2011, I notice today that the brake pads are only making contact with about 80% of the usable surface area.

Is this normal for other max or do I have an issue?

I will take a pic in the morning.

 

If a little rust is showing in the inner area of the rotor, then that sounds about right.

 

 

samething mine does seems normal

 

Just trying to figure out why the brakes sometimes seem to wobble/pulse but not consistent.

 

The inconsistency you describe is unusual. The more normal situation is either smooth braking or a consistent wobble/pulsing.

It has been my experience that the most common cause of the wobble/pulse syndrome during braking is a slight (or worse) warping of the rotor(s).

If the rotors on your car have never been 'turned' (put through a machine that removes any portion of the rotor surface sticking out above other areas), then a simple turning of the rotors often eliminates this wobble/pulse.

But rotors can only be turned a few times (sometimes only once) before the thickness of the rotor drops below the minimum allowed, and the rotors must be replaced.

But if your wobble/pulsing is not consistent, it may be time to have your dealer check your system and rotors before doing any 'turning' of the rotors. Let us know if you find the cause of this inconsistency.

HERE IS A THOUGHT:

Contrary to normal assumption, during any particular stop, the pads in Nissan's braking system do NOT cover the entire 80% of the rotor that looks used. The pads actually shift to a different portion of the rotor each time we brake.

This pad-shifting process has resulted in a popping noise in some 7th gens here when inadequate lubrication resulted in the pads having difficulty moving to a different area of the rotor for this paticular braking application.

Could it be possible that this problem is a result of Nissan's braking system where the pads are shifted during each braking application, resulting in coming into contact with a different portion of the rotors during subsequent braking applications?

Maybe only a portion of your rotor is warped, and that portion gets used only part of the time?

 

I brought it to the dealer's attention last year and they tested but didn't find anything wrong. The car has 13000 miles, the wobble/pulse been there since week one, 1st 100 miles. Its never consistent, sometimes you get smooth braking, next its fluttering when I hit the brake at high speed.

 

I'll just say that this Maxima is the worst car I had with brakes. Sometimes it breaks smoothly. Sometimes it jerks a bit. Sometimes it feels like it doesn't want to catch. I cannot get a good feel of how to smoothly brake in this car, especially fully loaded.

 

We have had several posters here with that situation. I have been lucky. I have been driving since the 1940s, and have owned nothing but Maximas since October 1984, yet my '09 Maxima is the ONLY car I have ever owned that has had perfect brakes the entire time I have owned the car.

I am hoping that the very careful way in which I broke these brakes in may have helped. I drove extremely carefully the first 2400 miles, so that I would avoid situations requiring sharp braking. Also, the first few weeks of ownership, I took my car to roads where there was no traffic so I could break my brakes in with a lot of very gentle braking with no vehicles anywhere around me. I don't know if that helped, but it certainly didn't hurt.

Even today, I try to baby my brakes, being careful to avoid overheating them. Large heat variances within the rotor can cause warping. I use engine compression braking more than the pad/rotor system, slowing down well before the point at which I know I will be stopping.