*sigh* i bought my car not even a week ago and i realized that i need new brakes. everytime i brake i hear squealing, and everytime i brake hard my brakes grind and the car does not stop very well. so i want to do this job myself if posiable, but then again it is snowing outside over here, so maybe it is not a good idea? how much is a brake job, and i did a search and i read that the factory brakes are best? any input would be great. i have a 98 maxima w/62,000 miles. (my back brake are brand new)

Help me please!

 

If all you want to do is change the pads then go ahead and do that yourself, it's not very hard. You can find a good write-up for doing your front brakes here, it should be all you need to know.

My friend and I did a complete overhaul on the front and rear brakes of his '98 just last week; it was tough and actually took a couple DAYS, but we didn't really know what we were doing and took our time. Everything went fairly smoothly except we weren't able to bleed them very well and had to have a mechanic show us exactly how to do it. They work fine.

 

i don't want to spend 2 days doing my brakes... and why would i have to bleed my brakes after only changing my pads? this seems alittle difficult...

 

you dont have to bleed them. just take off the caliper, take out the old pads, replace with new ones, and youre done. dont forget to use some of that anti squeal goo also.

 

You're forgetting an important step...

You'll have to push the piston back into the caliper, because the new pads will be thicker than the old ones.

You can use a "C-clamp" or go to Autozone or Sears and buy the tool for $9 called the "Disk brake pad spreader"...looks like this:

 

Give it a shot on your own. It is really easy and if you have questions during the install, hit us up for questions on here or do a search. People will always help you.

SuDZ

 

it too easy, it took me a whole hour to do mine last night.
p.s. rent the tool from auto zone..much easier.

 

Very, very easy. Do it yourself and feel better about yourself!

 

where can I get some of this "anti squeel goo" my brakes were all redone in july (only 3k miles on them) and they squeel like a mother! Cant stand it!

 

No. I was explaining what my friend and I did last week, which was take all the braking components apart to do an overhaul on them. What we did wasn't TOO difficult. What you want to do is very easy, which is just replace the pads. Do it.

 

Don't forget to unscrew the brake fluid resevoir cap (don't need to actually take it off completely) before pushing the pistons back in.
If you're going to buy a brand new clamp, don't go with anything smaller than 4". I used that to push the pistons in on the front brakes. The rear pistons need to be "twisted" back in.

 

hmm.. well i think i am gonna try it. i hope it goes well. too bad it is 18 degrees outside right now! i am going to have to wait untill sat to do it because of lack of funds. thanks guys. now does anyone have a fav. brand of pads? i read a few forms and i am thinking oem pads... any thoughts?.

 

Do any of you resurface your rotors?? Do you have a shop do it for you or do you guys have your own lathe? What's a reasonable price to have a shop resurface your rotors? Mine are all grooved up but are still plenty thick.

 

And put some towels around the resevoir to soak up the overflow.

Fronts can be done blind-folded. Twisting the rear pistons in (vs compressing them for front) was the biggest time-eater for me. A tool for the magic "turn while pushing" would be a Useful Thing. Needle-nose pliers are very ineffective...

 

Agreed! One of my rear pistons twisted in fairly easily but the other put up a good fight! About 1/2 yr ago, someone posted a link to a store that sells the tool you're referring to. I seem to recall it's around $20. A search will probably cough that up.

 

I used to work at a Car Parts in NJ about 5 years back and we turned rotors for $7 a piece. Advance Auto or autozone doesn't do this kind of work, but I would imagine you can bring them to any shop that does brakes to get them turned for less than $20 total. One thing to remember is that many shops have lathes that will turn the rotors while they are still mounted on the car and you may not be able to get them turned with that equipment.