OK guys, the time has come to finally change the brake pads after 13 years.

But first some info on the car and how it is driven..

Car is an '03 Coupe with Brembo currently on OEM rotors and pads and 63,000km (40k miles)

It has never seen a track nor will ever see one. It's never seen a winter and will not see a winter, under my watch of course. I also don't drive in the rain.

Car is used for about 3-4000km/year sunny days only. It is mostly for cruising but end up in traffic mostly from the insane amount of construction going on here, and although I do give it some spirited acceleration it's mostly non aggressive, and I almost never do hard braking, I just let off the gas and do most of my slowing down that way.

The only requirements I really want is no squeaking and low dust and at reasonable prices, as parts here in QC are easily double the price of the US. Not sure what is better ceramic or semi metallic?

I seem to have narrowed it down to Stoptech/Centric partly based on reading other threads here but their part numbers and many 'series' of pads makes it very confusing, website is so screwy and the online catalog asks for a password and login?

Also looked into Akebono pads, but no part numbers exist for G35 Brembo's but exist for 350Z Brembo?

Also noticed AC Delco makes pads for Brembo, dealer price to order these are over $80/side but Amazon.ca wants $35/side?? These any good?


https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB


https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

 

I've used only HAWK HPS pads for the past 50K miles with great results! Great stopping ability and very low dust, available from our Marketplace under vendor brakes at a great price! It's advisable to use the bed in process for 30% better braking...(search hawk bed in process)
Gary

 

I don't really track or drive my car hard as I used to so I went with Hawk Ceramic brake pads with good results. Good stopping power and low brake dust (although I have volk GTM's on now and they are a pain to clean either way)

https://www.z1motorsports.com/brakes...ds-p-7284.html

 

I recently changed mine from OEM to HAWK HPS pads and I'm pretty happy so far. But based on your needs and seasonal driving, why not just go with OEM again?

 

Did either of you do the Hawk bed in process? It's not required, just recommended! The heat from doing so adds brake pad material to the rotors giving you 30% more braking power! If you didn't do the bed in process right after install it's too late...next time! Search Hawk bed in process.
Gary

 

Sorry for the bump guys but I need some help.

Finally got around to doing this yesterday. Didn't go with Hawk because the price here are very high especially for the 2-3000 miles I drive/year was overkill. I used 104 series Centric Posi-Quiet semi-metallic. Everything seems ok and they have good bite but I get squealing under certain low speed breaking, doesn't do it all the time. Followed one of the videos, just cleaned everything and dropped them in. I didn't use the hardware that was included because the cotter pins felt very thin, used the original hardware instead. Did I do anything wrong?

 

Perhaps if the rotors were not turned or replaced?

Telcoman

 

The rotors looked impeccable, inner and outer, and have only about 36,000 miles on them. No vibrations/pulsations with the new Centric or the originals. The original pads were all evenly worn still had about 3-4mm of material left.

 

I don't think you can determine the condition of the rotors just by looking at them?
There are microscopic grooves on them from the original pads and the time necessary to carefully inspect any run out with a micrometer makes it much more economic to just replace them and not have the customer return with a problem such as you are having.

I'm on my second Infiniti and have only had the experience of replacing brakes once on my previous 06 G35 6 speed manual at 86k miles. The rotors were turned and the pads replaced with all work done at my local Infiniti dealer.
In my case the dealer recommended and turned the rotors which they will do one time.
Everything was perfect when I drove out the door and returned the loaner vehicle that they gave me while the brake work was done.

That same set of brake pads and rotors were still on the vehicle when I traded it in at 171796 miles.

I'm currently at 77k miles on my 2012 G37S with the OEM pads and rotors.

I've learned over my many years of driving that I only trust the dealer and the OEM parts that they use. Yes it costs a little more to use the dealer but I do not need the hassle of having the work done twice.

When you buy cheap you usually end up buying twice.

Just my $.02

Telcoman

 

Thanks Telco.

I agree totally with the OEM parts and wanted to go that rout but it does not make economic sense for a car I drive 2-3000 miles/year. The dealer will not turn the Brembo rotors, they have to be replaced I was told. It is so egregious that even if I had no problems with cash flow I probably wouldn't do it out of principle. In Canada, parts can easily be double to quadruple the price. This is what I was quoted for the parts..

2 front rotors $658/each...2 rear rotors $658/each....front pads $306/set...rear pads $135/set. Add 15% tax on top of this. And of course you will need to have the dealer install all this, 1-2 hours labour @ $125/hour + 15% tax. I was told every April they offer 15% off on parts,(just saves me the tax) even with that, not realistic.

I figured since all the aftermarket vendors on here are selling them they must be ok. I'm just wondering if I did something wrong on the install, or anything else I can do since this is my first time.

 

My question is did you "bed in" the new pads? Like Telco said the old pads will have left deposits on the rotors that the new pads won't necessarily appreciate. Also, any reputable brake shop, or most shops in general, can turn rotors. I've never heard you can't turn Brembo rotors and I'm a dinosaur around here. My advice is to have the rotors turned then bed in the pads to the cut rotor. Bet it solves your issue.

 

Bed in the pads? According to the Stoptech website, they come pre-scorched from the factory and bedding is not needed...

"When dealing with street pads especially higher end pads like PosiQuiets that have been scorched, all that is necessary is a moderately aggressive road test followed by a mile or two of easy driving to cool things off before parking the car".

I'm sure it isn't too late, the car was only driven about 12 miles since I did the install on Friday. What procedure other than the above should I be doing?

 

Did you use any brake quiet grease during the install? This is crucial for eliminating or at least reducing squealing.

 

I called my mechanic, he wants me to drive 200km preferably city. before I panic. I doubt I'll get that mileage in, the car will be in storage in 3-4 weeks. He uses PosiQuiets on many of his cars, speaks highly of them, and says they need to clean off the rotor and bed in. Tells me he normaly doesn't grease quality shimmed pads. He was more concerned when I told him I bolted the wheels with a lug wrench (I don't have a torque wrench) and bet me I have 20 nuts all out of spec, good way to screw up the rotors. . I made an appointment for Thursday so he can have a look and torque mu wheels properly.

I didn't apply grease, the couple of videos I saw no grease was applied. All I did was clean the parts and drop in the pads. The PosiQuiets come shimmed and ready to install. The OEM pads had no greasy substance, they were very dirty but dry.

And on another video of an STi with the same brakes, the guy removed the shims and put them on his pads? Was I suppose to put shims on top of shims? The shims on the OEM pads seemed fused on and not removable.

 

I'm not sure about those specific pads that you bought, but I always use the brake quiet stuff on pads I buy. Even if the shims come pre-installed, you can usually bend back the tabs and take them off, put some brake quiet on and then put them back on and bend the shim tabs back. I do that on all my motorcycles and recently on my Tacoma front brake pads when installing some generic pads from Advance Auto that came shim-preinstalled. If you find that they are glued on or already have the stuff on there when trying to do this, then just bend the tabs back and install them as is. That's the normal protocol I go through.

Definitely don't install shims on top of shims.

Don't take your car to someone to have them torque your lugs down if he's charging you anything for this. You should be able to tighten your lugs all by hand within reasonably close proximity of one another. I've done this my entire life and never warped a rotor or had a lug come loose. Of course, it's always best to use a torque wrench if you have one, but it's a bit overrated in reality when you have a good feel for doing this stuff by hand. Just take the cash that you were going to give to the guy to adjust your lugs to spec, and spend it on buying your own torque wrench. You don't need a super-accurate one for things like lug nuts. The precise accuracy of a high end torque wrench mostly matters for lower torque applications where you'd be using a 1/4" or 3/8" drive, not so much a 1/2" drive.

Just make sure you use a star pattern when tightening your lugs (whether with or without a torque wrench). First snug them all up in the first pass so they start to bite and fully seat the wheel on the hub (car still jacked up), then tighten them up a bit tighter in a star pattern (basically tighten one and then go and tighten the opposite one next and keep doing this until all are somewhat tight) on the second pass, then you can let the car down off of the jack so that the tire is touching the ground (not necessarily fully off the jack) and the tire won't move when you go to fully tighten the lugs in the next step. Once they are all semi-tight and the tire is now touching the ground, go back again in a star pattern and tighten them up to the final tightness level. I usually make one more final pass after that just to be safe and make sure they are all uniform. If you have a torque wrench, use it in on pass #3 and 4.