i'll be looking over my friend's shoulder as he changes out my rotors and pads this saturday (finally). he's had experience working on cars before, rebuilding engines and changing brakes and such. so i'm not too concerned about his knowledge.
but is there anything we should know before hand prior to starting this up? or are our brake setup pretty much standard? any tricks to making this go more smoothly/faster?

thanks.

Buy the best pads you can afford! I put ceramic pads on my '95, and my rotor warping problem (okay, my uneven coating of brake pad material on my rotors problem...) went away.

thanks. i've got a full set of axxis that i'm planning on using.

i don't even know which brands are ceramic.

Just be sure to brake them in properly. Hehe

Like someone said, the break-in is important, otherwise you just dumped all that money down the drain.

You know how to compress the rear calipers, right? When I did my pads I had never touched brakes before, and ended up calling Phoung to ask him how the hell to get the rear calipers to compress. Don't forget your pliers...

I have the Axxis as well and don't care for them. I now use Raybestos Quiet Stops (ceramic) love them!

whatever you do, DO NOT<,,,,DO NOT pump the brake pedal until ur done...
my friend and I did it and were screwed...the caliper would not open..had to bleed all 4 brakes..

For front, here's some things I learned over the years:


Very first thing to do before you get too far is to make sure the rotor isn't frozen to the hub. If the rotors have never been removed before there is a good chance they are.

.: If the existing rotors are frozen on the hub, look for threaded holes on the hat of the rotor. I don't know if Nissan has these, but if they are there, buy the bolt that fits those threaded holes and just screw it in, it'll break the rotor free of of the hub. Do not get too hammy with a frozen rotor. If you find you are having trouble with it, you may want to put everything back together and take it to someone that can get the rotors off without damaging the hub or bearings (that's why I think it's important to check this before you get too far so you can reassemble and drive it to a shop)

.: clean off the hub the rotor goes onto. Make sure there is no rust on it and no foreign material.

.: Put some anti sieze on the hub so the new rotors don't rust to it.

.: Grease up the calpier bolts if that's applicable (I haven't done brakes on my '03 yet so I don't know).

.: don't mix up the caliper bolts, make sure they go back in the same location.

Yes there are screw holes for bolts to pry the rotors off.

Yes clean all the rust and foreign material off the hub. Put some anti-seaze on the hub so the rotor does not get stuck to it for the next time.

Yes grease the caliper bolts (they are there), just don't overgrease them. A high temperature silicone grease will work fine.

To compress the rear calipers you have to turn them clock-wise. A pair of needlenose pliers works well for this. At first they may be hard to turn, but once you start it, it's a piece of cake.

Remember to vent your brake fluid reservior, don't take it off though because it has an affinity for water and will pull moisture from the air. Water in brake fluid = BAD.

Theres a special tool you can buy to compress the rear calipers....instead of making it hard and risk slicing your hand open on something, buy the tool....i doubt it costs that much since all the peices are plastic....

just like the post above, dont forget to vent the res. but wrap a towel or something around it so incase the fluid comes out, it duzn't get all over the engine bay....

AFTER EVERYTHING IS INSTALLED and your ready to go.....PUMP YOUR BRAKES before YOU DRIVE OFF~!!!!
i completely forgot the first time i did brakes, almost backed up into my friends stang.....luckly im a good driver..... haha...jm..
PUMP YOUR BREAKS

Anybody want to try to give a name to that tool? I didn't know there was such a tool.

From my experience I have never seen a absolute need for that tool. A pair of needlenose pliers works just fine. I don't even see what you could slice your hand on?? There are no sharp edges around the caliper or caliper bracket.

Disk Brake Piston Remover, cost about $6.00 at Advance Auto and $10.00 at Pep Boys. Some car parts stores lend these and other brake tools out so you might not have to buy it! I would second the recommendation for Raybestos QS. they are a ceramic pad that is totally quiet and dusts very little. Washed car yesterday, it was 68 degrees in Charlotte, rims were so clean I was amazed. Installed the pads and cross X and slotted rotors about 41/2 months ago, totally pleased.

Make sure you tighten and retighten the caliper bolts. I had one fall of the rear passengers side and one from the front drivers side. I had to o to Nissan and order them. Other than that it's just a plug-n-play job. Unless you lose brake fluid from one of the lines there really won't even b a need to bleed then. Again, very important, tighten the bolts and then retighten them. Otherwise, you will have problems. Any specific questions feel free to PM.
One more thing, you'll need a special tool that costs about $7 to uncompress the rear calipers, you can not do the job without that. You can buy it at your local AutoZone.

using pliers on the rear calipers will possible damage the piston, get the tool its a little cube that'll go onto your ratchet, ask for it at your local parts supplier it's about 6 bucks and whole lot easier than pliers.

That part sells at Sears for about $12...it is a multi-function cube with fittings for different types of cars...long term value. I bought one last night after I read this thread.

thanks guys. that's good info before getting started.

so what should i ask for if i go to sears or an autoshop place? i don't know what it looks like so i'll have to ask.

It looks like a small cube, an experienced parts guy will know. Go to somewhere like Autozone. It'll set you back about seven bucks. It will make the whole task so much easier.