I have been having noise problems with my brakes for probably 3000 Miles. After I first got my 96 SE in March the brake feel was fine, but it seemed the car was not stopping the way I wanted it too...I was hoping to begin upgrading all areas of the car in short order, but plans have fallen through on that. Anyway, I finally took the car in and my mechanic who I know personally and trust told me the brakes needed to be replaced. Just a standard replacement of rotors and pads. No noise, and the brakes worked great, I think the Maxima is one of the better braking cars I have driven, I guess its dynamic weight distribution complements the brakes. Anyway, the next day the brakes start to squeal. Very badly. I let it go for a week hoping I had just glazed them the first day with the new brakes and just needed to break them in. Never got any better. I took the Maxima back and told my mechanic to make it right. He told me that any Maxima owner assumes the fact that the brakes will be noisy...that may be, but they didn't make noise when I got them. So he tried some new carbon pads. They are amazing...stopping distance is noticable shorter, and in a college town that can be quite advantageous since I seem to be the only person that knows how to drive . Anyway, they now squeal as well. Not as bad as they did, but I was hoping someone could tell me why, or perhaps just tell me that theirs don't squeal so I can pressure my mechanic into actually fixing the problem. Thanks ahead of time.

Drew

 

Hes kinda right about the brakes being noisy in any maxima. From my experience all the different types of brakes except OEM and Bendix, even with the shims and goo squeak horribly. Right now I have carbon metallic pads and they dust and squeal like monkeys. Its annoying but what can you do. The only thing he can do if he didnt already is use shims and the anti squeal goo.

 

I haven't had any squeeking coming from my max since I had here 5yrs ago. You might want to see how he is actually installing your tire back on your car. If he is using the impact gun to put your bolts back on; then there is a chance he is also slightly bending your rotor, due to pressure on each bolt being different. You really want to use a torque wrench to make sure the tq was even all around.

 

I have gotten onto him before about using the Impact wrench to torque my bolts back on (when I used to drive a Ford Bronco). So he knows that I am checking them here and there. I have had trouble with him, but he has always been good since. He tells me that he has tried everything, including anti-squeal compound. I suppose that I will just have to live with this minor annoyance.

 

First off one problem is the metallic brake pads. I have used those and was so ****ed off at how they squeeled that I ende up doing my brakes again less than 5000 miles later. Second of all just because he is using an impact does not mean he is overtighening anything, this is assuming he is using a tourq stick of some other limiting device. If not the most likly result would be warped rotors, not any more noise.

 

I am not saying he is overtightening my lugs, someone else mentioned that. I don't think that this problem has anything to do with warped rotors. The rotors are brand new, it's just an annoyance. I can live with it, I was just making sure that I was not the only one that experienced it.

 

I feel dumb...but I mis-typed yesterday. These pads are not Carbon or Carbon-Metallic. I thought about it this morning and remembered that they are Ceramic Pads. I thought that is what I had been talking about all day yesterday, but I just typed Carbon each time. Anyway, they still squeal. :-/

 

Pretty much all brake pads now are semi metallic, theres no such thing as full metallic unless you have 2 metal blocks grinding on your rotors. Organic pads were popular back in the day because of the low dust but after asbestos was found to be a carcinogen they went down the drain.

 

i'm using friction masters ceramic pads and they dust very little and in the past 5-6 monthsi never heard any squeal or noise from brakes at all and speaking of performnace rating from 1-10 10 being the best i give them 8 only time where i miss higher performance or better brakes is on those 90+mph spirited driving when out of nowhere theres a cop parked on the highway waiting for someone to pass by but for normal to mild driving i like them