Well, I've come up with a few complaints and questions about my Maxima after driving it for a while, with passengers.

I've realized that with passengers in my car, it is MUCH MUCH more sluggish. I have an auto. The major problem is the downshifting. There's a problem with some autos when you don't make a full stop, and the begin to accelerate again. The car doesn't reset the gears to 1, and starts off on 2 or 3. With passengers in the car, the downshift lag is MUCH more apparent, and much more delayed.

I know it's normal for a car to become slower with passengers, but I just remember some experiences with other cars, such as a Camry, that even with passengers, the car still does fine when accelerating. Does anyone think it's just the downshifting that makes me think the car is slow?

My other problem is braking. I've had my rotors repalced with blanks, my calipers have been inspected many times, and I have Porterfields. Yes, the Porterfields did help in performance, but not as much as I expected. I did the break-in procedure a few times also. The problem with braking is it isn't as responsive as I want it to be, and when casually come to a stop, sometimes the car will keep going more than I expect and I cross the line.

Whenever I drive the two other cars my family has, an old 87 corolla and a 92 previa, both Toyotas, the brake feel is great. The car comes to a stop with little effort, and never goes pass the stop line.

Honestly, I just feel like my Maxima is trying to clamp onto the rotors but has a hard time doing it. Does anyone think it's my wheels? I have 16x7.5 Borbet Type Es, with great performing (but loud and rough) Potenza 730s. I just don't really suspect this though since 16'' isn't really too big in the first place.

I just need ideas on what I could check or replace. I'm a little low on cash right now, but I just had to get this issue on the boards so I could relieve myself of my frustration with this under-par performance.

 

Hey man,

It seems like you have a problem with hydraulic pressure in your braking system. Take your car into the shop and have them check out your master brake cylinder. It's probably not the pads or rotors since you've had them replaced recently. If your brake master cylinder is fine, then try a complete fluid flush. Often air bubbles develop in your brake lines and cause loss of feel and bad braking pressure. When you flush your brake fluid, put in a DOT3 brake fluid. I don't know much about the individual brands but maybe someone can recommend you a brand. Also, your rubber brake lines may be flexing too much. Over time they may become soft and squishy. The way to remedy this is to get steel braided brake lines. They are really easy to install and make a night and day difference in braking. You'll feel your pedal feel get much firmer and experience less brake fade after heavy braking.

Hope this helps.

Dennis

 

Hey, thanks for the idea of the master brake cylinder (I'm putting it in bold to remind myself).

I already did two brake fluid flushes with DOT3 Certified stuff. One was done by the Nissan dealer, the other by a trusted mechanic of ours.

I used to wonder how much steel brake lines would help, but I wonder how my old Toyotas have such good feel still, even after 10+ years?

 

help please?

 

Stainless steel brake lines will dramatically improve the brake feel of the car.

The stock lines make the pedal feel very mushy -- where you push the pedal two inches and almost nothing happens -- and then you push another inch and it starts to stop quickly -- This is because the stock rubber lines have a lot of expansion --

If you get stainless lines, the overall pedal effort will seem firmer and also more linear in pedal movement vs. braking effect.

Go to a reputable shop and ask them to bleed your brakes to make sure you don't have any air pockets in the fluid lines.