Guys,

Search *****...go easy now...

Of course, like everyone else I've had my rotors replaced and/or resurfaced for the warping problem. How do I get out of this cycle of getting new rotors every 15K miles or getting them resurfaced. Will this just continue if I keep on replacing them with Nissan rotors?

Please help:

1) Is the only answer to get aftermarket rotors?

2) Will Nissan install aftermarket parts? I don't have the time, the parts or the ability to do it myself.

Thanks,
Matt

 

1: No because aftermarket rotors usually need resurfacing and replacement just as often. (Could be because we use metal pads???)

2: I am sure they will but I am SURE you can find someone that can do it for cheaper.

 

if they keep warping on you, i'd recommend buying aftermarket, and having someone a little cheaper than the dealer installing them...but I wouldn't do the Midas thing...their brakes SUCK.

get something from a performance manufacturer...

the better you can brake, the safer your car...

-vq

 

I have 25K on my 2K1 Max and haven't one problem with my rotors. I haven't even had to have them resurfaced. Maybe you guys drive alot harder on them than I do, but I haven't see any problems.

 

Give it time...my problems didn't show up until around 30K.

 

30K wouldn't be a problem...i wouldn't expect rotor's to last much more than that (without a resurface). But warping @ 15K sounds like a problem.

 

But take into account the type of driving. I have a 25 mile each way commute to work (coming from the country). Literally, there are only 8 stops (yes 8) in that whole distance, my garage to my parking place at work. I am sure if I was more city driving it would have happened MUCH earlier.

 

I used to have 2000 SE and Nissan resurfaced rotors twice and when replaced them for brand new ones. This was all before 30k miles. Even after replacing rotors they got warped again. I don't do any unsually driving, just regular city and highway driving.

Now on 2002 SE, I have about 15K on it and rotors are warped again. Nissan is using POS material for rotors.

 

Er . . . umm . . .

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=191239

 

Steelymatt,

Since you are not up to doing it yourself and you're in long island, NY (profile), Take it to maximum tuning in long island. Nice guys, fair prices, no service center BS, and they know maximas.

516-676-8470
16 Glen Cove Rd
http://www.maximumtuning.net/

 

 

I got the precision brakes kit. The pad selection is good on the Willwoods. I just drop in pads and haven't seen any measurable wear on my rotors. Rotors are larger, vented, slotted and crossdrilled. Don't suspect I'll have any issues.

I did have my rotors turned at 15k, and when it started again at 25k I said screw it.

GB right now on the kit.

 

A lot of times, warping is caused by over breaking cause the rotors to overheat, thus causing warping. At least this was what i was told. If you have warped rotors all the time, try getting dimpled or Xdrilled rotors, it will disperse the heat from the overbreaking better.

 

Actually there have been several theories:

1. Just plain crappy material
2. Hard braking
3. Improperly torqued lug nuts
4. Hot brakes/cold water

 

that if you come to a fast stop, do NOT hold the brakes once you have stopped and are waiting to go, especially for long periods of time such as at stoplights. That allows the heat to focus on one area of the rotor, while the rest is cooling and that can cause warping.

When I'm in the Max, I hold the clutch in and let go of the brake pedal or switch into neutral EVERYTIME I stop. If I'm in any other car(autoMAGIC), I just bump the lever into neutral and let off the brake pedal. Then I wait for the light/traffic to change and bump it into drive.

I use the eBrake to keep from rolling on any inclines.

 

Does this cause any additional strain on the auto-tranny ?? - Shifting out of "D" to "N" and then to "D" again ?

'cuz trannys are much more expensive than rotors !

Is there any chance of this happening or am I just paranoid ?

 

I have 140K miles on my Sentra tranny and no probs.

I don't see HOW going from Drive to Neutral to Drive at idle could cause "additional strain". Most people talk about hurting the tranny, while manually shifting it on the tree under load.

 

I TRY to leave plenty of space inbetween myself and the car infront of me, so I can periodically roll forward little-by-little to keep the pads from touching the same part of the rotor for too long.

I only do this if I know the stop is going to be short-term, otherwise I use the eBrake and let go of the brake pedal as I stated before.

I have no idea if these things really work, but it seems to make sense in my "little" world.

 

MAXIMA ROTORS S***!!!!! I just went through this with my local dealership last Thursday. I have 2002 SE and it only has 11,000mi on it I have already had my rotors resurfaced 2 times in the past year! I made a big mistake bringing it for an oil change at the same time they looked under my hood and then called me and said that my "high tech" stuff under the hood just voided my warranty on my braking system as well as other parts of my car because with increased horsepower you break harder......OK so they are smart, that is NOT true, no matter what speed you are driving at you are at a constant speed, whether you are going 70 with stock 255hp or boosted 285hp, you are still going 70.....DON'T LET THEM GET YOU!!!!!!

 

5. rotor too thin
6. single piston caliper puts too much stress on one specific area of the pad(s)
7. pad swept area is too small, concentrating the heat in one small area of the rotor.

 

The reason why I thought it might strain the tranny is this:
Whenever u go from "N" to "D" - there is a definitive jolt ( not that hard ) on the car -u feel the gear engaging ( so to speak ) .... so me thinks it might be hard on tranny or related systems

 

Maybe, I'm no transmission expert.

The killer of transmissions is heat though and if you are stopped in gear, you really heat up that fluid as the engine is still turning and your brakes are holding the car.

I'll search around and see if I can find anything.

 

Pep Boys is running an add where you can get Raybestos Quiet Stop Ceramic Pads installed, rotors turned if needed (they mic them to see if their are thick enough to safely turn), caliper pins checked and regreased and antisqueal compound is used and calipers are bled. It also comes with a 2 year warranty on labor and lifetime warranty on product defects (wear is not considered a defect). Regular price is $139.95 for fronts plus there is a $25 rebate so the cost is $114.95 for fronts and $124.95 for rears. The parts would cost you right at $90 per set (fronts and rears) so you are paying $24.95 for labor on fronts and $34.95 for labor on rears. The Raybestos pads are one of the top pads. If I were in your shoes I would definitely think very seriously about letting then do the work especially with 2 year warranty on labor and the frequency of your brake repairs. I am using the QS on 2 cars and they are very quiet, stop well and dust very little. It is a great deal for $240 to do both fronts and rears in a first class manner. Hope this helps!

 

I have 40k miles on my Max, and I actually just came back from a brake inspection 10 minutes ago, I was shocked when they told me that everything is in tip top shape. And my Canadian climate is probably harsher than most other people's on brakes and such. I dunno, I haven't had any problems the whole life of the car

 

Did you get yours done at PepBoys? I called and they said that the QS pads aren't made for the front Maxima. But then, they didn't sound like they knew what they were talking about.

 

They don't. P/N for fronts is PGD815. P/N for rears is PGD540QS.

 

Finally, I thought I was going crazy for a minute. At 20,000 my '01 5-Speed SE started shuttering when stopping and I freaked!! I thought the last time I had the tires rotated they really messed something up. I am releved to hear that this is common, now I guess I have to spend a little to correct it, which sucks because I really want some new rims or a suspension mod. Should I start with new pads and a rotor turn/resurface, or put that $$$ towards slotted/vented discs? That is the question. -D

 

1) I thought so, but: I replaced mine under warranty together with pads at 15 k. I put R4S pads instead of stocks and no problem so far after 35k. I brake hard sometimes and haven't changed my driving habbits for sure. I was completely ****ed off one of those days when delership tech was giving me crap of "being hard on brakes" - I told him that's what brakes are for - to brake hard!!! There was theory mentioned on .org that pad material + rotor material + heat from braking make thin layer of iron carbid on the rotor surface with completely different friction. This seems closest one to me - I measured my "warped" rotors with micrometer and couldn't find significant thickness variation or wobbling and I had jadder at 60km/hr at that time and was using torgue wrench to tighten wheel nuts. Another example - friend of mine had very same problem with his WRX and decided to replace pads first, in his case they were due to replacement. Who would've guessed - his jadder was gone after the first week with new pads and now, 20k later there is still no jadder, on the same stock rotors(!). He drives it hard, believe me: with Bridgestone SP03 who wouldn't?
2) I'd replace pads first in local garage, this is simple job and can be done at any reputable place. Pads can be mail ordered then you'd bring the car for 40min, 1hr max. After my friend story I wouldn't bother resurfacing rotors, jadder will go away by itself.

my 2c.

 

OEM Rotors Suck Period!

Maybe they have gotten better in the past year, but I doubt it. This was a common problem with the 5th gen Maxima's OEM brake rotors. My rotors warped within the first 15,000 miles and I know many people on this forum have had to get their OEM rotors resurfaced at least twice.

Earlier in this thread, someone said that you have to resurface aftermarket rotors just as much as the OEM rotors. This is not true.

I got Stillen cross-drilled rotors to replace my OEM rotors. I chose these because I can just swap it out with the OEM rotors. I put them on at 25K miles and I am at 55K now. I have ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for a rotor resurfacing.


I have Stillen aftermarket Xdrill rotors, 30K miles after install I still don't need a FAQ'n ReSurFACing!!!

If fact, that they should call it the Nissan OEM Brake Rotor ResurfaC'ing! You have to be ResurfaC'd EVERY 15,000 miles! And EVERY MILE AFTER 15,000 You feel more VIBRATION and have a GREATER NEED to be ResurfaC'd!

You guys can get whatever aftermarket rotor you want. But, if you want to stop the OEM Rotor Warp problem. Pay for a very good quality aftermarket rotor. Otherwise, have fun at your shop every 15-20K miles resurfacing your rotors. But don't waste your time and money if you want to get a cheap replacement rotor for your OEMs. It will cost you more and you still have to resurface because of the cheap quality.

Know the saying, "If you do it right the first time..."

 

Good advice. The beauty, of course, is that you don't have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to obtain high quality rotors. After all, who manufactures Stillen rotor blanks? Why Brembo, of course. And how much do Brembo blanks cost? About $44.00 each. And what do cross-drilling and slotting do for you? Practically nothing besides look pretty, crack your rotors and eat up your brake pads.

If you're looking for great rotors at a great price, look no further:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=191239

 

Yeah, may be. I'm wondering if there're members who're still having jadder problems using my setup (OEM rotors + R4S)? Unfortunately, in my case experiment wasn't clean - I did put new pair (OEM though) rotors with new pads. I wish I left them alone then I'd know for sure. Usually folks get annoyed by this problem so much that they go ahead and buy brake kit where good pads might be enough.

Same here and I installed my current set more than 2 years ago.

Same here but on OEM rotors (35K+ after installation). This is more out of general interest for me as I don't have this problem any more. I spent too much time figuring out what is really going on, probably.

 

twice already? my 2K2's rotors have been fine since i got my car a year ago

 

My suspicion . . . and it's only a suspicion, mind you . . . is that brake rotor warpage has more to do with driving habits than with any other single factor. I've got 32K miles on my 2K SE and I still haven't had to turn or replace the original rotors. I also haven't experienced any brake judder. But then I tend to drive pretty conservatively. I rarely stand on the brakes. In fact, I usually feather the brakes when I'm braking in order to prevent heat buildup. I've only engaged the ABS once since I've owned the vehicle. And when I'm at a stoplight, I don't keep the brake pedal depressed.

My wife, on the other hand, tends to use the brakes on her 2K GXE Autotragic much more aggressively than I do on my SE. But she still managed to get 40K+ miles out of her OEM rotors before they had to be replaced due to brake judder/warpage.

It might be interesting to run a thread asking those who have experienced brake judder to describe their driving habits and the mileage at which the judder first appeared.

 

The Nissan Service Manager tried to tell me that Maximas dont have problems with warped rotors. Its the people driving them he said. According to him, people who drive conservatively apply the brakes sooner and it heats up the rotors more than someone who applies them hard for a shorter period of time. My educated guess would be the opposite of his.

 

Interesting. I guess the question is whether light, steady applications of the brakes cause more heat buildup in the rotors than heavy, short applications of the brakes. I simply don't know enough about the heat retention characteristics of rotors to venture a guess on that one.

 

Here we go - no, I think driving habbits have nothing to do with the problem. I haven't changed my habbits at all and still using the same set of OEM rotors I installed 2 years ago as warranty replacement. At that time I even thought that my summer tires have something to do with that - providing more traction to the road they make rotors to heat up to higher temperatures to consume car kinetic energy in shorter time. Indeed, after hard highway braking they're very hot, I mean it. No, this theory didn't hold, the same tires, the same driver - and about 4 times more mileage without problems. In my case only two pieces were changed - stock rotors were replaced with another set of OEM rotors and I put R4S pads from the day one. I'm already on the second set of pads, BTW. It will be very interesting to find out how many people here using stock rotors with aftermarket pads and how much miles they put on the set before that infamous jadder came again. We could find which pads are suitable for Max stock rotors this way.

 

Interesting. So in your view, Max_5gen, the rotors have nothing to do with the judder problem. Or if they do, it's only AFTER the rotors have been warped by the OEM pads. According to your theory, using non-OEM pads with OEM rotors will prevent the OEM rotors from warping. And that would be the case regardless of how often or how aggressively the brakes are applied.

I'm afraid I won't be able to test that theory personally. When the time comes, I intend to replace my front rotors with Brembo blanks and my OEM pads with Raybestos Quiet Stops. But I would be interested to see if anyone else has been able to prevent rotor warpage by installing non-OEM pads on OEM rotors.

 

I don't claim to be the "master of all things about brakes", but I think that pad material has been overlooked as at least contributing to the rotor problem. Let's see- The brakes convert the stored kinetic energy in a moving vehicle to heat. The pad's job is to sacrifice itself absorbing this heat. Hmm- Doesn't it stand to reason that the characteristics of the pad material would be very important? I do! Here's some tidbits from the parts counter- Nissan has updated the '00-'01 rotor one time. The front pads have gone through THREE supercessions, and the "Brake Judder" TSB specifies yet another updated pad set. I'm not defending Nissan rotors, but it seems to me that pad choice has a lot to do with it!

 

So the ceramic pads could theoretically help?

 

I think so! I have Raybestos Quiet Stop Pads on 2 cars. No noise, no judder and significantly less dust than OEMs. Check out www.rockauto.com for discounted Raybestos QS pads. Not quite 25% cheaper than Pep Boys (where I bought all my pads). They don't charge sales tax so it cancels out shipping. You'll save about $23 on a set of 4.