I found about a month ago that my brakes were not working the way they should. I got brake checked by some jerk in traffic and almost hit him. During normal driving everything seemed fine. The pedal felt ok when you really got on the brakes but the car was not stopping faster. I pulled everything apart and found my Z32 setup had uneven pad wear, further inspection found all the pistons seized or sticking. I pulled my stock setup out of storage and reinstalled it with new SS lines and Hawk HPS pads all around. During the bedding process the brakes felt like crap, not much better than the seized Z32 setup. I drove the car again after everything cooled from bedding, it is somewhat better. The fronts will lock under hard braking but pedal feel and modulation sucks. I looked at the rotors after bedding, the fronts show nice material transfer, the rears not so much. I'm starting to wonder if I have a Master cylinder or brake bias issue??

 

Sounds like a brake Bias issue. Although. There is no way to really adjust it as far as I know. Maybe your MC is getting worn out. Or there is air bubbles trapped inside the MS in that particular section of the brake system.

 

During the bedding process the brakes always feel like crap. It is strange that you have so many seized pistons, but as for feel and modulation, that is pretty normal for a 4th gen with stock brakes, even with Hawk HPS... how sure are you that braking is worse than normal?

FWIW, I have also never heard of brake biasing issues due to wear to the MC.

 

Well after some more driving the car feels better than the seized Z32 setup now. I think the master cyl may be weak causing the pedal feel issue. If you disable the brake booster the pedal is rock hard and it's hard to generate any brake force. Once the brake booster is back in play the pedal feel gets soft under hard braking. I have a VW brake pressure gauge at the shop I may try and addapt to the Maxima so I can see the actual pressures at the calipers.

 

Well you may very well just need a new master cylinder. But if you can confirm it with a pressure gauge then go for it.

 

I believe if you MC is bad it will allow the pedal to go to the floor when you stand on the brakes. ie.. at a stop light or something push the pedal down and see if the pedal goes to the floor (fast or slowly). It shouldn't.