I changed my OEM front rotors and pads for Brembo blanks and Hawk HPS pads today. I followed the motorvate.ca instructions and triple-checked against the how-to's on maxima.org.

The only thing that made me nervous was the way the Nissan replacement shim kit didn't 100% fit the Hawk pads on the inner side of the front rotors. The brass-colored shim with the cut out curve in it didn't clip over the edge of the pad very well - I had to bend/force it. Did other people run into this?

The brakes seems to work well, but there is a thumping or clunking noise when braking hard. The sound is almost like the ABS sound, but not that fast. I remember reading something about the pads shifting back and forth - is that what I'm hearing? I followed the Brembo break-in instructions - 30 various brake applications with a half-mile in between each.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=415950

I don't think I put Nissan shims, since Hawk pads came already with the shims on them.

 

Thanks, that's the thread I was looking for.

The pads I took off had built-in shims plus the nissan shims clipped over them. I followed this (2 layers of shim metal) when putting in the new pads... was that right or wrong?

 

I used the factory shims with my Hawk HPS pads...the clunking is not something that I would think would be caused by shims. Did you replace the spring clips on the caliper as well? If one of them is missing, THAT would cause clunking probably. Also, did you "bed" the pads?

Also make sure you didn't unhook, snag, cut, etc, the ABS line going into the hub...

 

if it sounds like an ABS stop, but not as fast, its probably the rotors growling, usually due to improper bedding, like irish said.

 

I had the exact same experience. Installed Brembo blanks and HPS pads (used the shims they came with), and under hard braking I got a thunking...

A couple hundred miles later (maybe), I noticed there was no more thunk or pulsation under hard braking. I think they just needed some time to settle in.