I'm not sure what I have in my car since it was bought used. Visually it appears that part of the front snap in hardware is not straight.

I know the hardware excluding the shims lasts the life of the car, but I feel I want to replace it.

I don't need pad shims.

I've seen some of the hardware that comes with reman caliper kits and I wasn't happy with those (the hardware wasn't a precise fit), so I suppose I should lean toward the oem hardware.

The oem front kit is $45 plus $6 shipping, (http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAXIMA-FRONT...784593#vi-desc)

while Beck Arnley hardware without the shims can be had for $7.42
http://www.fcpimport.com/products/ni...0-i35-084-1546


I'm suspecting the Beck Arnley does not fit that well, has anyone used it??

 

I got Beck Arley sets for the front and back and no issues at all, they fit well, I got no issues

 

Little known secret is beck arnley actually makes oem parts for Honda Nissan and maybe more. They don't make their own parts they just package them in Honda or Nissan. Not sure how far this spreads across different parts but pretty sure about brake stuff like rotors

 

So the channel part where the pad ears fit snaps in properly and is square?

 

What year model? Look into getting salvage yard 6th gen front calipers and new rotors. Better stopping power.

 

It is a 2003 Maxima. I have another post about cryo rotors where the suggestion was made for 6th gen brakes, but that is too much for me to fool around with unless I did a lot of hard high speed braking, which I don't.

I'm in Boston traffic and the best I do is 80-85 on the highway when it happens to be not congested. Othewise it is tons of stop and go or stopping for stop signs and lights every 1000 feet.

Irrespective of this, I'm trying to make sure the Beck Arnley hardware fits as well as OEM. Even being a little off can screw up the sliding friction on the brake pads.

 

Might be too late if you have already purchased the parts but I have always had great luck with O'Reilly Auto Parts. Purchased the boots, shims (stainless steel pieces, whatever you call them) and new slide pins for $27.82. That's the front hardware, both sides. Everything is sold separately but the total is for everything.

Its a pain in the *** now because each auto store doesn't it differently. The boot kit is for both sides (4 boots), the shims are for both sides (4 shims) but the slide pins are only sold per side so you need two (4 pins).

Still undecided about what you are going to do huh? I know the drill.

 

Got the Beck Arnley hardware today. Noticed that the metal stampings for the channels for the pad ear guides are very soft and bendable. Since the front pad spring in the front guides depends on the stiffness of the metal, it looks like the Beck Arnley are not as good as Oem. I think you would want the metal in the guides to be stiff so that the pad ears don't get stuck in soft metal.

Will return and order Oem. Too bad the Oem charges you for front shims which I do not need.

 

Hello All.
I'm in a similar situation as you guys are discussing. I bought a used 2003 Maxima and noticed the anti rattle springs were missing. I found this out after I bought OEM spec pads from Advanced Auto Parts. Anyway I noticed they still had holes for the springs (they essentially put pressure against the rotor and are and just ore placed in the holes on the outer edge pads.
Long story short. I finally made it down to Nissan and explained my situation and they had told me the Brake hardware has been updated 3 times since the car was made. I recently just bought Beck/Arnley hardware kit as they seemed to look the same as what I have seen on a newer Altima.
Right now it's 14 degrees on Long Island I changed all 4 pads before the winter and just found out about this as it was approaching winter and figured I would address the issue come spring. At higher speed I do hear I would assume a reverberation high pitch sound after I changed the pads. All I did was simply replace the pads with the hardware that was on there as it was in good shape and didn't thing about changing it. The odd thing is at Nissan they showed me what I have remembered the Hardware to be on my car. I did not notice any difference. The Beck/Arnley seem to have this outer clip facing outward on the top of the caliper based on the Altima I seen. But overall basically I don't understand hot the difference with the top Beck/Arnley clip.
Overall, I never had to change the brake hardware so this is my first time and I understand the anti-rattle clips as I had them on my Toyota and some pads for the maxima do not have the holes for the clips and others due.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt

 

Go for salvage yard 6th generation front calipers and rotors.