97 SE Brakes Sticking (!?!)

Dave,

not to ask the obvious, but did you replace the pads when you replaced the rotors? Was this uneven wear present on both driver and passenger side rotors?

Just as a side note - I'm very surprised that you are able to tell the wear on a rotor in just a day of driving... I just replaced my front rotors and pads, and used a new front brake hardware kit (includes shims, retaining clips, grease for the slide pins, etc.) and the brakes work like a charm... but it took a few days of "spirited" :) driving and braking before I was really able to wear off the factory finish on the rotors...

Cheers, Nirav

No, I didn't replace the front pads. They had a lot of material on them and I was being cheap (pads aren't). The pads are Nissan key value OEM (ugh); are they known for being abrasive?

I also found it odd to immediately see wear (well, 40miles with plenty of stop/go). It's hard to tell if the rotors are wearing or if the pad dust is filling the machined finish marks. After today's quick trip at lunch I'm not so convinced I see more than the pads wearing the high spots down.

Dave

Dave,

I also replied to a post of yours in the maxima.org space... I have read several times on this board to stay away from the key-value pads... I can't say whether or not they are more/less abrasive...

I don't know if my assumption is true, I thought that you MUST replace the pads if you replace the rotors, since the old pads have probably worn in to the imperfect surface of your old rotors and with your new rotors you are probably not getting a nice flat contact patch between the pad and rotor - which may lead to scribing the inverse wear pattern into your new rotors (since the pads are essentially like a "negative" of the rotor imperfections... or maybe I'm not making any sense...

In anycase, I still think its worth while to get a softer pad (possibly OEM non key-value)...you can pick these up for 50-60 bucks at a online parts dealer, e.g. courtesyparts.com.

Nirav

Thanks, I was following all that already, if you believe it. Anyway, I've concluded the same thing - although it's surprising to me that rough pads would eat into heat-treated carbon steel rotors. I already decided I will buy new front pads today at AutoZone - their second-best grade Duralife Golds are $30. If I were having someone else install them, I'd have Nissan OEM only since the labor is costly. But I'm doing them, so I'm trying the better quality AutoZone stuff. I figure that unless its complete junk the worst is that I'll have to replace it sooner.

Dave

My back went out and I was unable to move for a 3 month period. The car sat in the driveway. The brakes all rusted. When I drove the vehicle down the street, proabbly within the first few hundred yards, the rotors and pads got ground down. I ended up replacing all the pads and rotors. An expensive lesson to be sure. If you are not going to drive the car for a while, have someone take it out once in a while and run the accumulated rust off the pads and rotors.

It does not take much to grind everything down to useless braking gear.