Mayhem- whats your verdict on those brakes?

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

I am nearly metal-to-metal on the rear axle (0.5 mm!) and both front stock rotors are warped - thus, im looking at what the aftermarket has to offer the J30's braking system. i noticed you have porterfield rotors and pads, did you get the R4s compound pads? are the rotors drilled/slotted? whats your opinion of your upgrades now that youve had them om for a while?

Post by **Mayhem_J30** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

they're drilled and they were expensive! i like them but for daily use OEM could be just as good. save yourself a couple hundred bucks and go with nissan stock. i wouldn't get rotors and pads from an auto store either. i tried that once a while back and the pads ate right through the rotors...go figure. I did get the R4s compound from porterfield. They make noise during extremely slow movement. As long as I know exactly what the noise is it doesn't bother me. Paint the hub of the rotor to if you get them to help prevent ugly rusting..that is if you have wheels that you can see through. I do enjoy my braided brake lines. Porterfield made them oddly though, so if you're interested email me and I'll tell you more about the brake lines and how Porterfield should make them.Until you get replacements i would NOT drive your car. Pads will disentegrate when that small. they'll crack and brake apart then you'll have no brakes. happened to me on an old truck and tore right through brand new rotors with the calipers. ugly mess and dangerous.

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

before i read what you just posted, i was going to go with powerslot Cd plated rotors and possibly the R4s pads. I just dont want to get the nissan replacements and have them warp again right away. Im not planning on driving the car without putting the new brakes on, and thanks for the tip. Im figuring that since my stock nissan pads have always squealed a bit, and the rotors seem prone to warpage, and if im doing the installation myslef and saving some money, i might as well take that savings and upgrade to the better rotors and pads. I just hope they are actually better! what are the part prices on stock rotors, i found pad prices at infinitypartsUSA. either way,i really appreciate your input.

Post by **Mayhem_J30** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

getting them online is a good deal. shipping is a biatch though. gonna be in the 55-60 lbs range. try http://www.infinitiparts.net since they have free shipping with anything over $100, that is if you go the stock rotor route.

Post by **DAEDALUS** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

I just ordered some things on Monday...no free shipping offer on the site, and I didn't get it with the order either (>$100). Maybe if you ask first they'll be kind. Or maybe Joe T. will chime in here. I bought some autospecialty rotors for my Q locally for $50-55 each.

Post by **Mayhem_J30** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

DAEDALUS wrote:I just ordered some things on Monday...no free shipping offer on the site, and I didn't get it with the order either (>$100). Maybe if you ask first they'll be kind. Or maybe Joe T. will chime in here. I bought some autospecialty rotors for my Q locally for $50-55 each.

says free shipping right at the top of the main page. my car bra was free a couple weeks ago.

Post by **DAEDALUS** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

Sorry, I was thinking of Scottsdale, not Midway. Scottsdale was running the free shipping offer for a while until recently.http://www.infinitipartsusa.com

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

thanks for the input guys, but i dont think ill be ordering from any of those infinity parts places because the prices are just ridiculous, even with free shipping. I can get OEM spec brembo front and rear rotors shipped for less than half the price either of the infiniti distributors quote. (check out http://www.NOPI.com ) If they weren't brembo, i would have second thoughts, but i see no good reason to order from infiniti. As far as the pads go, mayhem, i was wondering about how much brake dust those R4-s compound pads create, and how are well are they lasting? minimal brake squeal in a pad is not critical because you can just use that permatex disc brake quiet (blue) aerosol stuff on the back of the pads and shims. Also mayhem, how do those pads treat the rotors? is the plating worn off yet? From the looks of my rotors, even the stock nissan pads gouge up the rotors.

Post by **Mayhem_J30** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

they don't seem to be eating the rotors at all. diamondJ30 has the same set up and he said he noticed less dust, but I think there's the same if not more. i give my wheels a good cleaning every sunday and always take notice of the dust buildup. doesn't seem to be any advantage in that department to me. I've probably only got 2000 miles on the pads and rotors so far...it's not my daily driver, but looks good tome

Post by **VimyJ** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

In the 10 zillion posts I have read, I have never heard of complaints about J30 rotors warping due to normal use. Warpage will occur if the lugs are tightened above spec or out of order but this is true of any rotor. There were complaints about warpage on the original Q so when the J was introduced they seem to have made sure that the brakes on the J were beefed up so as not to suffer from the same problem. Still, I am interested - and I'm sure others certainly are as well - in any quality, lower priced replacement option.

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

i suppose it is possible that my rotors were warped by the previous owner, but since i have owned it, i personally have torqued up the lugs in the correct order to the recommended torque in the manual with my torque wrench. I think i will go with either metal matrix pads or the R4-s porterfield pads because i have been known to autoX the car (rarely, but better brakes never hurt.) I think i am also going to get some speed bleeders, which seem like a really great idea that should be implemented on every car! side note: the manual says we should use DOT 3 brake fluid. can we use DOT 4 or 5? whats the difference? i have included as a .txt file (original Excel) that shows all the related brake parts, prices, and vendors!

Post by **Q45tech** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

"There were complaints about warpage on the original Q so when the J was introduced they seem to have made sure that the brakes on the J were beefed up so as not to suffer from the same problem" ????????????????

Say what--- the J and 90-96 Q share the exact same caliper and rotor on the front .....the pad composition is a little different due to J's lighter weight and of course no sensor

The rears are different: Q solid/J vented much like the 97 and up Q. But the front are the real warpers so the extra 300-400 pounds is what does it as the Q got lighter the problem got better!

It's all about using the parts you have and not spending much on a redesign if it only affects 10% of your customers.

Based on 100s of Q the warp can range from almost never [25k] to every 5,000 miles depending on road speed, traffic, DRIVER training, tires, alignment, wheels.

They were designed to get replaced every 17-25k [pads and rotors and tires......it is the weird American Habit of not understanding performance [obligations of the owner to spend] and definitely not wanting to pay that is the problem!

Unfortunately Nissan couldn't change the owners so now the 2002 Q warranty covers brakes thru 60k! They still warp as designed.

Post by **Mayhem_J30** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

Q45tech wrote:Say what--- the J and 90-96 Q share the exact same caliper and rotor on the front .....the pad composition is a little different due to J's lighter weight and of course no sensor

true, so when looking for brakes for the J you can do searches for the Q as well, but only on the front. I know how hard it is to find anything for the J so every little thing helps. Porterfield even lists it's parts as Q45 parts when searching for the J.

Eswift wrote:the manual says we should use DOT 3 brake fluid. can we use DOT 4 or 5? whats the difference?

Go to the autostore(walmart never has it) and get Valvoline Synpower dot3/dot5. It's pretty much standard still and if it says compatible with 3/5 you're good to go.

Nice price compilation by the way. You found more places then I did!

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

thanks for the tip on the brake fluid, and as far as the brake chart goes, i think the number of vendors has increased dramatically over the past 2 years (thats when i got my J30). I searched early on and found only stillen and porterfield. At least now we have more options on something!

Post by **VimyJ** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

Q45tech wrote:????????????????

Say what--- the J and 90-96 Q share the exact same caliper and rotor on the front .....the pad composition is a little different due to J's lighter weight and of course no sensor

The rears are different: Q solid/J vented much like the 97 and up Q. But the front are the real warpers so the extra 300-400 pounds is what does it as the Q got lighter the problem got better!

It's all about using the parts you have and not spending much on a redesign if it only affects 10% of your customers.

In effect, the "newer" design of the J's beaking system used a heavier front rotor and redisigned rear rotors for the weight of the car compared to the Q. Fortunatley for Nissan, the Q's existing rotors seemed to have filled the bill quite nicely for the front brakes.

Unfortunately for Nissan however, their new model only eventually captured 10% of their customer base. I am sure that Nissan wanted the J to sell much better than it did. The amount of units they moved must have been greatly dissappointing for them because they did invest a good amount of resources designing and manufacturing the J30. Management was surely hoping to move a lot more of these things than the 200,000ish they eventually did sell. They, no doubt, hoped that the J would comprise a great deal higher percentage of their fleet sales in order to justify their investment. Building this expensive design was one of the factors that got Nissan into financial trouble in the mid 90's. They built it but no one came.

One of the reasons I find the J so much fun to drive is the quality of its braking system: very sure, strong and (at least in my case) no warping.

Post by **Eswift** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

i agree, i would have no complaints if these rotors werent warped. Too bad the J didnt really catch on, its a damn solid ride.

Post by **Q45tech** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

http://www.nissan-global.com/PDF/e9_11.pdf

Want to make your car stop 20-50 feet shorterYour car [4000 pound] contains 660,000 foot pounds of energy at 70 mphhttp://www.ddjembedded.com/res...l.htm

How much force [leg strength] do you have to apply to the brake pedal on a single warm stop to active the ABS system? Are you able to multiply it by 10 times after just 5 sequential stops from 70 mph?

Post by **greg_atlanta** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:14 am

Q45tech wrote:Unfortunately Nissan couldn't change the owners so now the 2002 Q warranty covers brakes thru 60k! They still warp as designed.

It's funny that both 2002 Q owners AND the car magazines doing long-term tests all complain that the rotors are warp, and then they say "Ohmygod that's so strange!?!?!?!?"

Wonder if extended warranties will cover rotors too?

Good thing most owners will never brake hard enough to really notice.

:pface

Mayhem- whats your verdict on those brakes?

Mayhem- whats your verdict on those brakes?

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