# 95 Sentra rear brakes



## kilahcup (Feb 24, 2006)

Hi - 
I recently bought a 95 Nissan Sentra GXE, and I therefore don't have any service manuals or anything. I was trying to switch out my rear brake rotors tonight because the old ones are cracked. I got the calipers off and the old rotors removed no problem. But now, with the new rotors on, I can't get the calipers back on because I can't seem to get the rear calipers to release enough to provide enough clearance to slide back over the new rotors and the brake pads. What am I missing? How do I open up the calipers?


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

kilahcup said:


> Hi -
> I recently bought a 95 Nissan Sentra GXE, and I therefore don't have any service manuals or anything. I was trying to switch out my rear brake rotors tonight because the old ones are cracked. I got the calipers off and the old rotors removed no problem. But now, with the new rotors on, I can't get the calipers back on because I can't seem to get the rear calipers to release enough to provide enough clearance to slide back over the new rotors and the brake pads. What am I missing? How do I open up the calipers?


You need to push the pistons back into the bores. They either push in or screw in.


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## kilahcup (Feb 24, 2006)

*95 Nissan rear brakes*

Well, these must be the screw in kind, because I gave them both a good shot with a C-Clamp and they didn't budge.


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## kilahcup (Feb 24, 2006)

*Yup, that did it.*

They screw in. That's new to me. They didn't give up easy, but about a turn or so and they cleared enough to slip over easy. Thanks for the help.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

kilahcup said:


> They screw in. That's new to me. They didn't give up easy, but about a turn or so and they cleared enough to slip over easy. Thanks for the help.


Sure thing. They sell a tool at the auto parts store that attaches to your socket and fits inside the piston, this allows them to screw in easily. It is a cheap tool as well. This of course for future reference. 

No problem, that is what we are here for!


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=60760


FSM, that should help you also for future reference


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## dappa1 (Dec 25, 2004)

i didn't kno gxe's came with rear disk?????


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

dappa1 said:


> i didn't kno gxe's came with rear disk?????


They dont.....
Someone upgraded.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

IanH said:


> They dont.....
> Someone upgraded.


I believe ABS was an option, if you had ABS it had 4 wheel disc brakes.


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## dappa1 (Dec 25, 2004)

wes said:


> I believe ABS was an option, if you had ABS it had 4 wheel disc brakes.


this was the GLE i belive


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

dappa1 said:


> this was the GLE i belive


Wes is correct, I checked on Cars.com and ABS was available on 95 gxe as an option w/Rear Disks.
There wasnt one car on the lot when i purchased my 97 with ABS, I looked.
Good catch......


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## NismoGa16 (Dec 8, 2005)

wes said:


> Yeah that has been a known fact for a while now. If you do not want to do the entire beam swap you can always use the fastbrakes rear conversion kit. Much easier and probably cheaper in the long run.



A Damn fine idea !! I've never bothered to check for conversion kits:loser: so I wasn't aware one was available for under $300. Do you know what year Maxima calipers are required for the conversion? I think this would def. be the way to go. I suppose if you ever needed to replace the rotors due to exesive warpage you would simply have to take maxima rotors and have them redrilled to fit the four lug pattern? I know Mike Kojima has discussed this in him column I just didn't know the kit was so (comparitively) cheap

<yelling down the hall> Honey... I know what I want for my birthday !!!


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

95-99 maxima calipers, if you have stock front brakes then do not do the maxima rear conversion, simply do the SE-R conversion. It will be cheaper! You will also need a new master cylinder for this setup, either the SE-R or NX2000 will work.


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## NismoGa16 (Dec 8, 2005)

does this mean that the rear axle beam assembly is the same as the one on the 200sx Se-R and is a direct swap for the lowly Se drum brakes ??? I'm getting ready to do a front brake upgrade and would love to go ahead and do the rears at the same time, but Se-R rear axles are expensive and hard to find intact.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

NismoGa16 said:


> does this mean that the rear axle beam assembly is the same as the one on the 200sx Se-R and is a direct swap for the lowly Se drum brakes ??? I'm getting ready to do a front brake upgrade and would love to go ahead and do the rears at the same time, but Se-R rear axles are expensive and hard to find intact.


Yeah that has been a known fact for a while now. If you do not want to do the entire beam swap you can always use the fastbrakes rear conversion kit. Much easier and probably cheaper in the long run.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

wes said:


> Yeah that has been a known fact for a while now. If you do not want to do the entire beam swap you can always use the fastbrakes rear conversion kit. Much easier and probably cheaper in the long run.


I have the fast brakes kit coming (used) and i understood the Altima SE Master cylinder (with rear discs) is preferred.
Since I am buying one it doesnt matter which one i get.
Which is best for the NX2000 fronts and the SER rear discs?
I searched and read a lot of threads and would like an explanation of which is better and why.
Thanks Ian


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

IanH said:


> I have the fast brakes kit coming (used) and i understood the Altima SE Master cylinder (with rear discs) is preferred.
> Since I am buying one it doesnt matter which one i get.
> Which is best for the NX2000 fronts and the SER rear discs?
> I searched and read a lot of threads and would like an explanation of which is better and why.
> Thanks Ian


It has more to do with pedal feel than anything else. Many people with the Fastbrakes BBK and maxima rears use the altima MC. But others that just have NX fronts and SE-R rears use the stock SE-R MC or the NX MC. I am sure the Altima will work, I just htought people used that more for the BBK front/maxima rear setup.


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## NismoGa16 (Dec 8, 2005)

Think of brake pedal feel in reverse terms. The bigger the brakes, the less pedal effort you will have. You'd think this would be a good thing, but having brakes that require only a light touch can be Veeeeeeeeeeeeery hard to modulate. If you increase the size of the piston bore in the caliper you'll need a larger MC bore to compensate for the ammount of fluid traveling from one end of the line to the other. This will keep the pedal effort close to stock feeling and will keep you from locking the front wheels so often. There is actually a great technical write up on this very subject in an older issue of Sport Compact Car that I have lying around someplace. I'll try and dig it up tomorrow so you can read up on it online, or order a back issue. If you've got some time to kill you might be able to find it on the website. I'm thinking the issue is from '03 but I could very possibly be wrong on that.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

NismoGa16 said:


> Think of brake pedal feel in reverse terms. The bigger the brakes, the less pedal effort you will have. You'd think this would be a good thing, but having brakes that require only a light touch can be Veeeeeeeeeeeeery hard to modulate. If you increase the size of the piston bore in the caliper you'll need a larger MC bore to compensate for the ammount of fluid traveling from one end of the line to the other. This will keep the pedal effort close to stock feeling and will keep you from locking the front wheels so often. There is actually a great technical write up on this very subject in an older issue of Sport Compact Car that I have lying around someplace. I'll try and dig it up tomorrow so you can read up on it online, or order a back issue. If you've got some time to kill you might be able to find it on the website. I'm thinking the issue is from '03 but I could very possibly be wrong on that.


I did looked but couldnt find the article.
Yes I understand the theory, but without the exact piston sizes and master cylinder bore sizes its hard to estimate which master cylinder will be better. I have to change because the proportioning valve required for rear discs.
I decided to go with the SER master cylinder based on Wes's input.
Sorry for the delay in replying I was not allowed to reply, I think Wes got me fixed though. Thanks Wes.


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