Hey guys,

I've had this problem for a while and haven't been able to fix. I installed the Blemhco BBK kit last year with Irotors 04 Slotted Zinc Plated Rotors(12" rotor).

As you all probably know the Blemhco Kit on a 5 gen Maxima only moves the caliper out on a bigger rotor which virtually eliminates the maxima's notorious warping. I decided to get slots to get a little extra bit. So...a few weeks back i installed Hawk HPS pads as my current pads needs to be changed. Prior to the pads swap whenever I'd brake coming off of a highway or slow down at a lights from speeds upwards for 40 mph I would get severe vibration not warping or pulsating in the pedal just vibrations(the rear view mirror shakes like i have subs in the back, etc). Changing to the Hawks unforunately didn't eliminate the problem.

Any ideas what could be causing this? Could it be the slight overhang of the pad because of the stock caliper on a bigger rotor? Could it be the slotted rotor(didn't think it created that much humming when braking)?

I'll post a video later today.

 

Try pulling the rotor off and checking against the mating surfaces for dirt, rust, etc. even a flake of metal or grain of sand can cause the rotor to sit unever on the hub and cause vibrations.

the other thing is to make sure everything is torqued down and tight, including everything from wheel studs to brake caliper bolts to suspension peices.

It could even be something like a worn out tie rod end or ball joint causing the whole suspension to wobble when you step on the brakes.

Also check the rear suspension bushings. I've seen several of the rear beam bushings go bad in the last year or so.

 

are u running any kind of wheel spacer....they can cause vibrations....but yea like matt said front end parts like Tie rods or Ball Joints will cause vibrations as well

 

I have same problem as you do, and it gets worse when brakes heat up. In my opinion it may be low quality rotors, also alignment and balancing add to the problem.
My solution is good quality rotors (Brembo blanks "not made out of scrap material", professionally cross drilled on CNC machine, zinc-cadmium coated) and a set of good brake pads (EBC Yellow Stuff), as well as alignment and balancing.
I will be installing this in the next week or so, depending on what people will say about EBC Yellow Suff and me being stupid by installing the pads for street use. (EBC Yellow Stuff operating temperature 150 - 950 degrees C.)

 

dump the crossdrilleds and dump the EBC yellows. use EBC green for street and possibly yellow if you're driving in the mountains or track days.

 

hmm...ok so I took the rotor off, did some cleaning up and am still having the same issue. could it be the rotor quality? Anyone have any past experiences with Irotors? Maybe I should go back to blanks instead of slots.

 

I haven't used the Irotors, but I've suggested many sets to customers who bought my kits and they never had problems.

just for grins, try putting the stock rotors back on and remove the brackets. see if the vibrations go away.

and also of course (did I mention this before?) check over everything on the mounting brackets and make sure they're torqued down. I've found that due to the thick powdercoating on some of the brackets, they have sometimes loosened up on the bolts when the powdercoat gets hot and melts out of the way. the fix is to simply retorque the bolts to ~80 ft-lb and check them on a regular basis- just like you do a new set of wheels for the exact same reason.

 

hmm might give that a shot...take em back to stock.

 

Another possible problem....do the slots in the rotors go all the way to the edge? Because of the pad overhang, there is a possibility it is hitting the end of the slots as you brake...just an idea.

Reason #1 I prefer blanks - with slots/XD you have yet another set of things that "could" be causing noise or vibration - making diagnosis of problems 1 or 2 steps more difficult, even if the rotors have nothing to do with it.

 

Alright so I got my sister's old rotors(00 I30). do you think I should use my Hawks(with about 5k on em) for this experiment or get a cheap set of pads from autozone?

 

hawks "should" be fine....

 

hmm...the pad overhang from the bbk kit might be a problem, no?

 

yeah, but you could just sand it down with an electric sander...

 

I have the same problem and it is making me go nuts. I have drilled & sloted rotors though.

I did almost everything I could. I suspect the rotors are made from cheap material. even the mechanic told me their made outta cheap metal.

I got them from Automax on here. I wish I didn't throw away the old rotors.

 

ok took my brake setup back to stock. I removed the 05 slots and the blehmco kit and it's clear the rotors were creating the excess vibration. It might be the combination of the bbk kit with slotted rotors, as the 00 caliper doesn't use the whole rotor. Just an idea...I'll probably just got with an 05 blank setup, as I don't want warpage. I'll post some pics later.