cars, so they have to be doing something right. But I don't think that they'll always make great brakes. Some applications will just plain suck. I don't have much experience with aftermarket brake systems, but I once tried a car with some Baer brakes and those were pretty strong.

Regarding Bose, I have a Mazda with one of their stereos and it's less than what I had expected; I was expecting a good equalizer, but instead I just got the standard treble-bass settings; that can be had with plenty of cheap stereos! Sound quality is ok in the front seats, but lacks in the rear. I'll probably keep it since I'd hate to ruin the dash's look and if I choose to buy a nice audio setup, I'll do it for my room. The car is just a wrong place to get all serious about an audio system's quality anyways.

Like was said earlier, tires and pads are the most important features when determining stopping power. Brake fluid plays a role in pedal feel and brake fade. The difference between the top manufacturers is very little and probably has more to do with maintanence and longetivity than outright stopping power.

True, I have heard some Bose car applications that weren't horrible, but only a couple. And I do know what you mean about lesser Bose systems in some cars. To tell you the truth, a car is no place for critical listening anyways. I was speaking mainly about Bose in home applications.

Brembos are standard equipment on Ducatis, so yes, they are the best.

(Harley offers them on their 09 touring bikes with ABS).

Their in-home systems need a lot of work. Why they keep up with 5.25 inch woofers in that Acousitrash bass driver is well beyond me. They sound alright but the price is just too high.

"370Z doesn't have Brembo's, their brakes are made by Aisin. The Brembo's on the 350Z do fade after some heavy use, though. On other cars they may never fade. So, like I said, it is all about application."

My mistake about the brakes. Although I did get into a 410hp 350Z and thought the brakes were great and they showed no signs of failing. Maybe the Brembo brakes were aftermarkets or the pads were of a different brand....