Silver03SE

I purchased my 2003 Max SE in August of this year. I have been incredibly pleased with the car except for one thing. The brakes.

I was taking a trip to Oklahoma from Virginia about six weeks ago. Before I left I decided to take the car in for an alignment. The day after the alignment was performed I drove the car to Oklahoma. Half way through the trip the brakes began to make a grinding type sound.

While in Oklahoma the brakes got worse quickly. I took the car to the local dealership and they said they'd look at it. They called me and told me that my brakes were glazed and my pads were worn. They also said that they needed to turn my rotors. Total charge $155.

Before I left Oklahoma the sound was faintly still present but I was unable to stay another day. I got back to Virginia and the sound got really bad again. The dealership from Virginia gave me a follow-up call and asked if I was satisfied with my service to which I replied no. The service manager of the dealership called me a few days later and we talked. I told him that I found it ironic that the car started to act funny right after I took it in to him for an alignment. He told me he'd take care of it.

A few days later I took the car in and dropped it off. When I picked it up I was told that the brake calipers weren't properly lubed.

I drove the car and sure enough the sound was gone. A week later the damn sound returned again. It sounds like a grinding noise when I brake. At this point I am thoroughly convinced that the brake rotors are the cause of the problem and not the calipers. I have read threads on here that speak of the problems with the rotors on the 2000 Max.

Does that seem correct?

I have read threads that suggest aftermarket rotors. I am trying to locate some Brembo blanks and I searched their website but I found no part #s for the 2002-2003s.

Any help would be appreciated.

trey

I heard a lot of about warped rotors but never a grinding sound coming from the brakes.

hakk97se

Front or rear brakes? This happened on my mom's car. We bought her 2k3 used at about 23k miles. Quick checkover indicated everything was fine. At 28-29k miles, we started hearing a grinding noise coming from the back as the car came to a stop. Brought it into the mechanic and he said that the rear brake pads were all but gone and that they had gone metal to metal with the rotors on both sides of the car. This seemed extremely strange to me.. He suggested that perhaps someone had driven around with the emergency brake on, but that seems unlikely. We are going to have the E-brake system examined to make sure it's not being activated without the handle, or that it's being released properly and stuff. Perhaps this happened to you as well? 2k3 defect?

If so, I am going to go yell at Nissan. As it is, I'm going to replace the rear pads and rotors myself and see what I can see with the existing rotors. Oh, and for reference, you can't "turn over" rotors. They have to be resurfaced or replaced.

hakk97se

By the way, I was going to replace the rear rotors with brembo's (get them from user: "maxed up" .. Henrik is a great guy).. but he was out of them, so I went with Auto Specialty rotors. Hard to believe that both Brembo's and AS rotors, even if xdrilled and slotted, are cheaper than the OEM pieces of crap.

bert

The easiest way to get rid of "glazed" brakes is to do 1 60-70-80MPH to 5 MPH stop, 1 40-50 MPH -5 MPH stop, 2-3 20-30 MPH - 5 MPH stops thren drive around for 15-20 minutes with NO braking.

Neeferea

drive around for 15-20 minutes with NO braking? Can you tape it for us... Should be intresting to see

jeepik

iTrader: (2)

you ever heard of such a thing called an INTERSTATE????

nissanmaximas

my dads 2k3 max hasnt any brake probs yet, he picked his up march of this year. plus i think the brakes are more responsive then the 2k max we had..

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

I hear a grinding noise as well when I brake at low speeds.

Silver03SE

I heard that cross-drilled and slotted rotors crack and warp faster when used on a street car. I drive my car quite a bit and I would hate to keep having problems w/the rotors.

VMosser323

iTrader: (1)

I just had Powerslot rotors installed (all 4) and had Hawk HPS (front) and Raybestos (rear) pads installed. I have heard about x-drilled cracking, but I haven't heard much negative about slotted, at least I haven't heard negative about Powerslot. So far, so good...but then again it's only been 100 miles, so I haven't even completely broken in the brakes.

hakk97se

It highly depends on the quality of the rotors. I have had Brembo xdrilled+slotted rotors on my 4th gen for 10k miles now with no problems. We had a discussion about it here a while back and resolved that xdrilled/slotted rotors were more prone to crack with certain types of pads. Far fewer people with aftermarket pads have had any problems (like me with Porterfield Racing pads /w street compound). But it's still up for debate. Ask yourself why all the big $$ big brake kits (brembo, willwood, ap, stoptech, porsche, ferrari, etc) are all xdrilled at the very least. One might surmise that it's just for looks. Or maybe it really is functional.

In the end, unless you're tracking the car, looks is about all it's worth. Otherwise, it might help reduce fading slightly, if used with the right pads. Also, in regards to my post about the 2k3, I'm putting them in the rear which get far less use than the front. Although, i'll probably get a set for the fronts to match eventually. Point is that rear rotors for the 2k3 would run about $80 each plus shipping whereas I can get Brembos or Auto Specialty for less $$ in any configuration I want.