TimW

iTrader: (6)

So.. I've got one of the earliest 2ks on the board. 6/99. I have a GLE that came with 7 spoke 16's, which I quickly upgraded to 5 spoke 16s a month later when they came out. I put 30K on those rims. I carefully watched the torque on the lugs. Even tho I've done a great deal of aggressive mountain driving, I've never had judder or warped rotors. However, after 2 months with 17 OEM 2k2 wheels, I'm starting to feel the judder sneaking up on me. I went to the lake this weekend, a very twisty mountain highway. A drivers dream.

I've made this trip numerous times.. but this weekend, I quickly overheated the brakes. I felt some hard judder and serious fade.. However, when they cooled, no vibs (I'm very lucky).

So... The 17's are like 52lbs with stock tires. thats alot more mass than the 16's and aftermarket rims. I'm wondering if thats a contributing factor to frequent warpage. (along with torque and rotor design/material/thickness problems). Also, the 6 spoke 17 may offer less ventilation.

exunaja

any conclusion on this topic, since it's become a common issue now?

K Pazzo 6

iTrader: (6)

stock 17's chromed
so that my warped brake problem-- time to look at different rims? unless there a cure for this???

TimW

iTrader: (6)

10:0 for the 17s.. interesting.. very interesting.. if anyone has never lifted their 17s, you should try it sometime.. but not without a spotter

Y2KMaxGXE-R

iTrader: (4)

here's something that may contradict your findings: my rotors were warped twice within 23K mi on lightweight 15" steel rims, but never had them retorqued. Now that I am running 18"s and using 85lb/ft torque, 5K miles so far so good.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

did your steel rims have good ventilation? were these winter rim/tires? (like hot rotors in snow/cold water)

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

I have stock 16", 6-spoke.....warped at 23k and it is going to happen again soon or later. (it turns blue already)

symptoms : steering wheel vibrations, body vibration. more obvious with speed above 60.

asu174

iTrader: (11)

19" ADR's killed mine. I don't know what their weight was, but they were the heaviest wheels I have ever felt.

GhettoMAX

I have a 2k1 GLE and recently experienced Brake Judder, mentioned it to local Nissan service department while getting a oil change they didnt tell me what was wrong with them (I didnt ask) but they told me they will order new brakes etc. etc. and then replaced them a week ago, and looks like they resurfaced the rotors. Anyways the problem is now gone.

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

this post is scarying me, considering that I just switched over to the 2k2 rims. I never had brake problems before on my stock 16's.

DAVEB

iTrader: (133)

Interesting theory-
I have a base SE w/16s. I beat the hell out of it every time I get in it. 17K w/no warpage yet, but after the last jab from 100+, the rotors are bright blue! I gotta slow down!

Y2KMaxGXE-R

iTrader: (4)

no these are stock 2000 GXE with hubcaps. Rims weigh only 15 lb each. If these came with the car from the factory, I'd assume ventilation is acceptable.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

I believe a close system is better in the way to prevent rotor warpage. Open wheel has a good ventillation and it is too good that the temperature on the rotors shift up and down a lot. In this case, rotors tend to warp. Also water and rain drops can get into a rotor inside open wheel more easily. which again....increase the chance of rotor warpage.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

I don't know why everybody uses term "warpage" when this problem is nothing to do with rotor's shape. I measured mine and the rotor with "warpage" triple as much as another one caused almost no judder at all. The "other" one shape was almost in specs (<0.0024") and was responsible for all the judder. I figured that because I had one extra new rotor for replacement. Fuuny thing - I resurfaced "warped" one twice to no avail since it wasn't a cause. So my point is that judder is caused by non-uniform friction which may happen because of thickness variation or because of sh!tty rotor material treatment in the first place.

2c.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

good point! and Nissan still thinks it is a temperature related issue. They even use a newer version of brake pad and claimed it to generate less heat compared with the older ones. Nissan knows how much they spent on the rotors and knows what kinda trash they put in there. But in order to avoid losing loads of money on replacing our rotors...they didnt want to put their poor quality as one of the primary causes of this problem. Instead, they introduced another way to make it sound like a semi-wear/user-abuse and Nissan just doing you a favor, generate a TSB.

when my rotors were warped.....the rotors were shinny blue, which indicate a large amount of heat was there. could be the pad, could be the rotors, or could be both.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

AFAIK, the temperature of the rotor with given diameter and ventilation ability depends from how hard you're braking (the value of your deceleration) only. It means, for instance, that by putting on better tires you can brake faster providing higher values of deceleration and bringing rotor to higher peak temperature. If rotor wasn't treated properly or simply not good enough it can start developing so called "hard" spots which later will cause that judder. I think, pad material is nothing to do with it, temperature speaking . Rotor blue color simply means that you did stop hard but that's the brakes are for, aren't they? Any other pad would bring your rotors to the same temperature and the same color . I'd like to hear some of metallurgical engineer here since all I said were recalls from my outdated university course some 20 years ago. I also read that there're companies that can treat your rotors with cryogenic process which provides very fine grained and uniform structure. The problem is - I don't know how effective that gonna be if I'd still make them blue from time to time? I also understand that some additives to the rotor material itself can make it more uniform in the first place but more expensive at the same time too. You're right, it's much cheaper to make "new brand" of pads and some marketing hipe than do recall on the cheap stuff they put in our cars. Probably there's a reason why Maximas coming from factory with sh!tty tires. BTW, I'm pretty sure that Nissan is pretty much aware of real judder cause but they really won't do anything about it since it's too expensive now. I just wondering why they continued to use weak rotors for so long time? They continued to make car with some very known issues for couple years. Why they didn't fix them when they first time appeared - they'd look much better and it wouldn't cost them that much?

Highlander

2000 SE with stock 16" rims... Started around 24K (I think), replaced rotors and pads at 26,000 - NO CHARGE - thanks to Doan Nissan in Rochester.

02VQ35

iTrader: (3)

You know, I have an early 2k GXE built 09/99 that had brake judder, sort of popped up one day. After that, i've had nothing but problems with my brakes. I've got the standard 16" Alloy OEM wheels for the GXE. I don't see why changing would cause the judder, the judder was from the rotors being too thick (this is whay my dealer said). You may have had the same problem as I did, it just happened one day.

Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

Stock 16s, have always had brake judder when braking from higher speeds. Took it in to Nissan and the problem went away for a week and came back

doublea

iTrader: (7)

Hey guys, I think Nissan is hidding something from us, I have a 2K1 with 17'", I never had a brake problem exept some noise when braking hard moslty during the 1 st year. Last week-end , I was inspecting the rotors and find out there was many micro- cracks on it specially the one in the back, also there is some flaky rust on the rotor like you can peel it off, 6 months ago I replaced the pad for Axxis, and the rotor were in perfect condition. In my opinion Nissan is using cheap quality rotors, I had many cars in my life and never had to replace rotors after a year and a half. Instead of trying again to argue with Nissan dealer, I just bought 4 new dimped slotted rotor from the group deal started by BigDogJonx and going to slap those in and see the result soon.

Cheers

AA