Got new pads and rotors. Didn't expect them to make a huge difference. Working on my brakes lately has made me realize how mushy they are, they don't grab hard. They don't throw you forward. It's all very soft and gradual. It's possible I have air in the lines but I've heard other members complaining about the same thing.

I've driven my friends newer altima, that car will splatter you across the dash if you aren't wearing your seat belt, brakes are great on that car.

Any ideas on a potential fix and is anyone else experiencing the same thing I am?

 

Newer Altimas have larger brake calipers/rotors up front like 6th gen Maximas.

You can upgrade easily.

 

Get you some stainless brake lines and bleed the brakes one more time after installing will help with better brake feel.

 

I have 2 03 maximas. One was mushy and the other is decent. Not the best in the world but better than my old 2k maxima. Anyways after replacing the rotors and pads with powerstop and doing stainless lines I found it was the master cylinder. Now it stops even better than the other one.

 

Which brand of pads did you buy? Hopefully not the el cheapo $20 ones.

The brakes on these cars are nothing to write home about but I've found Akebonos are a decent improvement. Make sure all the slide pins are properly greased with silicone lube or Sil-Glyde. Also check the rear calipers as they like to seize up.

 

If your brakes are mushy then they need bleeding. Also, your brake fluid is probably old and that does not help. Once you eliminate mushiness, you'll be able to decide whether the brakes grab well or not.
I just recently replaced my brake fluid; to my surprise, it made a huge difference in how the brakes behave.

 

Get better pads and bleed to system.
If you can activate ABS or skid then, get better tires.

Big brakes only help if overheating. Do you race hard or what?

 

Nope, just fine here ..

 

Answer: Do a 6th Gen front brake conversion.


/thread

 

Big pimpin

 

Mine has been sucking lately. So I bled the system and that didn't do much. I'm thinking it may be the master cylinder. The rotors/pads aren't old either

 

What Froggman said.
The braking improvement with the 6th gen brake change was remarkable. Having said that, I did change brake fluid and bleed the system at the time. The rear brakes will always suck...from my 95..to 97..to 99...and now the 02...I'm due to change the bloody calipers..again. But 2+ years later the front 6th gen brakes are sailing right along

 

My 6thy gen front Duralast Gold brake pads lasted for 100k miles, fairly insane.

Get the FB rear BBK.