Brakes for F50-Q45

[seldomseen]

It's time to replace the pads and rotors on my Q45. Does any know if the brakes that Infiniti uses still warp easily? I prefer to get brakes from Infiniti. I'd also consider getting Nissan brakes too----not sure if they're actually different. I'm thinking new pads and rotors will set me back around $1,200. I prefer staying away from chains like Meineke and Midas since they're equally as expensive as the dealership on many occasions and perform half-a$$ work.

Or is it better to just have a private shop install some a set of aftermarket OEM brakes?

Hell, the Q45 is already 8 years old, so not sure if the $1,200 dealership price is truly worth it.

Any info would be great.

[TOTitan]

Infiniti/Nissan rotors are expensive. I'm using Napas best rotor and ceramic pads on my 03 F50 and have not had any more warping issues. It also helps considerably to break in new rotors properly. Search Google for instructions on that

[OwnerCS]

Where are you located? What type of driving do you do?

How many miles do you normally get out of a set of brake pads?

If you don't want to DIY, I would find a reputable shop to have as your personal mechanic -- so to speak.

Not that I need one at the moment, but I recently found a factory trained Infiniti mechanic that was part of the initial product launch and training program working for an import repair shop near my home. This guy knows Q45s backwards and forwards. The shop's labor rates are very competitive. It takes a little bit of time to find one, but some good independent shops are still around.

Many shops don't mind if you bring your own parts -- that is as long as the parts are correct and of high quality. A shop doesn't want to be bothered with starting and stopping a job due to incorrect or poor quality parts. Also, many shops will let you specify specific brake parts -- and they will get the parts from their local supplier.

A few months from now, I would like to upgrade my Q45's brakes. Recently took the car down a mountain road and experienced an uncomfortable level of brake fade. Also, the brake pads seem to be bad about dusting up the front wheels. My car's previous owner had most repairs done at the dealership -- though that doesn't mean OEM pads were used when the original brake pads were replaced.

Though I haven't owned a Nissan long enough to wear out brakes, as for long wearing brake pads, I have an 06 Ridgeline that is approximately the same weight as the Q45. I understand the OEM ceramic brake pads for that vehicle were made by Brembo.

At 100,000 miles I replaced the Ridgeline OEM rear brake shoes and had the rotors resurfaced. The shoes had about 30% surface area remaining. I removed the front pads to to replace and found the pads had more than 50% surface area remaining. I put the brakes back on and decided to check on the wear level again in 50,000 miles. I think can easily get 160,000 miles from those OEM brake pads that were made by Brembo.

Though I would call it a moderately priced "middle of the road" brake pad, I've gotten a lot of good service from Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic brake pads.. Also, I can't complain about wheel dusting.

Again, it all depends on driving style for determining the type of brakes to buy.

:

[OwnerCS]

duplicate post

[elwesso]

In my experience the warping comes mainly from the rotors getting glazed with pad material, not with the material actually "warping".

Case in point: when I first got my Q i put on OEM brakes (pads and rotors), and after probably 10-15k they were pretty bad. When I got the rotors turned, the machinist said they were really just caked with pad material and they took off very little metal. I then replaced my OEM pads with the hawk HPS. After about 50k miles on the last set the rotors were still smooth as butter.

I'm not terribly impressed with the OEM Nissan brakes, I will recommend the Hawk HPS pad as a good OEM replacement pad though. They're a bit more expensive than OEM, but will not "warp" the rotors, and MILES better on fade resistance than the OEM pads.

[OwnerCS]

I'm not terribly impressed with the OEM Nissan brakes, I will recommend the Hawk HPS pad as a good OEM replacement pad though. They're a bit more expensive than OEM, but will not "warp" the rotors, and MILES better on fade resistance than the OEM pads.

Wes -

Have you ever tried the Hawk Performance Ceramic Brake Pads?
It looks like they cost about $10 more than the HPS. Though HPS shows a slight stopping power advantage over the Ceramic..

[elwesso]

I've never really been "sold" on ceramic pads, in general. I don't know a whole lot about it though. I'll put it to you this way... I have Z32 brakes on my Q, and I did that switch from the stock brakes solely so I have more options for brake pads/rotors in the future. I put about 30-40k miles on the hawk HPS's I had in there before, and I liked them so good I got another set, not wanting to take a chance in getting something noiser, something that will eat rotors, or something that wouldn't work well in cold weather. Says a lot about the pads IMO since I had basically all the options in the world.

To my knowledge the major selling point of ceramic brake pads is the "low dust", and in any of my experience any pad that has any stopping power and wont eat your rotors will have lots of dust. I'd rather clean my wheels a lot than have to replace my rotors.

[seldomseen]

Appreciate the info. I'm just going to look for a competent mechanic to install some OEM quality brakes/rotors. Just not worth shelling out $1,200 or OEM brakes/rotors to only have them warp prematurely without any reason. Rotor warping seems to be a very common issue with the rotors that Nissan/Infiniti uses, and the problems don't seem to be related to uneven surface of the rotor but from the rotor actually bending.