When I bought my car at 88k miles it had brand new pads all the way around, and the rotors had just been turned. The pads, however, were some "special" aftermarket brand and they squeeked pretty bad, especially at low speed and braking in reverse.
So at about 95k I replaced the front ones with brand new OEM pads, and left the rear ones aftermarket since they really don't make much of a difference one way or another.
Now at 102k (80%-90% highway miles) I'm feeling very noticable pulsation when braking... especially when braking moderate-hard.

What kind of maintinance cycles do the Maximas have on brakes? A friend of mine told me foreign cars don't need to have their rotors turned much, if at all. That doesn't make any sense to me, but he does have a '92 Camry that he has owned for the last 50k miles, and has yet to turn the rotors or replace the pads... and it still brakes as smooth as glass.

Do y'all think it could be the weird rear pads, or my rotors warping, or what??
What could possibly need to be done to the brakes after only 20k miles, almost all of it on the highways!

My '00 Silverado's factory manual states a minimum service interval of 45k miles for anything brake related at all... and I know guys who have gone up to 75k of hard driving without touching anything brake related what-so-ever. My truck has 18k on it and I can't tell a difference from the day I bought it.

So do our Maximas just have high maintinance brakes, or is there a simple solution/cause of this?

Thanks!
-Kyle

 

You've got EXACTLY the same situation right now. I looked at the rotors, but they are still fine (no shiny spots and such).

I begin to suspect the wheel bearing just now.... since I could feel the vibration when I am doing 25-30mph and slowing down...

Another thing, just found out that one of my left front wheelstud is damaged....

 

So at 95K you put new pads on. Did you replace the rotors too? You said they had been turned before. It's likely that they were machined because they were warped causing a pulsation. The problem is, once they're warped they like to keep warping. So frequently the pulsation will come back. If they've been turned before you'll probably have to replace them anyway - they're cheap enough. And no, Maximas don't require more brake maintenance then other cars, of course depending on how you drive it. It's not uncommon for the rotors to go several times as long as a set of pads. If there is no lateral runout (warpage), and no deep grooving then there is no need to replace or machine them. They wear much more slowly then pads do. There was a problem with the factory rotors being warped because they overtightened the lugnuts from the factory in some cases though...

 

Pulsating is definitely not your rear rotors! It must be your fronts if it happens during braking.

As far as servicing goes 15K miles or 12 months, they should be INSPECTED (not necesarily replaced) It really depends on what type of driving you do and how you drive. Mine are past 60K and still fine, no vibration or anything! Warpage is often caused by hard braking making your rotors too hot and warp. If you happen to go through water as well, that cools rapidly and warps the rotor faster.

Like someone said before, once your rotors have been turned once, they'll warp more easily the next time. i would probably not have rotors turned twice .. well defintely not more than twice.

As far as wheel bearing ...someone mentioned, you'll hear a "whirring" noise as you come up to speed. Wheel bearing problems don't usually cause vibration in my experience .... unless your wheel is about to fall off! To check wheel bearings, jack up the car on each side and wobble the wheel from side to side and top to bottom for excessive play. (don't forget the jack stands!)

That's all I had too offer!

 

A whirring sound??

Hmmmm! My maxima has a very noticable whirring sound at times. It seems to increase in volume and frequenxy (Hz) the faster I go, seems to get a little louder when accelerating, and is much more pronounced on some surfaces than others.

Does this sound like the wheel bearing?

I just figured it was a quirk of the new Toyo Prox H4s I had put on a little while back, because I didn't ever notice it before, but then again I'm not always the most observant person either!

 

Is it from a particular wheel or direction in the car? If it is, then it might be the wheel bearings ...do what I said above. If it is not that then it is probably the tires

 

It's already been seconded, so I'll add the third. It sounds like your rotors warped because when they were turned they took a lot of material off. Just replace the rotors and you should be fine, and no, no there is nothing special about Maxima brakes.

 

Get new rotors...

When rotors are turned they are actually trimmed down to get any exiting warpage removed. Since they are thinner they are even more prone to rewarping. At least it is an easy fix.

And NO not all maximas have brake problems. I have 110k on my Max and still have the original brake pads and everything.