I bought my 2000 se used in 2003, in June 2004 I had to have my rotors turned because they had warped. By April or May of this year, I could already tell that had started warping again and now it has gotten so bad that I can't stand it. I am not a brake rider, but out of habit I do brake later than I should (not slamming), with that said I never had any problems with any other cars I've owned.

Did they warp the second time because they were turned? If so, if I replace them with new stock or aftermarket(un-slotted or drilled) rotors, and with a bit more than average driving conditions do you think I will get more than only a year of good use from them before having to redone?

If it is me, will slotted and/or drilled rotors solve my problem, and how?

Thanks
Chuck

 

there are lots of things to consider about warping. when you cut/resurface them, it is almost a guarantee that the warping will come back and most times sooner than it took originally. the same rotor with less material having to deal with the same amount of heat. over torquing wheel nuts can be a cause as well. i bought my 01 ae brand new and by 8k, both front rotors were warped. they were cut by nissan at no charge and new pads at their expense.
at 25k, they were warped again. nissan took a goodwill repair and replaced both front rotors and kept the same pads. they eventually warped at around 50k and were replaced by brembo blanks and hawk pads. if i had the money to spend then i would have gone with frozen rotors and the hawk pads but i have almost 20k miles on my current setup and no issues to speak of yet.

 

it's a known fact, maxima's have warping issues. majority will tell you've had these problems and getting them resurfaced will only have them come back. save the annoyances and get better rotors. i'm still on OEM pads, but i've switched to iRotors. this is not to say you have to get iRotors, but my point is get something aftermarket as the OEM's blow chunks. my choice for the iRotors is i'm no racer, yet i'm aggressive. these provide the stopping ability that i need and their prices are very good. i'm pretty sure i paid 109 for fronts and 99 for rears. that's a very good price for brand new rotors.

my timeline is as follows
car purchased new with 6 miles
warped by 12k, replaced with iRotors and Porterfield pads
at 28k, changed to OEM pads, porterfields dusted too much.
currently at 33k, pads have much life left on them and rotors are great.

 

I put a set of brembo plains after totally wrap the oem front rotors. The brakes still has developed a perceivable slight shake after only 3 monthes of using, which become more prononced recently. Now I'm thinking which brand of rotor I should replace the next time.

 

been running with Powerslot and Hawk pads for three years now... no problems yet... get rid of the OEM rotors and good luck

 

Just did an upgrade with the same setup and the only thing I can say is The best thing about this upgrade....cheaper then OEM and Hell better.

 

I'm still on stock rotors and pads at 45,000 miles. Still riding on the stock tires as well. No problems or issues.

 

I don't know if stock rotors suck still @92k. They actually warped before i put in new pads i bought set of akebinas front rear problems semm to dissapear. BTW stock pads had on them like 75% thrread

 

not this again



people, in 3/4 of the cases that people report "warped rotors" it is NOT warped rotors, but pad material buildup. The culprit is the crap Nissan OEM pads, which leave deposits on the rotors when they get hot. The deposits build up unevenly and cause the rotors to feel "warped". If you do a search about 2 years back, you'll find the "experiment" I did to prove this was the case when my OEM rotors "warped".

Get your rotors turned/cut/resurfaced and but some quality pads like Hawk HPS, that will not leave the deposits when they get hot...

 

Most stock rotors have problems. I do not think that this is isolated to Maxima's.

 

51k with OEM rotors. There is buildup on them, so I need them resurfaced. Otherwise with the Hawks they stop on a dime.

 

my 01 maxima's rotors do it, my mom's 99 altima's rotors do it. my family is a nissan family, probably about 20 in my close family alone. only nissan in my entire family that didnt not do it was my 96 Z, that car was quality, to bad i sold it.

 

i switched to bendix iq (import quiet) with stock rotors as an alternative to oem pads. i ended up with the same results as the oem pads provided. i realize you stated 3/4 of time but i am just letting people know that the rotors may play a substantial part as well.

 

Dumb question, but is it true that even if you buy new rotors like I did (Brembo blanks) that they should be turned before first use? Either the Service Mgr. I talked to was right or I got . Either way, they're good now, so .

 

then i was right

 

that's weird. i'm on OEM pads on a/m rotors and i'm fine. what gives on that?

 

they suck but it's not only the maxima that suffers.. all my previous cars except one had the same issue.

from experience i can tell you turning them is a waste of time, labor and money.

 

that's why I said "3/4"

I'm just speaking from a little "test" that me and two other guys with 5th gens (not org'ers) did about a year ago that pinpointed the problem as material buildup, not warpage.

 

56k on stock rotors and no problems...knock on wood

 

For the daily driver the rotor "warpage" is usually a rotor "above limits" axial (lateral) runout problem or a rotor thickness variation problem. When accomplishing the axial runout the high dial indicator reading can be caused by the rotor not seated squarely on the hub (crap, corrosion, lug nuts, hub issues) or obviously surface variation of the rotor surface where the dial indicator tip is contacting it. Rotor thickness/variation has to be checked with a point mic in at least eight or ten "o'clock" positions. The industry including Nissan recognizes this "pulsating steering wheel" issue and they have "addressed" it by issueing TBs giving the dealers specific procedures for troubleshooting. Pad material "pickup" or material transfer onto the surface of the rotor is known to occur with some pad materials especially some "ceramic" and other non OEM types and may also be related to the rotor material/pad material combo. Another cause for rotor thickness variation and one that I believe that I have encountered on my 2000 and that may be more common than most people will believe, can be caused by rotor corrosion, particularly when the car has been parked/stored for a long enough period in "whatever environment" to have the rotors "rust". The problem is actually the "lack of" rust in the area covered by the pad/s. The next few brake applications wipes the "rust" off the rotor which removes maybe only a tenth of a thou. (.0001") of parent material from only the "unprotected" surface of the rotor, but once this occurs, and as it occurs time after time, the rotor surface varies more and more. This issue was on an SAE engineering paper that came out of industry "Brake" conference. The recognized fix was to use a more corrosion resistant rotor material but that creates other problems dealing with heat resistance/strength etc. The engineers theory is that once this occurs it can only get worse and the customer will end up with the pulsating steering wheel. Short term fix is to machine the rotor. The only times that I have had minor steering wheel pulsing was after having my car parked a couple of weeks outside (not in it's usual covered spot) here on the rainy West Coast...... noticing some rust on the rotors and then on the next trip out, driving down one of our many local steep hills and getting some steering wheel pulsing. It had not occurred a couple of weeks prior, and I definitely had not come close to braking hard enough to cause heat induced rotor "warpage". This has happened a couple of times over the years with this car (OEM parts) and not being the type to panic, it disappears after a few drives. This is where I don't agree with the "P" engineers. I think maybe one can "cleanup" (rust issue only) the rotors by simply driving and braking normally. Maybe the iron oxide gets "picked up" by the rotor for a period of time.

 

With my '02, Nissan replaced all 4 of the rotors when I contacted them about the warping issue. When they replaced the rotors, I took a look at the fronts and there was a significant amount of hotspotting on them and they were terribly burned. I replaced my pads with Axxis Metal Matrix and the dusting drove me nuts.

When I get the '03, I am considering the iRotors.