I took my maxima in and I knew it needed some work so I knew to expect something from the mechanic.

Few hours later he calls me and says. You need to have your belts replaced because they are cracked and dont look good. Okay, 8 year old car I can see that.

Then he says your emergency brake doesnt work because your rear calipers are frozen. He said they need to be replaced. 500 for the two. Plus you will want to replace your brake pads, and maybe your rotors.

Other than that my cars not leaking, everything looks good.

What do you guys think?


Prophecy

 

I never heard of Calipers Freez up on the maxima. I recommend to you, go see a diffrent mechanic that you can trust. IF both mechanics diagnosis your car with same problems then your guy is saying the truth.
Do you drive your car with Emergency break pulled up?

 

No I dont.

 

then take your car to someone else have them check the rear breaks and front breaks for you.....

 

Actually my rear brakes have frozen on me already...to the point where if you mistakenly pulled up the hand brake...you could forget it. I end up buying the caliper from Strauss Auto Store, both sides and installed them myself...very easy. You should try doing it yourself if your mechanically inclined...big savings

 

Rear calipers can freeze because of rust. Over time they start to seize and they are a biotch to compress when you need to replace your pads. Shop around for the calipers and get a better price then take the car to y9our mechanic for the labor.

 

I had to replace the rear right caliper and rear right ebrake cable last fall. Not uncommom, especially in the rust belt.

 

Sounds like I had the same ebrake issue in 2001 on my 97SE purchased Oct 96. It is not the calipers freezing up as much as it is the ebrake cable not releasing the calipers. I never use my ebrake as my car is automatic(sorry!) so it was a shock to me when this happened. They said I need to use the ebrake more so it would not happen. I had to have the ebrake cables replaced. both rear calipers etc and it cost close to $1g if I remember correctly. I think the calipers were somewhere in the ball park of $200 each.

This was probably the most costly repair to date on my car (knock on wood).

MM

 

cost me $120.00 with old caliper

 

I had this happen also - dirt/moisture got under the boot around the ebrake lever (at the caliper). Nissan has the rebuild kit for like $30 per side if you are pretty experienced. Nissan sells the calipers for $430 each, or you can get them for ~$200 each from an auto parts store.

If it was siezed and dragging, then the rotor replacement (or at least resurfacing) is definitely the way to go. I had mine resurfaced at NAPA for $9 each. New pads, of course.

Total cost of rebuild of rear brakes;
Both Rebuild Kits, $60
Rotors resurfaced, $18
Pads, $20

Total $98, plus about 8 hours of my time

 

Yo Could someone help me check out rockauto.com? They have a special for maxima.org memebers and it looks like the calipers only cost 150 a piece there.

Anyone recommend one or a part number?

Thanks

Proph

 

My damage was done before I knew of the problem. I had to have the rotors replaced but were only about $60 each. I think to have the ebrake lines replaced was about $100-130ea.

MM

 

during winter, when its really cold outside, your rears might become frozen or partialy frozen if u pull the handbrake up and leave it over night.