HowTo: Change M35/M45 (Y50) Brakes (Front and Rear)

Forum for Infiniti M35 and M45, and Nissan Fuga owners.
Double E
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It's also useful info for the Y34 owners. Applause for this post.

I don't bleed after a pad/rotor change. With no disconnect of the lines or fluid change, this is just a routine maintenance thing, right?

Did I miss the rear brake change pics?


suburbanmx
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It is not necessary to bleed brakes unless you remove a brake line/hose...

OmahaLancer
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Three things I would add after installing the Brakemotive kit last weekend....

1) Use PB Blaster penetrating oil on all the fasteners and let that soak in for appx 30 minutes before trying to break any bolts loose. PB is great at helping get those stuck fasteners moving. WD-40 is not a penetrating oil, its meant to displace water....

2) The small rubber plug in the rear rotors covers the parking brake adjuster. If you place the car in neutral and rotate the the rotor to the 12 o'clock position, remove the plug, you will see a cog-wheel on the adjuster, adjusting this all the way down will "bring in" the shoes of the parking brake on the inside of the rear hub. These can tend to stick and prevent the rotor from coming loose. Closing the adjuster will let the rotor move freely.

3) There is a threaded hole on the front rotors. Use this to break stuck rotors loose of the carrier. Screwing in a bolt (12mm?) until it contacts the backer, will release the rotor quickly and easily.

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Ilya
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Double E wrote:It's also useful info for the Y34 owners. Applause for this post.

I don't bleed after a pad/rotor change. With no disconnect of the lines or fluid change, this is just a routine maintenance thing, right?

Did I miss the rear brake change pics?
suburbanmx wrote:It is not necessary to bleed brakes unless you remove a brake line/hose...
This general HowTo applies to more than our cars...such as my old Nissan Maxima, etc.

Yes, I do it out of habit. It is not required, but I added it because it can't hurt to do and is probably beneficial to some extent.

And yes, Post #2 is the rear change.
OmahaLancer wrote:Three things I would add after installing the Brakemotive kit last weekend....

1) Use PB Blaster penetrating oil on all the fasteners and let that soak in for appx 30 minutes before trying to break any bolts loose. PB is great at helping get those stuck fasteners moving. WD-40 is not a penetrating oil, its meant to displace water....

2) The small rubber plug in the rear rotors covers the parking brake adjuster. If you place the car in neutral and rotate the the rotor to the 12 o'clock position, remove the plug, you will see a cog-wheel on the adjuster, adjusting this all the way down will "bring in" the shoes of the parking brake on the inside of the rear hub. These can tend to stick and prevent the rotor from coming loose. Closing the adjuster will let the rotor move freely.

3) There is a threaded hole on the front rotors. Use this to break stuck rotors loose of the carrier. Screwing in a bolt (12mm?) until it contacts the backer, will release the rotor quickly and easily.
Good suggestions. WD-40 will help a little in a pinch, but yes, use PB Blaster for the real heavy duty stuff. WD-40 is called WD-40 because it has 40+ uses...not just water displacement. You'd be surprised what WD-40 can do. Google it, pretty interesting.

I don't mess with the adjuster lol...and I haven't had to use that threaded hole, but yup, it's there for that reason.

Island_Slave
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Car: 2008 Infiniti M45 S

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I did the Brakemotive Rotors and Hawk HPS pads last year and the one item I would add (unless you have friends handy) to this great write up is to get a "one person Brake Bleeder". Griot's sells one for $39 but Harbor freight sells essentially the exact same one for $25. This is of course assuming you have (and you should!) an air compressor. I have the HF kit and it just plain works! A little noisy but it sucks the nasty (!) old fluid out through the caliper and keeps the master cylinder full while doing so. All it takes is to see what happens to even 5 year old brake fluid in the lines to make you glad you did afterwards!

Also I put a drain pan under each brake assembly prior to disassembly and hit it "liberally" with Brake cleaner, followed by a good blast of air. Cleanliness is paramount to good smooth brake actuation and it just makes the job that much easier and more sano. Just be careful to protect the surrounding painted areas.
http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/one ... bleeder.do
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... ynu2vldXA0

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aiham78
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Does anyone know if I need a C-Clamp to push the piston back in 2011 M37 or should I be using a brake pad and caliper service tool kit that rotates pistons back into the caliper? like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/18-piece-d ... 61381.html

Funny thing is that I own the brake kit but not the C-Clamp :blush: , I don't want to open the the brakes to find that I need to buy another tool.

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aiham78
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aiham78 wrote:Does anyone know if I need a C-Clamp to push the piston back in 2011 M37 or should I be using a brake pad and caliper service tool kit that rotates pistons back into the caliper? like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/18-piece-d ... 61381.html

Funny thing is that I own the brake kit but not the C-Clamp :blush: , I don't want to open the the brakes to find that I need to buy another tool.
Update: I was informed by an Infiniti mechanic that I don't need the kit, I only need the c-clamp :inoutgay:

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Ilya
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Yeah I think Infiniti/Nissan just keep their 'tech' the same in terms of calipers...hasn't changed much since the mid 90's...just clamp it and you're good to go.

m2bandit
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What are the torque specs for the "torque member" / Caliper bracket?
aiham78 wrote:Does anyone know if I need a C-Clamp to push the piston back in
I know this is old but anyone else reading just use the C clamp against old pads to distribute pressure equally and go slow. I've never used a specialty tool for pushing pistons.

DS2009m35x
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I've only used a C clamp on all the brake jobs I've ever done (e.g. SAAB, honda, dodge, mazda, etc.).
Strong advocate of flushing brake fluid as others have said. I've used the the Motive one-person bleeders with great success and it makes it so easy. Auto fills MC and bleeds in one step.

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vasekvi
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Did a Google search and this came up. Very nice writeup. One note though I took this post with me to Autozone to get a 21mm socket for the caliper bracket bolts but on my 2008 M45S the bolts are 22mm. I see someone else had the same issue on his. Please update the picture and either say it could be 21 or 22 or double check the size on your X. Cheers.

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Ilya
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vasekvi wrote:Did a Google search and this came up. Very nice writeup. One note though I took this post with me to Autozone to get a 21mm socket for the caliper bracket bolts but on my 2008 M45S the bolts are 22mm. I see someone else had the same issue on his. Please update the picture and either say it could be 21 or 22 or double check the size on your X. Cheers.
I don't have this car anymore and editing the pictures isn't going to work as I don't have the originals. I will make a note that it may be 22mm but that doesn't seem right to me unless it's different for a 2008-2010 as opposed to a 2006-2007.

Could also be the fact that I used a 7/8" wrench...

agee
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Send me a PM if you want to update the pics to have the right specs. They're still hosted on my server.

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Ilya
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agee wrote:Send me a PM if you want to update the pics to have the right specs. They're still hosted on my server.
You have the image without the photoshopped illustrations over top? I've edited the main HowTo to have text that it may be 22mm, but I don't have the 'stock' image without the photoshopped text to correct it...

agee
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Ilya wrote:You have the image without the photoshopped illustrations over top? I've edited the main HowTo to have text that it may be 22mm, but I don't have the 'stock' image without the photoshopped text to correct it...
I looked on the server and only have the photoshopped images. :|

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vasekvi
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Ilya
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That would work. Agee, can you replace the file on your server with the one Vasekvi edited and give it the same name so the OP doesn't have to change?


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