I ahve 37k miles and on the original rotors and now have burned through my second set of pads. The replacements were under warranty but the new set will be on me.

Wondering: Do I go with the oem pads again and then have to change them every frikking 18k miles? I do not want to replace the rotors if I don't have to, but if they are shot, I would want to consider aftermarket's as well.

I do not want to sacrifice any brake performance and certainly don't want to spend more than the dealer would already charge.

Advice?

 

Unless you plan to get into something very exotic, I would look at the range of stuff at tirerack.com
Nice display showing the advantages and disadvantages of different pads.
Good selection of rotors too.
You should be able to put something together that will at least be the equal of factory but better for less dust and longer lasting and a lot less money.
Good for DIY or if you know a good independent mechanic to put the stuff on.
I would not go too far from OEM or you get poor initial bite or more noise.
Maybe you can even stick with stock rotors if they only need a little finishing and not deep turning. Otherwise I would go with decent replacements.
Both my front rotors/pad were replaced under the same warranty at 25K.
I don't know what kind of life I can expect out of them now.

 

Brake engineering is all about tradeoffs - that is, you can't have everything you want.

The OEMs have exceptional performance, but it comes at a price- namely fast wear, excessive dusting, "grabbiness", and some low-speed noise. To get some improvement back in these characteristics, you are very likely going to sacrifice some performance. How much matters?

For me, I was happy switching to Hawk HPS pads. I don't think they perform quite as well as my two sets of OEMs, but the other improvements (minimal dust, no noise, longer wear) make it worth it.

 

The metal matrix pads from Stillen work well for me on the stock rotors. Very low dust, no loss of performance, or increased wear on the rotors as far as I can tell.

 

I got sick of spending $500-$800 per year to keep brakes on my 2003 sedan. I figure I have saved myself a bunch of cash by changing out the front calipers and rotors with the ArizonaZCar Wilwood BBK for around $1600. There is simply no fixing the brakes on the early model G35s. I was at the dealership last week and noticed the new 2007s have massive 14 inch rotors and 4 piston calipers. it looks like Infiniti finally figured it out!

 

1990 Q45 brakes wore out at 16-18k as did the ultra High Performance Michelins enabling a 128 foot STOP from 60 mph on a 4200 pound car.............this was 2-3 years normal life in Japan mileage.

Unfortunately Americans drove too much and this might have equated to a 1 year life.

Compliants abounded as most Q buyer were not use to MB or BMW dust and fast wear!

Infiniti came out with a series of hard pads [which didn't stop in 128 but 143 feet] then owners complained about braking distance increase.

A never ending battle to try to please those who don't understand the performance cost equation.

PS: I purchased 10 sets of these old dusty pads for my Q [prior to phase out] and am happy to replace them every 20k.

Dusty wheels is a badge of a good braking system.

 

http://www.racingbrake.com/G35_non_S...161-111-01.htm

http://www.racingbrake.com/G35_non_S...169-111-01.htm

These rotors are a little over $100 ea (I can get them cheaper, by the way) and are to or better than OE spec.

http://www.racingbrake.com/G35_non_B...d815-33-02.htm

http://www.racingbrake.com/G35_non_B...d905-33-03.htm

These are very street friendly, will give equivalent to OE bite but less dust, excellent replacement pads for the G35. More detail on RacingBrake pads here:

http://www.racingbrake.com/main/rb_pads.asp

All together you can replace and upgrade front and rear axle for less than $500 in parts. And if you're handy with tools, brake replacement on the G35 is a piece of cake.

 

Thanks Guys. I ended up ******* the dealer and getting a discount of $50 off thier normal labor cost. Pads on the front only were 265 installed. Not bad. I should just learn to do it myself. That way I can get the awesome stopping power and dust that the oem provides and not pay so much every time. I try to not work on critical components such as this myself but hear that it is very easy. Probably should do it with someone first!

Thanks Hack for the info. Those prices are sweet. I wish there was some performance data for these things (maybe there is) so I knew I was getting less dust and the same performance and way better longevity. But it seems we only have the anectodotal comments that they are or are not as good as OE. I would NEVER want to give up the OEM stopping power that Qtech believes in so much!