So I been clicking the search button so many times I think I just broke my left mouse button.

Front right caliper appears to have issues and I'm getting what looks like overheated spots on my rotor, which are powerslot by the way. I also get wheel shimmy pretty bad AND what I can best describe as a wobble of the front rotors while breaking. What I mean is there is a spot where the brake action feels great, then feels weak.

My proposed solution is just to pick up new calipers, powerslot rotors and brake pads and go to town.

Question: What are my options for getting good quality front calipers for the 2002 Maixma?

Question: I for the life of me cannot find any write-up on removing the front calipers in order to replace them. My FSM does not have any section on removing the brake line from the caliper.

Unless this is all I need to know:

 

1. 2 bolts to get caliper off (ones that affix to the slide pins)
2. 2 (17mm?) bolts to get torque member off (up/down arrows in your pic)
3. Replace rotors
4. Reinstall torque member, replace pads, lube the slide pins
5. Remove brake line from old caliper & put on new caliper. Just a 10 or 12mm bolt (your left arrow in pic), commonly referred to as a banjo bolt. Brake fluid will come out so be quick or block off the line. Monitor your brake fluid reservoir, you don't want it going empty.
6. Reinstall caliper. Since you'll have new pads/calipers, shouldn't need to compress the piston of the caliper to make it fit over the pads.
7. Bleed all 4/refill reservoir as needed

Here's a howto video from pmohr on replacing brakes which might help. For a 4th gen but it's all the same.

 

If your caliper slides are fine, and the seal is fine in the piston, there is absolutely no need to get new calipers. New rotors/pads and some slider grease is all you need.

Just thought I'd try to save you money.....

 

I'm almost positive that the front right caliper is acting funny, and I had trouble getting the caliper bolts off to replace the pads. Had to get it to a shop and was told to replace the slider bolts.

I have not seen any groundbreaking write-up with pictures that deal with caliper removal, or cleaning, or rebuilding.

 

Most likely the case. If I were you I would get new pads and rotors first. When replacing those go ahead and flush all old brake fluid out of the system. Of course bleeding each caliper to remove any leftover air.

Make sure you remove and grease the slide pins on the calipers as well. These pins can get sticky causing you uneven wear on the pad and rotor.

 

Just look for generic how-to's... They're generally all the same in design.

2 slides, 1 piston, in 99% of cases.

Just make sure you put the pin with the rubber insert, back in where it came from. It can cause poor wear numbers if installed in wrong spot (can't remember if its top or bottom off hand)

 

That is why I'd prefer to remove and replace the calipers. Eliminate the doubt of doing something wrong, especially when it comes to braking.

Rockauto.com offers a variety of 2002 front calipers on the cheap, and should I go that route I do not want to have a nagging doubt in my mind I should have gone with another brand.

 

Honestly, you really can't screw up the brakes that bad without noticing it right off the bat once you start moving. The brakes pretty much go in only one way, with the exception Craig noted about the slide pins. I believe the one with the rubber goes on the top part of the caliper.

Doing brakes is pretty straight-forward. Just take your time in doing each step.

 

you always have the other side for reference if you get stuck somewhere along the way or replacing parts.
G/L

 

Bottom line, with my tax refund I indend to replace the front calipers, rotors and pads.

Rockauto, 2002 maxima calipers
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...,parttype,1704

There are a lot of low cost calipers, I just don't want to regret buying a crappy caliper to save a little cash.

 

You know what you should do... Just get a rebuild kit and re-do your seals and boot, etc.

That way you'd really learn how they work, and yours would be like new. All a reman caliper is, is one that's been cleaned up and re-worked.

Only thing yours wouldn't have over the new reman is being rust free. Big deal.

If you end up with new, I'll take your old ones off your hands.

 

Odds are the problem is the slider pins. I had the same issue (fixed it today) with the left caliper. Bad shimmy when braking at freeway speeds, got to the point I thought it might shake my car apart a few times!. Then I started hearing the wear indicators rubbing on the left side of the car. I had replaced the pads that were on the car when I bought it with ceramic pads and the outboard pad was on the wear indicator, while the inboard pad had a ton of meat left on it. Put the old pads in to tide me over until I could do the pads and rotors. When I pulled it all apart today, the wear on the pads was even and I had noticed since I put the old pads in, my car no longer seemed to pull ever so slightly to the left and my left wheel was no longer coated in brake dust. I think knocked a slightly sticking slider pin loose when I put the old pads back on.

Anyway, I took pictures, I'll make a thread about it in a bit.

 

If I recall I tried to swap all four rotors, and pads a while back. I ran into an issue with one of the caliper bolts not wanting to loosen. I took the maxima to a shop and the dude said something about replacing the slider pin(s).

I'd prefer to upgrade to newish hardware so I can focus my money on other problems.

 

Gonna have to work that slide loose then. It can be a real hassle.

Yeah, that's common. Sticking slider pin eats one side of the brakes, and causes some drag/heat, and will warp the brake rotor too.

I am religious with checking/lubing my slides at least once a year because frozen pins is a real b*tch when you just want to get your brake job done and get your car back on the road.

 

6th gen brake upgrade, I havent looked back since.

 

I kind of want something that'll work problem free for a little while while I pool cash to get the 6th gen upgrade parts.

Where did you source your 2004 front calipers/rotors from? Did you stick with Nissan OE pads/rotors?

 

The upgrade isnt expensive, I ordered the calipers from car-part.com and used hawk HPS pads and zinc coated rotors from the vendor classifieds on here.

 

Ok so you picked up some used calipers from an auto-salvage yard, budget rotors and got Hawk brake pads. I was looking more for a direct OE part replacement with reman parts that carry a warranty until such time that I can pick up quality parts.

It's still worth my time to get a quote for the parts.

 

i paid 40-50 per caliper, and I think overall i spent alittle over $200

 

These sticking slider pins seem to be prevalent among earlier Maxi's.

 

+1

 

I have to look into this....might be worth the investment!

 

Made it the 500th!

 

2004 Front calipers are $50 each, used from a salvage yard with a 90 day warranty.

Question, do I reuse the brake lines from the 2002 calipers on the 2004 caliper? More to the point is this a simple remove 2002 caliper and install 2004 caliper with the same bolts?

 

Hmm no replies to the caliper swap question?

I got my hands on the slider pins on the calipers and put a little silcone grease on them. Rather simple, remove the 14mm bolt and pull out the pin. Pull off the rubber boot and clean the pin with brake parts cleaner. Re-grease the pin, put the rubber boot back on and reinstall.

Braking feels a bit better but now I got a slight wobble noise while at freeway speeds, I fear I'm looking at a new wheel hub now.

 

 

all you need is the calipers, brackets, rotors, and pads. reuse your brake lines. theres a write-up on here, just search.

 

I presume this is the thread being referenced:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...st-needed.html

 

Sure,

If you're doing this just get the calipers with the brackets, and all the consumables (pads, rotors) and you're good to go.

BTW, I just did the brakes on my 5.5 on the weekend. rear calipers were replaced because they were fairly seized. Fronts just needed new pads/rotors and I re-greased the slides. works like new. I'll do the big brake upgrade later, maybe in the summer or something.

 

no...this is the thread i was referring to:

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...reat-pics.html

 

Oh that thread, I gave that a glance over but mentally hit a block where it says
Looks like I'll need to pick up one of those electrical impact hammers.

 

no you wont, just use a 1/2" drive sockets, at least thats what i did.

Also, torque member = caliper bracket

 

1/2" and a breaker bar most likely. However I am aiming for a simple rip off, install, bleed the lines and go. Electrical impact hammer would greatly assist in this regard.

 

Get an impact wrench. I use it to change tires. What the heck was I doing through the years. Now, it burp...burp...done! Remember, tighten using a torque wrench. Do not use the impact wrench for final.

 

I actually had to use the factory jack (car was held up by my floor jack) on the end of my ratchet to break the nuts loose on the driver's side and on the passenger side, I had to stand on the end of the ratchet to bust the nuts loose.

 

For the 19's? yeah, they're suppose to be on nice'n tight. I just used a bar on the end of my ratchet (1/2" drive) to break those loose.

 

Trust me if you put all your effort into removing things you're going to be spent halfway into the install. Electric impact wrench makes things so much easier.

 

You have no idea how much help adding 3 feet of leverage is to a ratchet.

I spent 3 days in a row in my garage.... I'm fine. I have air impact (no electric ***** stuff here! ) but I just couldn't be bothered to bust the impact gun out for jobs like brakes.

1/2" ratchet on caliper bracket bolts = tough. Adding a 3 foot pipe to 1/2" ratchet to remove caliper brackets = a total breeze.

 

Again I rather go for the easy route, and not end up in the middle of something to find out I need something tougher.