The Nissan Path

I thought I needed new pads so I bought some and went to go replace them today only to find that the pads in there look like they have 70% left. but howcome I have to push the brake pedal down so far to get the pathy to stop??

the front and rear pads and rotors I had replaced around 60 k. so did he really replace the rotors??? would that make me have to push the pedal so far or is something else wrong???

any input will be greatly appreciated

you can try getting the brakes rebleed. might be air in the line somewhere

Pads could be glazed which would give you bad performance. Try doing a couple very hard stops...like get it up to highway speed and slam the brakes on. What kind of pads did they use? Air in the lines is another possibility but since it apparently was ok after they changed the pads I'd lean more towards the glazing.

skinny2 wrote:Pads could be glazed which would give you bad performance. Try doing a couple very hard stops...like get it up to highway speed and slam the brakes on. What kind of pads did they use? Air in the lines is another possibility but since it apparently was ok after they changed the pads I'd lean more towards the glazing.

thats true i forgot this is the brake in process for most of the pads i use.

BTW, OP...pedal distance/feel doesn't tell you anything about how much pad you have. The calipers adjust the pads to keep them the same distance from the rotor regardless of wear. Pedal feel problems are caused by something else like air in the lines, glazed pads, warped or corroded rotors, etc. A good shop should have been able to inspect them and tell you why the pedal feels funny though.

what do glazed pads look like?

and yes the brakes were fine after they were replaced(at 60k, I now have 86k) but recently the pedal has to be pressed very far down to stop.

pathypurr wrote:what do glazed pads look like?

and yes the brakes were fine after they were replaced(at 60k, I now have 86k) but recently the pedal has to be pressed very far down to stop.

Shiny. Cheap pads will do this on a big heavy vehicle (caused by excessive heat generally). Stock pads on the Pathfinder are ceramic so I wouldn't buy anything less than that. Most buy OEM or Akibono pads which are fairy expensive in the scheme of things.

You could also be having a brake booster issue but the symptom for that is usually a normal pedal at first and then it quickly sinks further to the floor.

the pedal does not sink at all but the pads look like they have shiny lines on them. would that cause the brake pedal to have to be pressed far down??

also will wearever platinum premium ceramic pads be good or should I pay up for the akebonos or wearever frontline severe duty semi metallic?

I don't know anything about wearever. I went with Akibono because I know they're quiet and comparable to OEM. I would think if they're ceramic the performance should be good but they might be noisy. Up to you if that's a big deal. It's possible your rotors have been damaged as well.

how would this damage have occurred? are you suggesting new pads and rotors? do you know anything about semi-metallic pads?

also if the pads are glazed would that cause the pedal to have to be pushed down far?

should I bleed the brakes??

semi-metallic is your typical brake pad. They're usually the cheapest options but there are high performance varieties that will be expensive and have very good performance. I'm guessing Nissan uses Ceramic to help with heat dissipation. So if these tend to heat the pads excessively...and you have cheap semi-metallic pads..sounds like a good way to glaze them.

If the pads are glazed they're not going to stop effectively....so you'll have to push harder (pushing further on the pedal) to get the same stopping action.

Bleeding is a good idea anytime you change the pads.

I used Wearever Platinum Ceramics on a Buick Park Avenue. They seemed like descent pads and definitely a step above the other Wearever brake pads. That said, on my own Pathfinders, I use Akebono Ceramics which I get from Rockauto.com. The original pads are made by Hitachi and the genuine Nissan replacement set I have on my 06 LE have had squeal issues since 5000 miles after they were installed. I've cleaned them up twice and used the copper grease as Nissan recommends, but the squeal keeps coming back at low speeds. I have a set of Akebono ACT Ceramic pads on an 08 SE that have been great. No dust, no squeel and perform like original equipment...plus they come with all new hardware and are half the price of pads from Nissan. Akebono has been an OEM supplier of brake parts to Nissan for decades.

thanks a lot for all the info. is there anyway to deglaze the pads or are they trashed?

pathypurr wrote:thanks a lot for all the info. is there anyway to deglaze the pads or are they trashed?

You could try my recommendation in my first post at the top of this thread. Might not work depending on exactly what is causing the problem. I've heard of folks sanding their pads/rotors and I believe 3M makes a kit to do just that. The problem is that they will likely just glaze up again quickly.

I had a similar problem with an '03 Silverado. Around 8k miles it started having horrible brake performance and the dealer replaced all the pads/rotors due to glazing. It came back around 15k miles and they refused to replace all the pads again since it was past the 12k mile full warranty. That's when I discovered if I slammed the brakes from high speed a couple times the braking felt fine for a few days. Then it would come back. I ended up buying high quality pads and no more problems.