Just finished a 5 hour brake job from hell and...

[Daemos]

realized a few things, Birchwood/Infiniti Nissan techs can't do their job properly.

When I brought my car in for a FULL brake inspection, They said the brake pads are not moving in the kit properly, the pads are seizing, which is CAUSED by environmental dust etc. And that the Calipers are in GOOD SHAPE. Which is why I supposedly getting really really premature rear brake pad wear.

So I bought new pads, Hawk HPS. hotrodrodeo came over today and helped me install them. Front pads took 15-30 min tops.

Took apart the rear...hmm the metal backing fell off, more like rusted off. The pads were stuck to the rotors and we had to pry them off. Took more time checking things over because it was supposed to be dirty, the guides had lots of brake dust so we cleaned those off, and we relubed all the pins. The LR pad was intresting, it wore down at an angle, it wasn't straight at all.

Then we go to push the pistons in, they're stuck, they required ALOT of force and time to push them in. hmmm....obviously dust didn't cause that.

So time to check the fluid...hmm it's low...wierd...time to bleed the brakes. Wow lots of air in the rear left and rear right brakes.

Drive for a bit, check the piston, seems to work fine now...I'll check it again later.

Now the question is, Why wasn't I notified my fluids are low at my oil change, because they're supposed to check that as well, and they should of checked the fluid levels when I went for the brake inspection? And how did I lose fluid or get air in the first place? I haven't noticed any leaks, and neither did hotrodrodeo...so hmmm :/

I would of assumed when I went to the dealership ASKING to figure out why my pads are wearing down faster than normal, and them taking 3 hours to do it when it's not even busy, they would of done some REAL diagnosis.

[benemorius]

I hear you, but in their defense an exhaustive diagnosis is sometimes impossible unless you're actually fixing things as you go along. The wearing of your pads was certainly due to the seizing just as they said. I can't speak for them and it's between you and them anyway, but I can say from experience that asking anyone to diagnose something without fixing it can lead to complications and oversights.

[NISTECH]

on your rear calipers you need to turn them while you compress them. Did you do this? As far as the air in the lines there should have been none unless you loosened the bleeder when you compressed them. Depending on the fluid level in the resivior if it is not at the minimum level turning on your light and visually the pads appear worn down then it is considered normal. When pads wear out the fluid exchanges from the resivor to the caliper to take up the space the piston once did. now when you push the pistons back in without cracking a bleeder open the fluid will transfer back into the master resivor bring it back up to the max line. Always be sure you remove the master resivor cap when compressing the pistons so as not to pressurize the resivor.

[Daemos]

Yea we were 'turning' the rear piston, we were using the wrong tool, which is why it took so long. haha

we learned that now, but we bled the system, and everything seems good now.

hopefully the problem is fixed, if not something else is broken.

Now we're trying to figure out why the rear pads were wearing down so fast, because everything looks good when we took everything out, everything was clean and lubed perfectly.

[NISTECH]

The fact the pad was worn at an angle suggests one of the pins hung up causing the caliper to tilt when applied.

[Daemos]

Oh yea forgot to let you guys know we were using a caliper compressor.

Not too sure if there is any other special kind of thing you're supposed to use for the rear calipers.

[NISTECH]

nah the compresion tool is all you need to push it back in.

[corn322]

how does the ebrake system work on your car?

on my 240, the right rear ebrake lever on the caliper wasn't releasing all the way, so there was still a little bit of pressure. I wore through a set of rear pads in 5000 miles.