Best Nissan GT-R (R35) Brake Upgrades: 2009-2021 Guide

Choosing the best Nissan GT-R (R35) brake upgrade comes down to one number: weight. Nissan's twin-turbo halo car tips the scales at nearly 3,900 lbs, yet launches from 0–60 mph in under 3 seconds and trips the quarter mile in the 11s. All of that mass and momentum has to be scrubbed off by the brakes, and factory pads fade fast once you start using the GT-R the way it was built to be used. At NLP Performance in Tampa, FL, the most common question we get from R35 owners is simple: rotors, pads, or a full kit? This guide compares five proven front and rear brake upgrades — from a $195 rear race pad to a $1,447 complete front kit — with real fitment, specs, and picks for street and track.

Why the R35 GT-R Needs a Brake Upgrade

The R35 GT-R leaves the factory with one of the strongest OEM brake packages ever fitted to a production car: Brembo monobloc calipers with six pistons up front and four in the rear, clamping 380 mm (15.0 in) two-piece floating rotors at all four corners. That hardware is excellent — but it is tuned for a stock 480 hp (2009–2011), 545 hp (2012–2016), or 565 hp (2017–2021) car driven on the street. Add a tune, sticky tires, or repeated hard stops on a track, and the factory pad compound overheats and glazes, sending brake feel long and soft.

You rarely need bigger calipers on an R35. The stock Brembos are enormous. What you need is a better friction package: a pad compound that survives heat, and a rotor that manages it. Because the GT-R uses a two-piece floating rotor design from the factory, aftermarket two-piece rotors and race pads bolt straight to the OE calipers — a genuine bolt-on upgrade with no re-engineering. That is why every product in this guide targets the factory Brembo calipers rather than replacing them.

Best Nissan GT-R (R35) Brake Upgrades Compared

Here are the five R35 GT-R brake upgrades we recommend most, sorted by use case. Complete front kits sit at the top; individual rotors and race pads let you build a bespoke setup for around $500 or less. Prices update live on this page — the comparison below reflects current NLP Performance pricing at publish time.

1. PowerStop Z26 Street Warrior Kit — Best All-In-One Upgrade

The PowerStop Z26 Street Warrior Front Brake Kit is the easiest way to transform R35 GT-R braking without touching the calipers. One box holds a matched pair of drilled-and-slotted, zinc-plated front rotors plus PowerStop's carbon-fiber-ceramic Z26 pads and stainless hardware. The carbon-fiber-ceramic compound is nearly dust-free and stays quiet on the street while delivering a firmer, more confident pedal than the worn OE pads it replaces — ideal for a tuned but street-driven GT-R.

2. PowerStop Evolution Rotors — Rotor-Only Refresh

If your factory pads still have life but your rotors are grooved or heat-cracked, the PowerStop Evolution Drilled & Slotted front rotors are a direct-fit pair with no drilling or brackets required. Cross-drilled holes shed heat while the rounded slots sweep gas, dust, and moisture off the pad face to keep a clean contact patch. A silver zinc-dichromate plating fights the surface rust that plagues exposed GT-R rotors in humid climates like Tampa.

3. DBA 5000 Series 2-Piece Rotor — Best for Track Days

For repeated hard stops from triple-digit speeds, a two-piece rotor is the smartest upgrade you can make to an R35. The DBA 5000 Series pairs a high-carbon cast-iron ring with an aerospace-grade T6061-T6 aluminum hat, joined by National Aerospace Standard (NAS) bolts and crimp nuts. The floating design lets the ring expand and contract under heat without warping the hat, and the two-piece build sheds unsprung and rotational weight versus a solid OE rotor — sharpening turn-in and helping the ABS work cleaner. DBA's Kangaroo Paw vane pattern adds cooling surface area to pull heat out between corners.

4. EBC Racing RP-1 Front Pads — Best Track Front Pad

The EBC Racing RP-1 is a full-race front pad engineered for the heat a 3,900 lb GT-R generates on a road course. Its sintered aramid-fiber compound holds a high, stable coefficient of friction from cold to well past the temperatures that fade a street pad, so pedal feel stays consistent lap after lap. RP-1 fits 2008–2020 R35 GT-R models running the factory cast-iron rotors, including Black Edition and Nismo. Because it is a dedicated track compound, expect more dust and noise than the Z26 street pad — a fair trade for repeatable stopping power.

5. Hawk Blue 9012 Rear Pads — Balance the Rear Axle

A track brake upgrade is only balanced if the rear axle keeps up with the front. The Hawk Blue 9012 is a proven motorsport compound that delivers high torque and strong high-temperature fade resistance, and this rear set drops straight onto the R35's Brembo rear calipers. Running a matched race pad front and rear keeps brake bias predictable under heavy threshold braking — the Hawk Blue 9012 rear is the natural partner to the EBC RP-1 front for HPDE and time-attack use.

How to Choose: Pads, Rotors, or a Full Kit?

Match the upgrade to how you actually drive the car. For a street or fast-road R35 that mostly sees canyon runs and the occasional autocross, the PowerStop Z26 Street Warrior front kit answers everything in one purchase: fresh rotors, a stronger-than-stock street pad, and hardware. If your rotors are worn but you like your current pad, buy the PowerStop Evolution rotors alone and keep your setup simple.

For dedicated track and HPDE use, build the system in layers: a DBA 5000 Series two-piece rotor to manage heat, an EBC RP-1 front pad for bite that will not fade, and a Hawk Blue 9012 rear pad to keep the axle balanced. Add a stainless brake line and high-temperature fluid, and the factory Brembo calipers will out-brake almost anything on the grid. Not sure which combination fits your exact build? Our Tampa team fields R35 brake questions every week and can spec a matched setup for your year and use case.

Installation, Bedding, and Fluid Notes

Every part in this guide is a bolt-on that reuses the factory Brembo calipers, so a competent DIYer with a lift or jack stands and a torque wrench can handle a front rotor-and-pad swap in roughly two to three hours per axle. There is no bracket to fabricate and no bleeding of the ABS unit required if you keep the caliper attached while swapping pads. The two-piece DBA rotors ship pre-assembled with the aluminum hat installed, so they slide on like a one-piece unit.

The step most owners skip is bedding. New pads and rotors need a proper bed-in cycle — a series of moderate stops from about 60 mph to 15 mph followed by a cool-down — to lay an even transfer layer of friction material onto the rotor face. Skip it and you invite uneven deposits, judder, and premature fade. Race compounds like the EBC RP-1 and Hawk Blue 9012 are especially bedding-sensitive; follow the manufacturer's procedure before your first hard session. Finally, fresh DOT 4 high-temperature brake fluid is cheap insurance on any GT-R that sees track time — heat that fades a street pad will also boil tired fluid and send the pedal to the floor. Pair upgraded friction with a fluid flush and, ideally, a stainless brake line for a firm, repeatable pedal.