Man, you'd figure that rear brake pads would last longer than 50K km - but no - these gave out at 48K km.

Of course, changing the pads out and in are kinda quick and easy - but even so, there are lessons learned.

- I bought a nifty little tool that you can use to turn the rear pistons back into the caliper. The manuals (factory and Hayne's) both say "use a set of needle nosed pliers" - HA!. This tool looks like a rubic's cube kinda thing, with different pins on each face. The tool also fits into your 3/8 inch ratchet wrench. Worked like a charm on the left side. What took me an hour with needle nose and vise grips got done in 10 mins. Well worth the $20.

- on the left side, I had problems. One of the caliper slider pins was siezed, and the caliper piston wouldn't turn in all the way. Picked up a new caliper ($120) - and that includes the torque body, caliper, new slider pins and boots, AND compression gaskets for the banjo bolt. Thought this would be a pain to put in, but in and driving inside an hour.

- I bought ceramic pads this time, (instead of the 'organic' ones last time). Man - stop means STOP!! Part of that has to be the now-working rear caliper, but part has to be better stopping power of these pads.

- when you bleed the brakes, both manuals say 'disconnect the ABS actuator electrical connectors. Does anyone know why??? Seems like a bizzare thing to do, especially since the key is off...

And that's my 2-day brake job...

Michael

 

I too noticed much better stopping with Akebono ceramic pads than with PBR organics and some no names. There is no dust at all.

You should not be replacing just one caliper on the back, but if it worked for you than it's fine.

 

That little tool makes all the difference in the world. Using needle nose pliers to retract the piston has to be one of the most annoying and frustrating tasks in the entire world!

I've used Axxis Metal Master pads on my 300ZX recently and in the past with great luck. Not sure if they make them for the Maxima but I'm sure they do...it's probably the same part number.

Oh yeah - bleeding the brakes sucks!!

 

Are you still running stock rotors? From what I've heard thoes pads will eat your rotors pretty quick.

 

Yeah - I'm doing OK with changing only 1 caliper. I'll keep an eye on it, but so far, no probs. That being said, it's a grocery and kid hauler, and rarely turns a wheel in extreme haste. The biggist challenge the car has is going up the hill to get to home - 1000' of vertical climb. (ditto, going down)

And, yes, I'm still using the stock rotors. The next time I do brakes, I figure I'll have to change the rotors anyway, so I'm not that far gone...

 

I found for myself a ceramic pad will eat up a used rotor fast. If you have a fresh rotor, pads, and break it in right. You shouldn't have a problem with your rotors.