Hello All,

Sorry for the duplication of the past but search button is not working. My question is why do my brakes still pulsate or judder when I try and stop or slow down at high speed when I have replaced the rotors and pads? What else can I do to fix this? Do I need to bleed my brakes, if so any instructions on how to or a good shop that can do this? I live in Boston. Thank you very much for your help.

T

 

I live in Boston too. I have the same problem. Maybe we can brainstorm and fix it together...Let me know.

 

how long after the rotor and pad replacement did they start pulsating? did nissan do the repair? one possible cause of warping rotors is overtightened lugnuts. i had my rotors cut at 9k and new pads at the same time from nissan and have not experienced any more shuddering and im at 27k.

 

Check your wheels (flat spots can make a judder at slow speeds), alignment, and torque of the lug nuts.

 

I second this notion! Overtighten lugs arfe a really bad thing, especially when all are not evenly torqued down.

 

I just had the dealer fix the brake judder on my 2000 GLE at 19,149 miles. Now at 19,800 it's back and worse than ever. It's still under warranty, but I don't want to risk taking it back to the dealer again. I can't believe the brakes on the Maxima are so under engineered.

I'm considering installing the Brembo "blanks" from Nopi, but don't know which pads to use.

 

i'd check:

- alignment. a small mis-alignment might not show up during regular driving, but when braking (when more force is exerted on your front tires) will cause a wobble feeling.

- bent rims, tire flat spots, unbalanced tires on front. like above, a small imperfection will be amplified when braking due to the change in weight distribution.

- axles. depending on your mileage and driving history, it's possible you may have bent an axle, which will do this, too.

all three of these things should be noticable under other heavy stress (ie: heavy acceleration). possibly not as much, but should still be there. if flooring it to 80 shows NO shaking, you can eliminate these and say it's definitely the braking system.

you said your rotors are new. are they NEW or just new-to-you? were they broken in correctly?

i don't think bleeding your brakes will have any affect. air in your lines will make your brakes feel mushy or spongy, but i don't see how that would create a shudder.

 

1. Rotors are warped

2. Uneven lug torque causing rotor warp

Solution:

Turn your rotors and torque all wheels down back to specs. A better quality blank will prolong the warpage along with moderate braking.

 

Does anyone know what size the front and rear Brembo blanks should be and where to get them? (Max 2K1.) Is it worth getting the Raybestos rotors instead? (They claim they make the pattern specifically for the Maxima.)

I know this was discussed earlier but I can't find anything - the lack of the search feature is killing me!

Also, when replacing the rotors I need to change the pads - I was thinking Raybestos Quiet Stop. Any other choices?

Can anyone help?

 

Raybestos QS are great, have them on my Z and love them.

http://www.2kracing.com/maxima-brakes/

 

I replaced all rotors at 50K and all pads with Stillen pads from Avalon. Currently at 72K and not a problem in site. All I can suggest is that Nissan rotor quality just sucks(sorry). Which means that if you guys have Nissan do the job it's back to square one.

 

Unfortunately, just torguing nuts evenly to specs didn't work for me, I got judder back in no time (<5k). If you're going to DIY can you start with pads, leaving rotors as is - it seems that if you change just pads it will go away, even without resurfacing. I've noticed that Raybestos QS, Porterfield R4S do the job. I understand, though that people buy Max to drive not to fix or to to do their own research on brake judder cause. Dealer replaced my rotors under warranty and shortly after that I put R4S myself. No problems after 30k miles and I've already worn out one set of pads.

 

I had brake judder problems since mile 1. Had the Brake Judder TSB done at 11k. Had to have it done again at 35k. Wanted it done before no longer covered. Dealer gave me a hard time. They said they only do it once, then I have to pay. I called 1800Nissan1, who got the dealer to do the fix for free. This fixed the problem for a short while. At 40k the judder was back and worse than ever!

At 41k, I got tired of the Nissan-crappy rotors and replaced front rotors/pads with Stillen X-drilled and Metal Matrix pads.

Now at 73k, judder is back!!! I've never had a car which requires replacing brakes every 20 to 30k!!! On my 6 prior cars, never had to replace brakes before 100k. Any other suggestions for next set of rotors/pads that might give me longer service?