Need some advice. My front rotors are on their last turn. I dont have the funds to upgrade the wheels to a large enough size to fit a big brake upgrade at the moment so I just need a pair of good replacements. Something along the lines of the stock sized slotted/drilled rotors on lexuspros would do the trick, but I dont really need all 4.

Stupid question: Are front and rear rotors the same?

Maybe I should just go OEM off of parts.com?

Also, Im going to be adding Eibach springs with Tokico shocks. My '95 has 140k. Would it be highly advisable that I replace the control arms as well?

(yes I know the JIC's are the better route than the Eibach/Tokico, but Im in college for one more year so no big money upgrades just yet)

Thanks!

 

The front and rear rotors are not the same size. I'm in the same boat as you with not being able to upgrade the wheels right now for the TT brake upgrade. I went with a set of crossdrilled/slotted rotors and will be putting them on this weekend. It was $230 for the rotors. The last time I replaced the rotors on an SC with oem it cost me alot more than that and it was only for the front rotors. There's a good thread in the suspension/brakes forum on the CD/slotted rotors.

 

Did you get yours off of ebay? Ive seen some options on ebay but I wasnt sure if they were the same as the ones that lexuspros offers. The rotors on lexuspros are $300.

 

I do believe they are the same.

 

Did you get iRotor?

 

I just installed a set of rotors I bought from Irotor.com - The brakes work well, but I get a rather loud grinding noise whenever I hit the brakes hard. I think it is due to the Axxis semi metallic brake pads that I bought from them at the same time.

If I had to do it over, I would buy the same rotors, but use OEM pads. On the other hand, the noise could be due to the drilling/slotting and new pads would not make a difference. I wish I could just try a set of OEM pads to be sure. If I get annoyed enough, I may just buy a set of front pads just to see if there is any difference.

The reason I suspect the pads is because I have Brembo slotted/drilled rotors on my Maxima and they make very little if any additional noise with the stock Nissan pads.

Has anyone else tried the slotted drilled rotors and if so did you notice a lot of extra brake noise?

 

I was thinking about going with the EBC greenstuff pads in front and OEM in the back. Im glad you are being the guinea pig though!

 

i got the same noise. bought mine at raceconcepts. drilled/slotted. they grinded for about a week but now its been 3 weeks.

the grinding has stopped completely. well, they do make noise when i brake hard for a long time and heat them up. other than that, no problem at all

edit: ive got the same pads as you.

 

heres how mine look.

oh and it could just be them wearing in. when i had the grinding noise it was pretty bad. went to a brake shop and they couldnt find anything wrong with it. after a couple of days it just started fading till it was gone. in the meantime though i just used some brake cleaner and wd40. things are ok.

 

I've only been driving on my brakes a few days. Based on what you say - I will wait before doing anything on my brakes.

When I got my right hand caliper off, I noticed that one of the pistons was frozen solid. I figured "what the hey" and grabbed the end of the piston (not the portion which goes into the bore) with a set of vice grips and forced the piston to move back and forth until I could pull it out of the caliper. I found that it was rusty. I polished the rust off and reinstalled it in the caliper. I reassembled my brakes and the caliper now works fine. I suspect that with time that the piston will rust again because the chrome plating is pitted inside the caliper.

I found an online Lexus dealer who sells the pistons for $10 each. I will buy two and a caliper rebuild kit. For about $40 my caliper will be like new. When I priced calipers - the cheapest I could find rebuilt ones was $200. They are pretty easy to disassemble and reassemble. I'm glad I goofed around with the caliper before assuming it was junk.

 

Description Amount Quantity Subtotal
----------------------------------------- ------ -------- --------
1998 SC400 F/R Rotors and F/R Pads 342.00 1 342.00

Transaction Total: 342.00

I got front and rear rotors, zinc plating and pads shipped to my door for $342. Not bad if they work out.


Here's what my brakes look like now. Pretty similar to yours.

 

good price. i paid 180 shipped with the pads. my calipers need work as well. but ill work on that probably this weekend.

good luck with yours. hopefully its like mine and only temporary.