my steering wheel shakes when i brake hard, do i need an alignment or new rotors? maybe they're warped?

 

Just sounds like warped rotors. Get em turned or just get new ones. New rotors and pads = no shaking

 

check this out:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=493396

 

and ohh, yeah, sound like you have warped rotors.

 

Bad alignment would likely cause your car to drift to one side or have uneven tire wear.

Steering wheel shake when braking hard is a rotor problem. As you brake harder and the rotors heat up more and more, it accentuates the problem and gets worse.

There are a couple of deals on rotors and pads in the Group Deals section. You will likely have better luck with blanks as opposed to x-drilled/slotted (YMMV) but unless you are racing/autocrossing alot, either should work fine. Just make sure you don't get the OEM pads again. Many have said that Hawk HPS pads are the best street pads to get -- again YMMV so do some research and decide yourself. Whatever you get, make sure you bed the pads properly (search if you don't know what "bedding" is).

 

thanks, i was looking into teh group deals for the brembo blanks. do i need to do the rears also? they seem warped too (damn nissan brakes) im tight on budget and dont want to have to get the rears done until next year.

 

You should just do the fronts first and if you still get a little bit of vibration then the rears might be wrapped too. But most likely its just the fronts.