Alrighty, I have an 2005 Altima which basically has the same brake set-up as the 6th gen guys, and have upgraded my brakes to the 30mm 300zx calipers.

Edited: fixed the rubbing issue...yet the spongy pedal remains..

Another issue I am having is the brake pedal will be extremely firm when the car is not on, and I cannot pump the pedal any further than half because it is so firm, but the moment I start the car and try to pump the pedal it feels very spongy. I have driven it around, and the brakes do work and will stop the car, but the pedal does not have the firm feeling it had with the stock calipers.

Thanks all.

 

mmmmmmmm

 

BUMP for Drunk HOI!

I can tell you that the second issue you described with the pedal being firm when the car is off and then having it be spongy when its on is most likely nothing to worry about. That's just the vacuum booster doing its thang. It might have changed in a way you noticed before / after the upgrade, but I wouldn't worry about it. On some cars it's more obvious than others, but all cars do it to an extent.

As for the primary issue you described, something definitely doesn't sound right. What does the grinding noise sound like to you? Is there any obvious damage or unusual wear with any of the components? Could your rotors be glazed over? Pics?

Sounds like something wasn't installed right.....you didn't let Jeff help, did you?

 

you need to bleed the brakes again or take it to a shop to do the vaccum pull on the lines. If you don't want to, go to an auto parts store (I know NAPA for sure carries it) and they have what they call a One Man Bleeder kit for like $8, its like a universal speed bleeder. Have someone pump the brakes while you watch it and then when they finish have them hold the brake in while you tighten up the bolt.

also is your bleeding screw pointing up? and are the brake lines in the same position you removed them from the other calipers?

Also for the scraping sound check the dust plates behind the rotors and push them out, towards the strut. when I did my brakes on my maxima, I always somehow pushed it in and it would drag/scrape across the rotor.

 

should know what to do.

 

 

SS lines or rubber? just curious. if rubber how old are they? and of course the bleeders should squirt up, not down. jeff made this mistake by installing them upside down, and it created an air pocket above the bleeder on each caliper and therefore did not bleed out right despite LOOKING like it was bleeding out right.

 

Ayyyyyy, Jeffy......how are you, uhhh.....how are you doing? Fancy meeting you here......

 

haha no jeffafa didn't help i did it up here in va... its weird though, shouldn't the pedal be firm when the car is on too? it's really really spongy when i test drove it around, and i'm not sure i like the way it is braking..the stock brakes had better firmness to it...


i bled em again today, and still same problem.. and yes i do recall them sticking up...will check again later..


SS lines...wait this sounds like it might be the culprit...reiterate for me in small baby talk

 

as far as the grinding noise I had the same Issue, and I noticed that the bottom of the caliper was rubbing the rotor, due to the bracket being off line a little bit, so all I did was put another washer on the bottom bolt from the bracket to the caliper.

 

1. check wheel bearings.
2. check free rotation of wheel when car is off the ground.
3. are the bleeder screws at the top of the caliper?
4. remove the top bolt and loosen the bottom bolt on each caliper and pivot the caliper so that the bleeder is the highest possible. you may have to completely unbolt the caliper from the knuckle and/or remove the rotor and then stick the caliper back on to hold it in place.
5. insert a block of wood or something inside the caliper to keep the pistons from popping out.
6. use two people to bleed the brakes. one at the caliper and one pumping the pedal. DO NOT use those 1-man bleeder kits. I've never had good luck getting a good bleed on a Nissan using anything but the 2-man system.