The Great Brake saga
10-01-2004, 07:45 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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The Great Brake saga
A few months ago I decided it was time to replace my front pads (squeaky) and rotors (slight warp) with some upgraded EBC dimpled rotors and green stuff pads. Did the research and went to Tirerack.com and within 5 days I had $300 worth of parts. I have moderate mechanical ability and Maxima brakes are easy so I did the switch myself. After about 2 miles in the car the girlfriend asked "What is that clicking?" Turns out there was a strange clicking noise (like a baseball card in bicycle spokes) at slow speeds. On the freeway it sounded more like 50,000 angry bees, and it was LOUD.
I called Tire Rack and they gave me a few fixes to try but nothing worked. They told me to go to a mechanic. I am lucky enough to have a great Nissan-only mechanic 4 blocks from my house and he said the rotors were the culprit. Tire Rack said no, they said I should file the edges of the pads which I did with no luck. So Tire Rack sent me new pads for free. I put those on and for 7 miles I heard nothing, but after about 15 miles the noise was back as bad as before. So Tire Rack sent me new rotors and told me not to drive on them unless I was sure there was no noise, but since I could hear the noise while spinning the wheels in gear on the jack I sent them back replacing the first set of EBC rotors. This is now a month after I first did the work, and I had taken the wheels off the car 6 times with only the stock jack. I had been in contact with Joseph at EBC and he couldn't help me at all. Tire Rack then sent me a set of Brembo smooth rotors which I paid for and after I put them on I had no noise whatsoever except the squeal of them breaking in. I returned the original EBC rotors for a full refund. I have been on the Brembo rotors and EBC green stuff pads now for 5,000 miles and they still squeal like a Chicago Transit Authority bus but I will hopefully remedy that tomorrow with some stop squeak applied to the back of the pads.
The moral of the story- Avoid EBC dimpled rotors like the plague. Tire Rack was always helpful and took care of me despite my obvious frustration with the product. Joseph at EBC was always polite and wanted to help but really did nothing to solve the problem.
I called Tire Rack and they gave me a few fixes to try but nothing worked. They told me to go to a mechanic. I am lucky enough to have a great Nissan-only mechanic 4 blocks from my house and he said the rotors were the culprit. Tire Rack said no, they said I should file the edges of the pads which I did with no luck. So Tire Rack sent me new pads for free. I put those on and for 7 miles I heard nothing, but after about 15 miles the noise was back as bad as before. So Tire Rack sent me new rotors and told me not to drive on them unless I was sure there was no noise, but since I could hear the noise while spinning the wheels in gear on the jack I sent them back replacing the first set of EBC rotors. This is now a month after I first did the work, and I had taken the wheels off the car 6 times with only the stock jack. I had been in contact with Joseph at EBC and he couldn't help me at all. Tire Rack then sent me a set of Brembo smooth rotors which I paid for and after I put them on I had no noise whatsoever except the squeal of them breaking in. I returned the original EBC rotors for a full refund. I have been on the Brembo rotors and EBC green stuff pads now for 5,000 miles and they still squeal like a Chicago Transit Authority bus but I will hopefully remedy that tomorrow with some stop squeak applied to the back of the pads.
The moral of the story- Avoid EBC dimpled rotors like the plague. Tire Rack was always helpful and took care of me despite my obvious frustration with the product. Joseph at EBC was always polite and wanted to help but really did nothing to solve the problem.
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