I spent the whole day overhauling my suspension (somewhat) and also replaced the brakes.

I was going to sell my car but I think I am going to keep it now.

I replaced the worn inner tie rods. I replaced the decent shape outer tie rods.
I replaced the strut mounts, but I think they may have been just fine. The strut bearings were old and worn out, I replaced them. I put on new spring isolators (the polyurethane tube that goes around the bottom of the spring. I Replaced the old worn bump stops (that had no boots) with new boots and with cut bump stops (because the car is lowered). I replaced my Hawk pads with OEM Nissan pads, and all the hardware too (brake clips and shims and grease).

So now my car rides smoother. Bumps are less harsh. The car does not clunk over bumps, it doesn't shimmy on the road, bumps don't grab the tires and turn them without your permission, when I turn the wheel the car actually moves. It rides SOOOOO much better now.

The brakes are great too... Word of advice, do not ever buy hawk pads. I could NEVER make them stop squeaking from day one. They did not seem to have the stopping power I thought they should (even after proper bed in). I slapped on the OEM pad and put everything back together. Right from the beginning they had more stopping power than the Hawks and I had JUST put them on!!! I also did not hear a single squeal from them the entire ride home from my dad's (30 miles).

My car is actually drivable again. Now I just need to see if I can figure out why the AC puts such a load on the engine when I have it on and the car will be downright nice again!

 

Good To Hear Dude!! Thanks for the advice, i'll make sure stay away from hawks.

 

i don't think its just Hawk's as a brand, it's all ceramic based pads. They all squeal.

 

I don't see why people said the Hawks were good though. they were worse in every respect.
Less stopping power
More Dust
Noisy

who wants that!?

 

Which Hawk pads did you get? I had Hawk HP Plus and it's everything you described, however, it's a autocross/track pad, and those qualities you cited are to be expected, including the "less stopping power" cuz they need to be warmed up.

I'm glad you went with OEM, sounds like it's a better match for your type of driving.
Jae

 

I just replaced OEM pads and rotors for Brembo Blanks and some Hawk HPS. No dust, no squeal and stopping power is amazing. Maybe you didn't bed them correctly. I did an extra couple of stops more than what Hawk recomended. Even when they warm up I could never think my car could stop that fast.

 

why dont people just use the delux pads? i hear they are good and make little to no dust. i hear you on the new suspention and such...it you fall in love with the max again.

 

I recently replaced my rotors with Brembo blanks and got new Raybestos Quietstops. I've had Quietstops on my car for a long time with no squeaking, but recently they started intermittently squeaking. New shims would probably be a good idea, pretty sure mine are still original.

 

Because most upgrade pads for the performance aspect. And the pads are costly when compared to others.

 

are reffering to the delux pads being more costly than the hawk plus?

 

That depends on where you buy it. And the Hawks are not on the same level as the Axxis Deluxe.

 

I also realized while driving around yesterday that what I thought was play in the gears of the transmission was really just the loosness of the steering knuckle (I assume the inner tie rod ball joints) letting it move when torque was applied. No more occasional clunking when letting the clutch out. I should have done this a long time ago.

 

Hmm... I've only had my '98 SE for a couple of months now but it's about to hit 150,000 and the steering is getting really sloppy. How much did everything for this cost you?

 

Raybestos are dead silent.

 

not on the same level meaning that the axxis deluxe are better?i need good performance and quiet to go with my xdrilled.

 

Here is a list of what I got:

Inner tie rods (2)
Outer tie rods (2)
Boots for the tie rods (2)
Lock plates for tie rods (2)
Strut mounts (2)
Strut bearings (2)
Spring isolators/polyurethane tube (2)
Strut boot/bump stops (2)
Brake pads for all 4 wheels
Brake hardware kit

Total cost for everything shipped was $526 from Dave Burnette at Southpoint Nissan
It took me and my friend all day to do it, (most of the time on the tie rods, as they were a bit of a pain)
Geting the old boots off, is a pain cause there is no room, we wound up pulling the old boot off piece by piece until we could get a screw driver under the boot and wire and turn it to pop the wire clamp off. Then we just used hose clamps to hold the new boots on because there was no way we were going to be able to twist a new wire clamp on in that space (I have no idea how someone would do that). You also HAVE to have that inner tie rod tool. I can see no other way to do it.

I honestly don't think that the Strut mounts needed replacing on my car, so I could have saved about $90 there prolly and had the same results. I think the inner and outer tie rods, and the stut bearings made the biggest difference. That and those Hawk pads had to go.

 

You should have used zip ties for the boot. It is much easier.
My steering is extremely loose too. I've changed the inner tie rod but not the outter. I should look into that. Oh and I have the same problem with the a/c as you do. When I turn it on it just seems like it is dragging the engine down. There is like a grinding noise for a few minutes when you first turn it on but eventually goes away after a while. But the drag on the engine remains. I think eventually I will have to replace the compressor soon.

 

I use generic pads and they have no problem. I think the squeal comes from the shims on the back of the pads also

 

I put Kevlar Carbon Fiber Brake pads on the rear and I'm doing the fronts soon before I go to FL (I'm from NY). I like the Kevlar ones thus far.

 

Im on my second pair of Hawk HPS and I never had any squeaking whatsoever......

 

I wonder if I got defective pads, cause I put those things on right and I shimmed them and used all the correct hardware, and they squealed and didn't stop very well, despite completely tearing down the brakes at one point and sanding the pad surface and rotor surface and rebedding... from what people say I could believe that I got a bad set. I mean manufacturing errors occure. But for me they only get one chance. Enough about Hawks now!

 

agreed, topic has strayed too far

 

im going with the axxis deluxe pads, along with f/r xdrilled brembos.i'll let you guys know how they work out.

 

wrong, i use ceramic pads without any problems at all, will never go back to oem.

 

Can anyone tell me which brake pads are the best for the nissan maxima?

 

if you have stock rotors etc, i would stay with oem nissans pads. i have been using them for years with no problems and they are very quiet.

 

A couple of things I wanted to add on the suspension parts. First there are a couple of part numbers fo the inner tie rods, one is just the inner tie rod, the other includes the lock plate. If you get the version with the plate I think it will save you a few bucks. I got one with the plate and the other without (ordered 2 of the same but got one of each). I then had to buy a lock plate seperatly and it cost around $11 just for the lock plate.

Also the jamb nuts didn't come with the outer tie rod ends and mine weren't reusable so I ran all over town looking for replacements, dealers didn't keep them in stock so they had to be special ordered and took 3 days to receive.