For the last two months I have noticed that the rear passenger wheel has always been dirtier than the other wheels and that my gas mileage had gone down. Within the past two weeks the amount of brake dust on the rear wheel had been getting worse and I have been hearing a rubbing noise from the rear of the car. My first thought (or wishful thought) is that the parking brake is not adjusted properly. I checked the Haynes manual for the parking brake adjustment and it said 10-11 clicks with moderate pressure. I could only get my parking brake to 10 clicks pulling for all I was worth. So I thought that was the problem.

I jacked and supported the rear end of my max and disengaged the parking brake. The driver side rear wheel had a good amount of resistance to it and would not rotate freely. I go over to the rear passenger side and try to rotate the wheel and nothing happened. I had to sit down, brace my foot in the wheelwell and pull as hard as I could to get the wheel to move. Not good and the amount of physical exertion forced me to consume a beer.

I proceeded to properly adjust the parking brake and try my luck again. The driver side rear wheel was much easier to rotate now. It would spin a full revolution before stopping. The rear passenger wheel was a little better. Atleast I didn't have to brace my foot in the wheelwell to move the tire this time. Then I disengaged the parking brake wire from the caliper completely and it was still just as hard to rotate the wheel.

Off with the caliper!!!!! Taking the pads off the caliper revealed a rusted piston stuck in place I used the magnificant SEARCH function and found that I could purchase remanufactured calipers for a reasonable price of $85 at www.partsamerica.com. Then I noticed that one of the car part stores they use is advanced auto parts which happens to be conveinetly located nearby. I rode down and found the same part for $70 and it will be here tomorrow! Hopefully this story will have a happy ending tomorrow evening.

The next time anyone is looking for a reason for poor performance or gas mileage check to make sure all your rotors are moving freely.

Since my caliper was sticking the last time I went to the track I'm positive that I will reduce my 1/4 mi time by half a second next time out

 

Good news! Everything works fine now. The most noteable improvement is that going forward or reverse from a stand still is much easier now. Before it felt like I had to rev the motor and drop the clutch to get moving. The remanufactured brake caliper I used was from A1 Cardone and for $70 it's a bargain. I had some reservations about the quality of a $70 remanufactured caliper but the A1 Cardone caliper looked like it was brand new! It is a true Nissan remanufactured brake caliper and not some brand X from china. Add $5 for a can of brake fluid and my total cost was $75. I'm positive this would have been a $300+ job at the dealership.

 

It's always better to do the job yourself to aviod the dealership's robbery. I save my cousin $900 by repairing his sunroof last weekend. Al he did was pay for a $40 part.

 

Is there any way to repair the right rear caliper? The mechanic that worked on my car showed me that that side was bad. He had a hard time turning the piston in since I did a full brake kit replacement. He said the lef rear are fine and he had no problem adjusting the piston down. I do notice when I apply brake I hear like a sound from the right rear like the caliper is sticking, I do not hear it when the car is in motion, only when brake is applied. Can I grease the spring inside that piston or should I go to an autozone and get a replacement?



- ßaller

 

glad to hear everything worked out well for you. how are your brakes on that wheel? if they have been like that for 2 months, then you may need new pads...

 

Everything is new, rotors and pads, so its not the pads, and I know it's not the e-brake cable, it's the piston, it has rusted springs, and it would not go in well, seems like it kinda stuck/froze, he had to really work hard on it to get it in. I am sures its the right rear caliper. The left rear caliper had no problem turning it down.

 

dang, ok...i gotta do this. There's a TSB for the brakes sticking in 97 maximas...they attribute it to the parking brake. I didn't read the full TSB, but I think it only involved adjusting the parking brake and not replacing anything.
thanx for the heads up. this should be in the FAQ cuz it's a TSB.
Jae

 

From what I have read you can repair the caliper. On my caliper the rubber seal between the piston and the caliper was shot. Water and dirt made their way into the bore and I couldn't turn the piston in a vise! I remember when I did this that there were "rebuild kits" available that included a new seal, piston, ect... for around $25. If you decide to rebuild the caliper you will need to clean the piston and the piston bore while everything is apart.

I felt that it was easier to replace the entire caliper than to rebuild it for my situation. If you want to save money and don't mind spending extra time, go ahead and rebuild the caliper. If you don't mind spending the extra money to save yourself time, get a remanufactured caliper.

 

My right rear caliper went bad, too. My mechanic re-built it for me. I guess it's one of those things about the Maxima. oh well. No biggie.

DW

 

I just replaced the right rear caliper on my '97 too. The parking brake would pull way up and still not hold the car. The pads on that side were like 20% left while the left side were 80% left. Was an easy job. Got a rebuilt unit from Checker auto by A1 Cardone also, but I paid like $89. Another store wanted $149 for the same A1 Cardone part! The rebuilt part was a Nissan caliper, had the logo and same part numbers on it. I'd just buy a rebuilt caliper and not spend the time or risk doing something wrong.