# 02 Altima brakes & rotors



## vaibhavkolhe (Jan 22, 2006)

Now here are some quick facts abt my car

2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 S 
Engine: QR25DE, 
Chassis: L31
Mileage - 37,000
Type - Used car

When I purchased this one, the brakes squealed, but not much to bother me, but after about 4 months of driving, they have started giving out sounds that drive me crazy!! So I want them replaced. I am not very hard on brakes but yes I do drive a lot. 

I had my car checked by a mechanic & he suggested that I replace the rear brakes pads with rotors and replace front ones with ceramics. The cost of changing the rear rotors is too high - 200$!!. He had the car on the lift so he could show me the wear on the rotor & the rust accumulation. He said that there is little braking space left on the rotor due to the rust and further delay would onlyincrease the squealing. I am fine with replacing the brake pads for the front(ceramic) & rear(semi-metallic). I researched & found that ceramic ones score over the others in many aspects. 

Now I have the following queries

- If I only replace the rear rotors now without replacing the pads, will that work? Would it reduce the squealing?
- If I decide to change the front & rear brake pads to ceramic one at a later stage, would it be sensible to do that?

Any help, appreciated.

Thanks


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## cdmorenot (Dec 22, 2005)

um..
if you replace rotors.. and leave old brake pads.. you are only going to fck up the rotors all over again because you dont know how the rotors were affecting the pad in the first place.. you can have pretty much anything in the back because most of the braking is done by the front brakes.. have the rotors cut if they can be cut i dont think the rust is that bad... not with 37k miles on the car.. have another mechanic check it out.. honestly i wouldn't waste my money on ceramics for the back or high performance rotors if you arent going to drive it hard.. i drive my car very hard so i just bought stillen rotors all around and ceramic pads but it did run me around 550+ bucks w.out labor which i do my self.. expensive i know.. but i drive hard.. if not just get OEM replacements and get ceramic ones which are very low noise but very pricey.. with nissan replacements you should be fine.. i never had problems with stock brake components .. i upgraded mostly for looks..


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## WATSON1 (Jul 9, 2005)

Go for the ceramics and have your rotors turned (cut). Try a search for breaks are ceramic in the Altima section, as there have been several discussions about the pros and cons of the answers to all your questions.


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## vaibhavkolhe (Jan 22, 2006)

Hmmm....

I think u are right...replacing the rotors & the brakes makes more sense rather than replacing the rotors only. But I will have my car inspected from a mechanic to see if the rear rotors can be cut. I am not replacing rear brake pads with ceramics...They will have semi-metallic. But the front ones will have the ceramics. Let me see what another mechanic has to say.... 
I will get back on this.

Thanks


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