kcidmil

Just spent a grueling 6 HOURS changing out all my rotors, pads and brake lines. Had a couple of close calls that I needed to slow down on. My driver side lines were really stuck on, and almost stripped the nuts. Plus I had still had to bleed the entire system when I was done. I have a few pics, mainly of stuff already on. I'll have them up here in a few minutes... for now I need to go mix a drink.

kcidmil

Here's a few pics. The first 2 are of the Passenger front when I was installing. The last is after the break in period for the rotors and pads. I had to go back and bleed the front right. It seems to pull to the left during the 45mph hard stops, but that could also have been from the wind.

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

looks good Ben. now clean those rims

kcidmil

I will after the weather gets nice again. Too dang windy this time of year.

BTW on a side note... my old Brembo Slots are for sale.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=456025

AscendantMax

iTrader: (7)

any difference in stopping over the brembos?

kcidmil

Well it's a lot smoother, and though about the same amount of fade. I haven't done a extremely hard stop yet, so it's too early to tell. My Brembos saved my life twice, and I mean literally saved my life. I know for a fact that if I had stock brakes, I wouldn't be here.

Though I LOVE... let me repeat that... LOVE.... my Hawk pads. No more dumptruck for me.

Maxima Man

what type of rotor are in the first pic ? Can you buy rotors just for the front and keep the stock ones on the back?

Thanks

Pervis Anathema

iTrader: (8)

6 hours to do your brakes. Holy crap. That should taken 30 minutes a wheel, tops. Unless your last name is Blehm. Then it takes 30 minutes for the whole car. Rotors look cool.

AH11980

Pervis Anathema i wanted to tell you this before, i love your rims, what are they? They would look great on my Max too, its charcoal grey. Mind telling me what are they ?

kcidmil

Just doing rotors and pads, it would only take me 25 minutes to do the whole car, cause that's how long it took me to do my Brembos.

BUT the brake lines add more time to that, plus we had to slow down and take our time when the 2 driver side lines where stuck on, and almost stripped the line nut on the steel lines. Plus, I had to modify the mouting brackets on the strut towers for the SS Braided lines.

Then when that was done I had to go through all 4 and bleed them. My old fluid had a redish tint, so I wanted to clean the whole system.

Plus we also stopped for a hour to enjoy some pizza and wings

kcidmil

Which first pic? My signature pic with the Maxima, or the one with just the rotor?

My signature pic is a Brembo Slot, the 2nd one is a SP Performance Diamond cut/slot.

I'm selling my old set of Brembos, but as a set. Unless I get someone just interested in the rear, then I'll sell them seperate.

The SP Performance, call www.raceshopper.com and ask for Edwin. Tell him Benjamin D1ck sent you. The front rotor set of SP is a little more than what I'm asking for my whole Brembo set.

Man that pisses me off now, censoring my last name... ****ing .org

Michael

iTrader: (21)

I am not PA but know about the wheels

They are Ro_Ja forumla 5s. Really light weight forged wheels. you cant get them any more because they are discontinued. Some places say they have them or have them listed on their site but if you call they usually dont. You may find some people that have certain bolt patterns and sizes available that are left over stock.

No matter if you found them or not you would not be able to get them in the color PA has because I painted them myself .

VEvolution

Looks sweet.. Nice job

But with all do respect, of course I have to disagree with you yet again on your slots helping your braking unless you were racing. Increasing rotor size or number of pistons would mainly help from what I learned so far. Without a doubt a nice set of brembo blanks with some metal masters would do just as good in an emergancy situation.

generation3

iTrader: (33)

Did you get the rust protected rotors? Mine weren't and after a week or two my brembos started to have rust. Made me sad. Also where did you get your SS lines? were they a little short in the front? The ones I bought from BrianV on here were a bit short up front but fine in the back. Did you have any trouble with the retaining clips or know if a auto zone has replacement ones.

kcidmil

Never did say a set of blanks wouldn't have done the same, just that my Brembo's saved my life, and that STOCK rotors wouldn't have done that. There is a big difference between even stock rotors, and brembo blanks.

And I wasn't racing, just cruising along doing 55 when this dumb *** with a horse trailer decided he wanted to do a u-turn on a small rural highway.

The other time this dumb ***** put herself into the median, and came out and about tore my front end off. Cop even asked who's dark set of skids that was. He took a look at all the skid marks on the road, said I was damn lucky, and hadn't stopped like I did I would be sitting on the side of the road as well if not worse. We were right in front of bridge when she shot in front of me and spun around. So she could have knocked me off the road and into the side, and who's know what then.

kcidmil

My old Brembos had rust protection on them. Of course if you let anything besides SS sit for 6 months, it will rust. Mine only had a light surface rust, nothing major. But no rust just from sitting overnight or anything.

The SS lines fit just fine, though I have given the company a new slogan. "Techna-fit... cause technically they fit" LOL. The nuts for the bracket on the strut housing were kind of small. So I had to "adjust" those brackets, but just on the front. The retaining clips were easy, of course I'm used to them as I'm a mechanic by trade. (You have no idea how bad I DIDN"T want to work on my car) I bought them through www.raceshopper.com Really nice price too.

for the clips I'm pretty sure Autozone will have them.

tripleGmax

iTrader: (8)

wow your old pads dusted A LOT!!!! that would tick me the F off. well atleast you like the new setup.

kcidmil

Yep... cheapy Napa pads. I bought them and they tore up my stock rotors, so I bought the Brembo Slots... and they tore them up I think with a better pad there wouldn't be as much dust.

tripleGmax

iTrader: (8)

well duh cheap pads will get eaten up easily you should go ceramic.....

HONKER24

iTrader: (2)

I have a quick question regarding your brake set up. Ever since I purchased my Max, my brake pedal has been quite "mushy", for lack of a better word. Has upgrading almost your entire brake system (unless you did replace the brake booster) given you a responsive brake pedal that does not need to be pressed "far" in (when compared to newer cars at least, say a Nissan Sentra from my personal experience), or is that just a trait of the Maxima?

Thanks

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

the maroon max I just sold had a mushy pedal, the grey max I'm buying has a nice firm pedal to it.
what have you replaced on yours so far?

kcidmil

Actually I had a very stiff pedal when I was done, and all I replaced was the items listed above.

I recommend bleeding your entire system. Start with your right rear brake, then move towards the master cylinder. LR, RR, FL, FR. Make sure to top off your resevoir and don't let it get empty. When you're done and the car is off, the brake pedal should feel very stiff. When you start it up, the brake booster will allow more travel, but it won't feel mushy.

HONKER24

iTrader: (2)

It'd probably be easier to list what wasn't replaced which would be:

1. Stock calipers
2. Brake lines
3. Power booster

Everything that was replaced was replaced with OEM parts.

The brake system was bled 3 times, twice by mechanics and once by a friend. I was pointing a finger at the brake booster for a while because after a proper bleedin' the brake pedal would be nice and stiff until the car is turned and they go back to mush with 3 pumps. I was told that a malfunctioning brake booster would cause the brake pedal to be stiff but unresponsive (meaning that you have to push quite hard to get the pedal to move and brake power to increase) so I gave up on that.
My next hunch points me to the aging brake lines and being that everything that was serviced was replaced with OEM parts, I will blatantly use that as reason for a sporty upgrade to the brake system.

I'd be more than grateful to hear any suggestions/opinions and thanks for giving this your attention.

kcidmil

Sounds like you have an internal leak somewhere. I would check all your connections for the brake lines. At the master Cylinder, the changing point from steel to hose in the wheel wells. Maybe a couple of points under the car, and definitely where the resivior attachs to the Master Cylinder.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

did you check that the calipers still move?
are the rubber lines new?
do you have ABS?

VEvolution

I do remember we had quite a heated discussion on slots vs blanks when I just got here, but who cares, not important. But I didn't know brembo blanks are better then OEM. Thought the brembos were a good stock replacement.

So have you decided to keep the car afterall?

kcidmil

Well after dumping around $1400, I'll be keeping her.

Brembo blanks are a stock replacement, but are actually better than stock due to Nissan's use of materials. You have around the same stopping power, just a better rotor than can actually use a wider range of pad material than the stock.

HONKER24

iTrader: (2)

Yes, thankfully. I may replace them, but it will probably be close to the last thing I replaced on the brake system as I'm pretty confident they are not causing the "mushy" issue but I would't mind increased stopping power.
Nope! They may still be stock as the previous owner (I'm the third) never replaced them. This and the Master Cyliner are at the top of my list.
Also, I see on your site that you sell Stainless Steel brake lines, do you know if the SS lines have sections for the Master Cylinder connection or are they all made for connections under the car?
Nope, skidding is kewl*! The car is currently surrounded by snow and the street plows mock me by mashing snow against my driver's side door daily . Good thing there's no alternate side parking rules where i live!




*No

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I'd replace the rubber lines.
the SS lines only replace the rubber lines.