Ok, I replaced my rear pads at a shop with OEM and spoke to a mechanic about VDC causing the additional pad wear on the rears. He told me that while VDC is a factor it also has to do with the thickness of the pad (and to him the OEM pads seemed rather thin). So in the future I will be looking into non-OEM options which would offer a thicker pad, hopefully more members will have brake pad feedback by then.

Edit: just found these Hawks which I will probably use next - does anyone have experience with these ceramics?

 

Just for a comparison, My 06 rears were replaced at 34k miles @ 2mm of pad left. The fronts still had 8mm left. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the new thickness for 05-06 fronts is 11mm front, 9mm rear. I really think it's the VDC combined with much less pad surface area in the rear that is doing this in most all year model Gs.

 

OEM rear brake pads are 8.5 mm thick (.335 in). For comparison, the ceramic Hawks are 14.2 mm (.559 in) thick. That is almost double the thickness! Granted, there is no guarantee that they won't wear faster than OEM but a thicker pad is a thicker pad. I had problems with squeaking, and ceramics are supposed to be quieter/have less dust with equivalent stopping power. They are a bit more expensive, but not much more than OEM and will probably last at least 10-15K longer than OEM pads.

 

I have a 05 coupe MT and replaced my pads at 50k with project mu B-force and they are great low break dust and no noise...I also went with drilled/slotted rotors and SS break lines..couldn't be happier with the results...

 

Ok, so I just purchased my G and just got a safety inspection done on it yesterday. I was advised by my mechanic that I have some tremendously uneven wear on my front pads, like 40% life on the front left and 10% life on the front right... my mechanic suggested that the culprit could be a sticky caliper, which seems logical. Does anyone know what else could cause this, or what I would want to look for once I get the wheel off to tell if the caliper is sticking?

 

My 07 G35x is at the dealership now. Needs new rears and rotors turned at 27k miles. $375. Yikes (need to learn to do this myself- at least the pads). I complained a bit that this sounded pretty early and they're comping me the pads, but that's only going to save me $85. Did I just get robbed?

 

wow!!! $375, that is freakin insane!!! Stealerships are ridiculous! Thank goodness I have a great performance shop here that does all my work for half the price. Whew!

 

have you loked into hawk pads??

jimk

 

Yesterday, I took my car in for service and the dealership said I needed new pads. They said it would be $196 to replace the pads and resurface the rotors. Does this sound right?

 

Sounds right to me. I just picked my up from the stealership and they quoted me $193 for the rear pads and turn the rotors. they also quoted me $93 to replace my windshield wiper blades YIKES!!! I asked him if I dropped off my Bentley GT instead of my G35? $93 to replace blades that is insane. Autozone here I go!

 

Dude... looks like we're neighbors.
I'm in Charlton.

Next time you need pads, I'm up for giving a quick lesson (and a free brake job)
It's not a tough job. You just need to see it done once or twice.
I've been doing my brakes for 20 years and even worked in a brake shop for a while as well.
I'm always up for a few beers and a little work on the G.

 

I'm coming up on 20K and I'm starting to get a lot of the metallic squealing when I'm stopping. The sound comes in between 30 and 10 and it's getting worse. (I'm usually pretty brutal on my brakes, so I'm not completely surprised.
I need to go see how long I have left and which ones are going.

If I'm planning on doing autocrossing/tracking in the coming future, what would you guys recommend? Possibly stillen slotted rotors and hawk pads? Stillen currently has an offer to get free pads when you order rotors. Ideally I'd want the Akebonos... I guess I'll see how much it'll cost to do regular rotors/pads and see how much more it'll cost to do Akebonos but most likely new rotors/pads. Maybe stainless brakelines in the future.

Opinions?

 

Akebonos... Mmmmm

I want them, but my snow setup would never fit around them.
Bumma...

 

They look delicious, don't they??
I've got 37 coupe wheels in the mail so they'd fit. But for autox I'll have my stockers back on, and I don't think those will fit Akebono's without a ridiculously big spacer....

 

Your best bet, for performance, is blank rotors. I've read a lot of good reviews of the OEM pads working just fine on the track so you could theoretically go that route again. Hawk HPS, based on my experience, works just ok when heated up and less than stellar compared to OEM in daily driving.

As for the OEM sport rims fitting on the Akebono's, this may help you out a little. http://gshack.org/?p=118