I have a 1992 GXE with 135K miles on it.

Hi, I have a couple of questions. I plan on replacing my front pads and adjusting the rear shoes this weekend. I got my brakes done less than 10K miles ago at one of those discount brake places and after I went there I knew it was a mistake. My bill was $500, for a bunch of crap and now I am down to metal on metal already on my passenger side. From the get-go I could tell the left-right brake bias was off becasue of the amount of brake dust on my shiny rims.

What could cause such excessive uneven brake wear? If they didn't bleed one side enough?
I want to put ceramic pads on to reduce the brake dust. What do people recommend?

I have a great floor jack which I can jack up one end of vehicle from the center of the rear or front. The rear is a no brainer where to jack it up from. On the front though, I looked in my Chiltons and the pic looks as if the jack point is directly inline with the front wheels, but I couldn't see anywhere I would want to put a jack to in that area. There is a support which is at the very front of the frame just behind the bumper which looks like it could be used for jacking up the car, but I was worried that isn't what it was for and I would tear the front end off my car. Shed some light please. Also are there any gotca's to changing the brakes? I will use the Chiltons book and the writeup form 4dsc.com.

Cheers,
Matthew

 

My bad, I just read ahead and see read thread on brake dust etc. I still have the queston about jacking up the car and the uneven brake wear. Also a good brakepad recommendation would be appreciated, hopefully something I can pickup at Autozone etc

Cheers,
Matthew

 

Wagner or Bendix pads are both pretty good for stock type replacements that don't dust much. the OEM pads are also pretty good on low dust, but they're a tad $$. The drawback is performance- high performance pads WILL dust, but you can get some pretty good ones (better than stock anyway) like the Bendix Titanium IQ or the Wagner stuff that don't dust much at all.


For some reason, all Nissan cars I've seen tend to wear the right side pads more than the left, but you might have a seized caliper on that side as well. you'll be able to tell once you get over there. usually the outside pad will be in good shape and the inside pad is completely gone. they may not have bled the lines properly either, so that's something you should check while you're in there. just re-bleed the lines when you're done with the other stuff and it'll be okay.

as for the jack point, there's a metal hump thing right under the front bumper- if that's what you're talking about, I use it all the time on my car with no problems.

 

I recommend you buy them from me
It also depends on the style of your driving as to what would be best.

 

Mine wear faster on the passenger side front as well. Does your car actually pull to the right when you stop? My car stops straight, but the reason the passenger side pads wear out faster is because my rotor is slightly warped. As long as the car stops straight, without pulling to either side, I wouldn't worry about that side wearing out faster.

 

the rotor is probably warped because the pads bite harder on that side.
I don't know why it is, but every nissan I've seen is like that. so usually about 1/2 way through a set of pads, I pull them out and swap sides and inner/outer pad on them.. they wear pretty evenly then.

 

That sounds like a good idea, I might try that. All I know is that there is alot more brake dust on passenger side front wheel.

BTW: I got that package on Monday Matt, thanks. I can't wait to see what a difference everything will make when I'm done putting it together on Thursday.