The Nissan Path

Well i thought it might be time to do my first brake job since I was begining to feel some pulsation under hard braking and they are the original brakes with 144K miles. Overall it's easy and I was amazed I still had pad left in all but maybe one pad (driver outboard). I bought the premium Centric rotors and OEM pads for this job.
-For driver side jack car and turn steering all the way to the right.
-Remove upper and lower caliper bolts (I used my jack handle extension and came off easily).
-Remove caliper and place aside or hang with coat hanger wire.
-Use a flat screwdriver and hammer to tap rotor while turning at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock.
-Clean hub area and dab some antisieze around it.
-Install new rotor and temporarely secure with lug nut and spacer.
-Re-install caliper and tighten to 136 foot pounds.
Now for the pads:
-Loosen lowerpad retainer bolt and swing upwards to reveal pads (hold with coat hanger wire)
-Remove pads and all hardware (pay attention to the "V" clip in the botom of the pads and don't forget to reinstall it)
-Wire brush clean all pad hardware, dab some pad noise suppresor between the pad and shims.
-Push back caliper pistons to allow clearance for new pads (watch the brake fluid level in the reservoir) I had previously removed some so it wont overflow.
-Lower pad retainer onto rotor and tighten bolt to 32 foot pounds, check the upper bolt and tighten if necessary.
-Mount wheel back and tightem to spec.
-Repeat all above steps for passenger side.
Bed the barkes by doing 30MPH stops within 3-5 seconds cool for one minute. Repeat 10 times and you should be done!.
I am hoping I can post or host the pics of my brake job......starts from the botom picture.

If you got that many miles from the OEM pads you must drive like a granny. All kidding aside that's great. Did u purchase the standard or premium pads?

Thank you for taking the time to make this thread.

When I bought my used 2006 LE, the Nissan dealer put brand new Nissan pads on the front and rear. After 6000 miles, they started to squeak in the front, so I removed them, cleaned up the shims and guide plates and lubricated them with Nissan PBC grease as specified by a Nissan TSB (the dealer apparently didn't as there was no evidence of it when I disassembled the brakes). Now, 6000 miles later, I'm getting the squeak back in the front brakes. Note, the original pads were made by Hitachi as were the replacements.

On my 2008 SE, I replaced the front rotors with Wagner brand and installed Akebono Ceramic pads, front and rear, which I purchased from Rockauto.com and they were half the price of genuine Nissan. The pads came with brand new shims and guide plates and a small container of PBC grease. Akebono has been an original equipment supplier of brakes to Nissan for years, which is a large reason I went with them. The 08 has actually put on more mileage than the 06 in the same time period and I've yet to notice a single noise from them. Brake performance is similar if not better than the Nissan pads.

I think if I ever need to do brakes on my 06, again, or any other Nissan, I'll be going with the Akebono ceramics.

I just did the rear brakes for the first time on my '05. I have 145,000 miles on it. The front brakes lasted til about 120K. Both brake jobs were a sinch. The rear calipers dont even require a special tool to compress the pistons.

bakerbaker wrote:If you got that many miles from the OEM pads you must drive like a granny.

Actually I don't, its the lack of brake use. I daily drive highway at sustained 70-80mph
I purchased the stock OEM pads, not the advantage brand they now have as an alternative. The rotors were half the cost of the OEM. I've already put 3K miles on them and so far the breaks are great, can't complain.