Repair-It

It started as an oil change. Then I checked the tread of the tires and realized it was due for a rotation (7,000 miles).

The next hurdle was stuck lug nuts!! I know the torque spec is around 80 lb-ft and I use 100 but I've never had this happen before. My Harbor Freight electric impact couldn't budget quite a few lug nuts then this happened: That's just a flat crappy socket right there. They are supposed to be impact sockets. The 21mm is only used on the Maxima. The 19mm is fine but I think it was the fact that I held it on the lug nut with the impact just sitting there banging away. But that is the point of buying an extra strong impact socket, because you know what did NOT break? My 21mm 12 point Craftsman socket from my set. Actually, I had to use a ratchet with a pipe on it to break them loose but I did. The point is, a 12 point regular chromed socket should not be stronger, ever, than a deep impact socket. End rant.

Once I pulled the front wheels off I decided to take a closer look at the brakes because they've been getting worse. What I noticed was severe inner pad wear on the front left caliper. Down to the backing plate. Also the inner rotor surface on both front rotors was trashed. Time for a brake job.

I used Autozone for parts because Napa was closed (that's right). I got the Duralast Gold front pads, regular Duralast for the rear, and front rotors. The rear rotors are solid and I figured they were alright. Total parts cost: $116.

Front left

Here is what I saw when I pulled the front left. Looks are deceiving. While there is plenty of outer pad meat, the inner pad is beyond spent. The pads. Literally down to the backing plate. Where is the wear indicator? I guess these pads don't have that. I suppose one of the reasons I didn't look into this sooner is because there was no squeal from the wear indicator. There WAS, however, nasty pulsation and grinding... A preview of the inner rotor surface. Freaking gnarly. Pads out, ready to pull the caliper bracket. If only the rotor came right off. It did not. I basically did a combo of lots of heat and hammering. I started with a block of wood between my 2.5lb sledge and the rotor but I quickly became tired of being delicate. Eventually I got smart and turned the wheel so I could really wind up to strike the back side of the rotor. Two handed blow after blow, then heat, then back to hammering, it popped off. Elapsed time: 20 minutes of this. Really bad. Shame on me for waiting this long. You can visibly see the difference in rotor cheek thickness on the inside. You can guess what my next step was. A liberal coating of anti-seize. Rotor, caliper bracket and pads installed. I lubed up all the contact surfaces on the bracket shims and the backs of the pads. By the way, I also checked the slide pins. They weren't stuck. I just removed them, added some lube, and put them back. Not my best work but I figure it's better than not adding lube at all. Reassembly complete. Torque all hardware to "tight." Next up, the right front.

Front right

Like the other side, it looks alright upon casual inspection. Side note: it's weird how much unswept area there is at the inner radius of the rotor. Side note: after I retracted this caliper piston, I looked at the brake fluid level and it was almost overflowing. I decided to suck out the remaining fluid and replace it. But what I would like to point out is that the difference between the min and max lines on the master cylinder reservoir is really to account for pad/rotor wear. That's why you don't top off fluid if it's between the lines. Because when you do a brake job, you'll overflow the reservoir. It also makes for a convenient way to check for pad wear, assuming the system has no leaks. The reason it was overflowing is because I flushed the system a while back and obviously added more fluid than I removed. Actually, that's not totally true. I flushed the system and then drove the car for a year or so. Then the brake warning light came on and I added fluid. That was a clue the system was wearing out.

I figured the inner rotor could be bad. It was. However, unlike the other side, the inner pad wasn't completely shot. It was, however, considerably more worn than the outer pad. Oh how nice. The rotor required zero beatings to loosen from the hub. And here's why. I did the wheel bearing on this side a year ago or whenever. I had the foresight to add anti-seize. This is part of my "maintain a car like you're doing to keep it for 10+ years" rant. Because you never know how long you may end up holding onto it. Kinda like the other side. Hard to sell if the inner cheek is severely worn but it's not obvious like it was on the left side. Rotor and caliper bracket installed. Same deal with the pins on this side (added lube). I did add more anti-seize. Onto the rear.

Rear left

Caliper already pulled. I didn't even mess with the parking brake cable. I just removed the return spring, but otherwise left the cable on the bracket. The cable is seized by the way. The pads. These had more life left. But a rear axle set was $17 (regular Duralast). My next challenge was retracting the caliper piston. I tried the C-clamp but evidently it's all mechanical due to the way the parking brake self-tensions. I know there is a tool for this but I don't have one. So I looked around and by a serious stroke of dumb luck, I decided to check out my Ryobi angle grinder spanner wrench. Would it fit? Maybe. Amazingly, it was a perfect fit. The piston threaded right in. The back of the rotor wasn't terrible so that's why I left the rear rotors. Pads lubed, installed and slide pins lubed. All done.

Rear right

Same deal as the left side, so you don't get any in-process shots. This is all done and reassembled. A look at the pads revealed the inner pad friction material had separated from the backing plate. Probably not a huge concern but makes me feel a little more justified in replacing what is otherwise not a totally worn out set of pads.

I put the wheels back on (rotated and everything), torqued the nuts, let the car down and went for a drive. After a brief scare where I had no pedal because the caliper pistons needed to come out a bit, I test drove the car. I hadn't even bedded the pads and brake feel was 100x better. So all this time driving the car with shitty brake feel and, well, it needed a brake job. It has probably needed a brake job for 4 years.

Of course, I didn't get much chance to bed in the new brakes...