just upgraded to the Stop Tech street/track performance front pads, stopping performance is much better than Oem. The feel alone in the brake pedal is much better, when applying brakes. Personally i really didnt like the Oem brakes just felt they were very poor , especially coming off the highway.My Maxima only had 18k miles on it so the Oem pads were hardly worn at all. So far happy with the stop tech pads after 1 week ....

the install on the pads was extremely simple!

 

^So your telling us you only changed out the front pads and not the rear?

 

the front does most of the braking anyway

 

I knew someone would be lurking around with that comment ;>)

 

I have been extremely happy with the OEM brake pads. Stops are short and crisp compared to other cars. Other than a subjective feeling do you have objective data to share with the forum to support your claim that the new pads are better that the OEM's.

PS patients given placebo medications also report feeling better. This is what I call subjective

 

i disagree, the stock brakes are inadequate for a car of this weight. since i changed rotors, pads, and brake lines i now brake with confidence. what i mean by that is when i need to stop short the car used to kinda scare me with its stopping distance, now i feel safer. my last car got wrecked in a front end collision so im really sensitive to my tire tread/braking on this one...

 

Completely agree with you, this car leaves something to be desired when stopping, at 1st you think you just applied the pedal late but after several closed calls or unexpected shocks you realize the car is just not set up to stop hard and fast, without some serious foot into the brake pedal.

Im still debating on what direction to go in with a new brake setup, pads all around, pads and rotors, or just go big and get the Akebono setup.

My 09 stops good but my 06 stopped way better with the brake setup I had

 

see my issue before was even with mashing the brake pedal there was no stopping power that could, per say, readily throw everything that is on my seats onto the floor. it would just kind of coast to a stop. NOW i have that stopping power. im really curious what a BBK would feel like in comparison now, just gotta troll the G and Z forums for an OEM kit

 

Which rotors, pads and lines did you get?

 

Exactly. Plus y would I change the rears. The fronts were like new. So the rears would have pad left. Plus like ghost said. The fronts do all the work.. Thus the reason I upgraded.

 

ghozt, i agree 100% with u, i had too many close calls w my maxima, and im a very safe driver. i felt very unsafe when breaking with this car, with its weight u need alot more stopping distance, and if u have to stop short Watch Out, it throws all off ur front seat etc and has you Cursing WTF . Ive owned many new cars and this is probably the worst Oem pads on a car that i can recall.
i also own a Jeep Cherokee and that is front end weight heavy. The Oem pads on that were ok, they just wore out fast , so i upgraded those to Stop Tech front pads over 2 yrs ago, and Jeep feels better and the pads have not needed to be replaced yet. The Oem on the Jeep i was getting 1 to 1 1/2 yrs on them

as far as DATA, IM my own data, and personally know these pads feel ALOT better and safer. And thats whats important. If you want Data, Google there is plenty of data on Stop Tech pads.
The reason i went with stop tech originally was because a good friend of mine is a master mechanic and also course races his Bmw and has tried almost all pads and rotors out there and Loves the Stop Tech. Thats good data for me

 

With all due respect to members of this forum let me lay out some facts. According to Consumer Report (CR) the Maxima "Braking is very good, but with a slightly long pedal travel." On a test track the car stopped from 60 MPH in 128 ft which is considered better than average. By comparison CR report that the BMW stopped in 123 ft from 60 MPH and the Honda Accord in 145 ft. What some of you are experiencing is the longer pedal travel, not the longer stopping distance. So while new pads may be better than the OEM pads it does not make the OEM pads substandard.

 

I'm not talking about Consumer Reports thoughts on the Maxima braking, I'm talking real-world application. The brakes suck man. I'm glad you are enjoying yours, I just hope you never find yourself in a circumstance where you have to stop quickly because you'll figure out what I did the hard way. If you want to keep your OEM brakes that's cool nobody is forcing you to upgrade, but stop arguing with people on the forum whose opinion differs from you. Your argument doesn't change anyone's experience whatsoever.

 

Alien drilled/slotted rotors, Goodridge s.s. brake lines, and some random ceramic pads. I'm looking at EBC or Hawk DPS pads next. If there's one thing you definitely can't go overboard on, it's upgrading your brake system. Hell it can save your life and insurance rates.

 

It may not even be the longer pedal travel per se. There can be huge differences in "bite" (aka coefficient of friction) between OE and any of several aftermarket pads - or among different aftermarket pads that are aimed at different braking environments.

Having pads that can get you stopped in 128' from 60 mph says nothing about how they'll feel while you're doing that, let alone how they'll feel during your more normal stops - unless they simply don't bite until you're having to shove the pedal toward the floor with more force than you should have to be using. Most folks with no experience with really grippy pads (think road course "track pads") won't remember much about how their brakes "felt" during an anchors-out stop over memory of the fear of not getting it stopped.

A 60-0 stop in 128' is on average an 0.94g stop. Most people rarely use the brakes at much more than 0.3g, which correlates to a 400' 60-0 stopping distance. An occasional harder stop might be 0.6g and 200', still nowhere near CR's numbers. IOW, their pedal travel note isn't entirely applicable to average daily use and it seems they didn't even mention the pedal force required.


The only issue with having different pads front vs rear is that the basic brake balance is changed. On the one hand, it could actually be a change for the better, if your brake system's balance is actually biased too heavily toward the rear axle and you install front pads with better bite. As long as the ABS is operational you won't be able to overbrake either "axle" into full lockup as used to be possible in the days before ABS.


People who shop for brake pads above whatever the local mass-market auto parts chain happens to carry tend to develop brand loyalty. I've been quite happy with the feel and the performance of the Hawk HPS pads on my 5th Gen Max and on the 626. Less satisfied with HPS on the Mustang, which has a much better pedal feel now with something a bit more aggressive up front (yes, I'm mixing formulations, we'll see how it works out).


Norm

 

Ill agree here. On another note if ur running Oem pads and have not experienced any aftermarket pads. How can you make an assumption that Oem are better.
It's like saying the stock exhaust has better performance cause its Oem. And no need to upgrade for better air flow. On another note the Bose system is good but you can always upgrade to alot better.

If the Oem brakes were soo good. I wonder why so many people with Good performance cars upgrade there brakes pads, rotors and calipers.

There was also another member on here who took his car to the track. I remember him saying he warped the rotors and killed the pads.

 

OE pads need to work for one or two stops from 80 mph or so and they absolutely need to work when the rotors and pads are stone cold.

Very few OE pads are suitable for anything beyond short road course sessions for a rank beginner just learning the line and not pushing very hard - pad temperatures simply get too high. Even performance street pads are not enough for open-tracking for anybody with much experience there.


Norm

 

Cool thanks!.....good to know.

I'm putting 2 and 2 together here......Did you ever try the SS lines with the stock pads and rotors? or did you replace it all at once?

Using the SS lines will reduce the amount of brake pedal travel that was mentioned in the consumer reports. Perhaps thats the main component that improved your braking "feel". It would be interesting to hear from some people who have changed only the pads, or only the lines to get some better comparisons.

Also, I took a look on the alien website, and they only offer rotors for '09-'10 maximas. I assume the '11 and '12's have the same rotors and pads? Sorry.....new to the 7th gen....only had my '12 for less than 2 months so I'm not up to speed on all the models yet.

 

I did the same thing to

 

How long was it before you decided to change your brakes up. My car has 30k miles on it and my bads still have a lil under half on them still..