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I just put my track spec Z in for it's 40,000 major service (39,600) and told the guys at the Nissan Dealership In Woden to look at the brake pads as they would probably need replacing given the kilometers on the car. I got a call a couple of hours after I dropped the car in and the guy told me I needed new front and read brake pads and also front and rear rotors at a total cost of $5,800.

Several things:

- Have any of you guys ever gone through a set of rotors (front and rear) in 39,000km's without ever machining them?

- If that's what the genuine Brembo options costs from the dealership I think I will give it a miss. Where do you guys go in Canberra to get this kind of work done? Do they order the parts in or will I have to buy them and then take them in?

P.S christ... $5,800 on what is a fairly new car. I wonder what it would be worth to replace the whole lot, calipers and lines etc?

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Genuine Brembo pads are pretty harsh on the rotors and I wouldnt be suprised if the rotors were stuffed. Whats actually wrong with them, are they just worn, warped or weakened? If they are worn you can possibly get them machined, if they are warped you can get them machined depending how bad they are warped, if they are weakened (massive heat spots, cracked etc due to stomping the brakes when theyre cold and holding the brake pedal down when your stopped and theyre hot) then they will need replacing.

I run DBA 4000 discs with Racebrakes RB74 pads and it works a treat. You can get the DBA discs from DBA directly or Super Cheap (custom order, but they generally have jack all markup on them and are cheaper than brake specialists) and the pads from www.racebrakes.com.au. You should be able to get a set of good pads and discs for $1000 - $1500.

Genuine Brembo pads are pretty harsh on the rotors and I wouldnt be suprised if the rotors were stuffed. Whats actually wrong with them, are they just worn, warped or weakened? If they are worn you can possibly get them machined, if they are warped you can get them machined depending how bad they are warped, if they are weakened (massive heat spots, cracked etc due to stomping the brakes when theyre cold and holding the brake pedal down when your stopped and theyre hot) then they will need replacing.

I run DBA 4000 discs with Racebrakes RB74 pads and it works a treat. You can get the DBA discs from DBA directly or Super Cheap (custom order, but they generally have jack all markup on them and are cheaper than brake specialists) and the pads from www.racebrakes.com.au. You should be able to get a set of good pads and discs for $1000 - $1500.

Thanks for the advice. The rotors weren't cracked or warped they were apparently just worn down so far they can't be machined... this is what I find hard to believe. Oh well, i'll look into it.

Another thing I need to keep in mind is the new car warranty it still has 38 months of it left. What are Nissan going to say if I go putting non standard parts in? You can bet if there is ever a problem with the calipers/brake lines etc they will just blame the after market pads and rotors...

P.S christ... $5,800 on what is a fairly new car.  I wonder what it would be worth to replace the whole lot, calipers and lines etc?

You might not agree with me here, but my dad and a couple of mates have z-series cars.. and it seems that even the simplist thing with them costs a bucket load to fix..

$5800 is absurd. call the place you bought it from and ask them why they didn't tell you that you could expect that. considering it's 10% ish of the cost of the car no one would buy a z if they knew it was gong to cost that much after such little use.

dba/rda discs and ferodo ds2500 pads work well for me

$5800 is absurd. call the place you bought it from and ask them why they didn't tell you that you could expect that. considering it's 10% ish of the cost of the car no one would buy a z if they knew it was gong to cost that much after such little use.

dba/rda discs and ferodo ds2500 pads work well for me

Somehow I don't think they could give a shit wether I like paying the $5800 or not, to them they would just consider it standard consumables. They have my 75k, that's all they seem to care about. I will talk to Nissan Australia rather than the local dealership but I don't like my chances.

hey did you post this up on my-350z as well? coz I saw a similar question the other day?

Anyway, you can get BDA 4000 series rotors about 200ea and Bendix Ultimate pads about $400 front and rear. Do the change yourself about 2 hours or get any mechanic to do it, its dead easy.

Unbolt the caliper, pull the disc off, slide the new one one, put the caliper back on, pull the old pads out and shove the new pads in. Repeat x4. The rears are a bit trickier and you might need to use a bolt to pull the disc off over the drums.

hey did you post this up on my-350z as well? coz I saw a similar question the other day?

Anyway, you can get BDA 4000 series rotors about 200ea and Bendix Ultimate pads about $400 front and rear.  Do the change yourself about 2 hours or get any mechanic to do it, its dead easy. 

Unbolt the caliper, pull the disc off, slide the new one one, put the caliper back on, pull the old pads out and shove the new pads in.  Repeat x4.  The rears are a bit trickier and you might need to use a bolt to pull the disc off over the drums.

I posted this on the 350z-tech.com forums as well. I thought i'd ask around on these forums as you guys are local and know the good places to get work done.

Have a chat to the dealer and then to nissan and explain that it may not be good publicity if these kind of stories make it into the mainstream media. A set of discs and pads would be cheap for them compared to the sales they may lose if this becomes common knowledge.

Toyota had a problem over 10 years ago with the turbo diesel landcruisers hammering out bearings and it was looking like a real problem, they turned it around by replacing the bearings and fixing any cars that had this problem. They still cover the problem now, 10 years or so later because they cant afford to lose the buyers.

Did you see there is a set of front brakes for sale on the parts for sale forum on here?

I run DBA 4000 discs with Racebrakes RB74 pads and it works a treat. You can get the DBA discs from DBA directly or Super Cheap (custom order, but they generally have jack all markup on them and are cheaper than brake specialists) and the pads from www.racebrakes.com.au. You should be able to get a set of good pads and discs for $1000 - $1500.

I run the same, but why are yours soo much quieter than mine???

Also i found Jake's performance to be able to supply my discs A LOT ($300+) cheaper than supacheap/autobahn/autopro/repco etc...

They make a loud grinding noise when you get on them hard, which is normal. To get rid of the squeak you need to bed them in hard from the start (do one 60kmh - 20km/h slow down to start, then stomp them hard from 100km/h+)

That price they have quoted you is a joke $5800 for pads and rotors, What the hell  are they gonna do for that kind of money?

They are magical disks and rotors sprinkled with pixie dust based on that price. ;)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It looks like i'll be going with some DBA 4601's for the rotors at around $300 each... compared the the Brembo ones at $1200 each. Still not 100% sure one what I will be getting for the brake pads... suffice to say, not the Nissan ones for $800 ;)

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