I went around a corner hard as ***** and then I heard this loud metallic squeeling noise. It varied with the speed of the car, didnt matter if the car was in what gear or clutch in or out. Anyway I tried to think of what could possibliy make that noise. Then it turns out I remember that my brake pads were getting low. I drove home and pulled the brakes. Sure enough, one of the pads was worn down to just around its wear limit indicator tab. Probably my hard cornering was enough to **** the pad into an angle that caused the wear limit indicator to rub. And then, I made another discovery. My inner brake pads had these ridges worn into them at the top and bottom. I found a ridge on the rotors that make them. It looks like rust but the out side doesnt have this. I then checked the rotor thickeness with a micrometer then went to the machine shop to get them turned. While I was at it, I bought some Raybestos brake pads from Pep Boys. I compared the new pads to the old ones. Wow it had so much more meat on them. I should have done a brake upgrade while I was at it, but after spending $2K+ on my last project I'm fresh out of cash. The Maxima brakes are seriously underpowered for the power/size of this vehicle.

 

I have nightmares where I step on the brakes and nothing happens. Then I stand up on the brakes and still nothing happens!

*shudder*

 

Do you need new pads? LOL. Just two weeks ago, this car in front of me on the freeway stopped for no reason that i could have thought, and i stomped on the brakes from a 65-70mph to 5-10mph, HARD, and my car chirped a little bit.. not powerful? Powerful enough for me.

 

Hmm... looks like the auto censoring is at work here. I dont think saying the brake pad "c o c k e d" into an angle is profane.

Well every time I go to stop after I do 1/4 mile drags, the brakes feel like they are fading. Maybe its time for crossdrilled or slotted.

I had to do a panic stop once where I actually had the brake pads SMOKING! I say they're under powered.

 

My Brakes scared the hell out of me a few weeks ago. What happened was I replaced my front brakes and decided to go out for a test drive. I backed out of my driveway at about 15 MPH and when I went to jamn on my brakes nothing happened!! Luckily I have great reactions so I took my foot off the clutch and jamned my ebrake on and got the car side ways about 1 ft from stone wall! I realised what happened after, I forgot to pump the brakes a few times to get the pressure back in the system! SCARRY!!

 

this car is too much for those little brakes, I eat through pads every 10k.. it's horrible.. maybe just the hard stops i randomly encounter, but i seem to go through them too fast..

good to hear you are ok tho.

 

HAHAHAHA.... the same exact thing happened to me with my old car. I was going around a turn fast as hell showing my friend how my car handled and that screaching sound started... i though i had killed my suspension

 

AAHHH isn,t the braking power of are maximas great

 

Hehe...I have nightmares like that too. I think it started when I had my porterfields installed and I was getting used to their horrible cold braking characteristics. Once warmed up (about three or four medium stops) they are fine, but first thing in the morning, it's like I have no brakes at all!

 

Minimas?
is the 95 the Maxima?

 

really? do you have teh r4? or r4-s? i have the r4-s and tehy seem to be working fine in the cold for me..

i too have dreams like that.. but it was after an actual incidence of brake fade... some scary crap.. the pedal would go down and it'de feel like as if i was accelerating (going down hill).. i just went from d-o/d off-2-1 hand brake N-P that was with the stock brakes.. now it works fine.. (Z-brakes)

 

I have never had a problem with my brakes, and I have 100K miles on them.

 

Me too, my brakes are fine. 115K, with a full set replaced once. Big wheels will hurt your brakes, like 18s, and you guys may want to also consider upgrading the brake lines from the standard rubber to breaded steel lines.

DW

 

ummm you shouldn't have to pump to build pressure back. normally one full push and the pedal and the piston would set. but the 2nd push would stop your car w/o a prob.

 

I've never had any brake problems since I changed my pads to Hawk HPS and to slotted rotors. Even after 20 and 30 minute hot lapping sessions around a very brake intensive road course, I get no fade.

 

wow me too..exactly like what you described except when i stand up on the brakes AND pull the steering wheel hard enough my car does slow down by 1%, better than none Remember to try that technique in your next dream

 

Hehe, that actually happened w/ Shadow's car after he did the 300ZX brake conversion. We were on Spring Break south of Miami last year and he came up on a yellow light doing about 60. He stepped on the breaks and there was a loud pop and he completely lost hydraulic pressure. We blew through the red at about 45 and luckily we didn't hit anyone. He slowed the car using the handbrake and we pulled into a gas station. Taking off the wheel we found that Mahdavi Motorsports which did the conversion had neglected to put in the retaining clips when installing the brakes. In the 4 months after the conversion, the stainless brake line was rubbing against the driveshaft whenever the car was loaded. When Shadow hit the brakes for the light, it ruptured the line and emptied the master cylinder. We then spent the rest of the day finding a shop to do the repair since Maxima brake lines are apparently very scarce in Homestead, FL.

We were extremely lucky that the road was straight and there was very light traffic when the brakes failed. We actually ended up driving about 5 miles looking for a shop to fix it. It wasn't easy having to do 30mph and using the parking brake every time it looked like there might be a shop ahead.