Long story short-I had a sticky caliper (pretty sure it was the slider pins) that fubared the outboard pad on the left front rotor. Put the old pads back on since I was on the wear indicator (and they make a ton of noise) until I could pick up a rotor.

Since both front rotors were the originals, I went ahead and replaced both. Since the stop OEM rotors were fine until the caliper issue, I decided I really didn't need to upgrade and picked up a pair of Pro Stop rotors at Pep Boys. They have the same amount of cooling fins between the rotors as stock and were only $32.99 each. I got the Pro Stop Ceramic pads, same as I had. Really like them, good pedal feel and they stop like I dropped anchor. I think total for rotors and pads was $114 with tax.

For those who haven't done their pads and rotors before, here are the tools and supplies you need:

Floor jack
Jack stands (don't rely just on a floor jack).
21 mm lug wrench
Penetrating oil (for the bolts that hold on the caliper frame)
Brake lube (for the slider pins and the shims that go on the back of the pads)
3/8" drive Ratchet
Breaker bar (you may not need it but it will suck if you do and don't have one)
14 mm socket for the caliper bolts
19 mm socket for the caliper frame (FSM calls it a torque member)
Flat head screwdriver (to push back the pad return spring so the pads seat properly).
6" C-clamp to push the caliper piston back in to allow clearance for the new pads and rotors



The rotor looks pretty bad...



Stripped down (yes, I know this is the right hand side, forgot to take a pic when I had the other side all apart):



New rotor in place:



All back together:




A couple tips:

1. You only need to remove the bottom caliper bolt to swing up the caliper to remove the pads. Remove the slider pin, clean it and regrease it. The slider pin with the rubber sleeve was the bottom bolt on both my calipers.

2. Use penetrating oil on the caliper frame (torque member) bolts. You still may need to use a breaker bar if it has been a long time since they've been removed or you live where the salt the roads.

3. Once you remove the caliper frame, you can hang it on the struts-you should see exactly what I am talking about once you look around for a second or two. Don't just let it hand down or you can ruin the brake lines.

4. The outboard pads can be tough to seat at the top without using a screwdriver to push the return spring part out of the way. You'll see what I am talking about when the pad won't seat properly.

5. After you bolt everything together, then remove the top caliper bolt and grease that slide pin. Easier to line everything up with the bottom bolt already in place.

6. Bed your brakes in properly.

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

The instructions with my pads recommended doing 10 stops from 30 to 15 with 30 seconds cooling off in between.

 

I'm getting ready to replace my front rotors and pads here soon. Looks great, can't wait to do mine too!

 

Super easy job.... Love working on disc brakes
That's why I'm converting my other car to rear disc this spring (already have all parts)

 

simply resurfacing the old rotors would solve the problem too

 

Not the one on the driver's side. Had a very definite rim at the outer edge. Figured since I was going new on one side, might as well do the same on the other side especially since I had to change pads too.

If rotors were $100 per side, I probably wouldn't have replaced the passenger side one (assuming it had enough thickness to allow resurfacing) but for what the rotors cost me, it wasn't worth having to remove the old rotors, then take them down to have them resurfaced, wait around until they are finished, then go back home and finish.

 

I just did the same thing 2 weeks ago on my wife's '91 Maxima. It had the same problem where the outboard pad had ruined the rotor. It's an easy job and one where you immediately tell the difference afterward!

 

nice writeup, for the 5.0 gens it is 17mm for the "caliper frame"

i got those same rotors for my sisters outback, did you have a hard time bedding them in? even after i cleaned them there was a ton of oil from the milling process that caused them to slip for a while. I really had to work them to burn off the oil and properly bed them in. I drove her car the other week and they seem to be holding up pretty well though

 

Real nice DIY!

 

Just did mime, makes the car feel new and makes driving enjoyable again.

 

nice write up s.wax

 

Nice write up!! I'm going to do mine right now. Off to Autozone.

 

Just did new rotors and pads on mine as well, I had the original rotors turned about 4xxx miles ago and they were already giving me shaky braking. Resurfacing is to me, a part time fix.

 

Yeah, I looked at it the same way. Plus rotors aren't that expensive these days anyway. Not to mention I have 170,000+ miles on the original rotors!

 

Nothing beats a freshly turned rotor and/or new rotors! Nice and no pulsing!

 

Yeah did mine on Good Friday real easy went to Napa and got pads and resurfaced old rotors to send my cross drilled and slotted ones back to brakeperformance.com with the pads they were to cheap so wait for new rotors and ceramic's instead of semi-metallics!!

 

Any particular rotors to get?

I watched Motoring 2010 up here and a clip informed that there are rotors made in China and there are rotors made in China.

He suggested to stay away from the cheaper ones that came in a white box and compared those from a Made in China AC Delcos.

The AC Delcos had much thicker disks.

Any recommended brand names out there to shop reasonably priced?

 

I'd bring one of the stock rotors to compare. As long as the thickness and number of cooling vanes between the discs are the same, you should be fine. If you drive your car hard or track it, I'd upgrade to a performance rotor and pads. Stock rotors and aftermarket ceramic pads are fine if you aren't racing around all the time, Maximas have pretty decent stock brakes as it is.

 

I got my rotors from Napa, made in Canada, I can stop from 100mph and its smooth as glass. I love it!

 

Are brand new rotors supposed to have this 'pattern' on them when you get them? I got mine (haven't had a chance to put them on yet) and they don't look anything like this. They're brembo blanks, zinc coated. They've got a bunch of nicks on them and one of them has an indention/dimple on the back side.

 

My old Brembo's also had a smooth surface. I'm running Centric's now, and they have that same cross-hatched pattern. I kind of wondered about that at the time, but never looked into it.

So I'm in for an answer to that question. Anybody?

 

I believe the crosshatch is to help bed in the brakes. Plus it looks pretty, doesn't it?

 

Ok, but do all new rotors come like that? Was there a protective oil on yours when you got them?

My rotors were shipped USPS and each rotor was in its own red box. The individual rotor boxes were not even taped and the boxes were ripped to hell.... I'm not a happy camper.

 

i think im having this same problem...when i brake it thumps and the steering wheel tends to shake when i do this and it pulls it towards one side of the road. i just put new front pads and rotors on 6k ago and tires. i hace a 2k2 se with 2k4 se rims. would this be causing this. if not what is? any advice???

 

Oiled up and shrink-wrapped, yes.

 

I don't know about that, but it's as good a theory as any so far.

Here's a related bit of miscellaneous info: after installation, and the bed-in process, my mechanic tested the rotors on both sides of the car with his infrared sensor. The idea being, if the temperatures are the same +/- a few degrees, then the car was braking evenly. Never heard of that before, but I thought it was a clever application for an infrared gun.

 

Well I changed my rears witha ll stock parts, and though I can be rough braking, its probably not advisable to install the performance items on the front with stock in the back?

 

anyone have a diy for the rear rotors? i dont know how you get the calipers off? (parking brake attachment kinda caught me off guard)

 

Not the red one it wouldn't have.

As far as I can remember, the factory "swirl" is for bedding purposes.
I've seen the real cheap brands that do not have that pattern, but not for our cars. The old Raysbestos knock offs were that way IIRC...

Anyhow, OP great write-up!!

 

Scott, really not trying to thread-jack, hope you don't mind too much.

Yea mine had neither.





The small circle shows the dimple I was talking about. What the heck is the big oval? Also, come to think of it, the picture on their website didn't show the two extra holes that the ones they shipped me have.

 

Aren't the two holes for the set screws?

 

Cross hatch, no oil.

 

yea bendix is really good

 

lol the shop that makes the rotors they dont cross cut them but i get rotors all the time same brand for the same car one cross cut and the other is not next time just take a die grider with 60 grit paper and put a nice cross cut on it your self its only there to help set the pads to the rotor any way

 

You said those were Brembos?

I'd definitely send that rotor back. That big line looks a cracked rotor waiting to happen, and that dimple is definitely not supposed to be there either.

Scottwax: That write-up you posted from StopTech is awesome. This thread makes me want to go out and buy new rotors and pads.

Even though I have no need yet.

 

To have to chuck those things up...what a pain having to do that to new rotors

 

scott did you bleed the brakes by any chance when you did this,.. I plan on doing my brakes this weekend and I plan on bleeding the brakes because the fluid is prob orig. and the pedal when run on the highway for periods of time can go soft/spongy.. so any advice on that if you did that would be great..

 

I didn't bleed the brakes because I didn't remove any of the brake lines.

What you may want to do is have the brake fluid flushed and replaced with new fluid.