# 97 sentra brake upgrade?



## Jafb14 (Jan 1, 2010)

Hello everyone I'm new to the site and I have a few questions. This has probably been asked before but here we go. I want to upgrade my front brakes and have read about the nx2k set up but I don't really have the cash to get bigger rims and do this set up( stock 13"s). So if I just upgraded brake lines and brake fluid, along with getting drilled and slotted rotors, would this be a significant enough upgrade over stock for the money? Also can I use se-r calipers on my stock diameter rotors? Thanks in advance and looking forward to all the help.


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

I need to replace my brakes as well. My guess is getting really good quality rotors and pads and fluid would be far better than the stock set up.

I have read up on brakes and cross drilled rotors are overrated and not as good as they appear. Definitely, get slotted.

People really swear by EBC, Hawk and Racing Brake stuff. This is a 2nd daily driver so I'm going with EBC Ultimax pads and rotors.


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## Jafb14 (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks for the info country, how much are those pads and rotors gonna run you? And where you gettin em from?


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

Just did some more searching. I think this place was the best deal since the prices were low and it offered free shipping which is good for the heavy rotors. If you spend more than $150 there is a 10% off code. You can put your car info in on the homepage.
Brake Pads, Brake Rotors - Best Deals on EBC, Brembo Kits and more | Place for Brakes

I'm going with Ultimax brake pads $34 and the standard rotors (sold in a pair) $94. If you want to get even sharper braking and want to spend the money, you can go with the Redstuff and the sport rotors. The EBC sport rotors are good b/c they are slotted and have dimpled depressions instead of holes. From what I have read, the cross-drilled holes can sometimes lead to uneven heating/cooling/stressing which may crack the rotor.

If you're looking for a good reasonably priced high-perf brake fluid look at ATE Super Blue. The important specs to look at are dry and wet boiling points. Most of the good fluids are DOT 4 and are compatible with DOT 3 fluids.

If you want to look at a lot of positive user reviews, visit www.autoanything.com and look at the EBC reviews.

Hope this helps! My other car is very high-maintenance so it's made me a bit retentive when it comes to car servicing.


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

i'm doing the same upgrade but im doing rear brake rotors and brake pads what i need to know is which pads to get for the rotor im getting its a Brembo Rear Brake Disc - OE comparable i was gonna get the drilled crossed but as i read above and some other place they wear out your pads much faster.

Brembo Rear Brake Disc - OE comparable

and on the brake pads im not sure whether to get ceramic or semi metallic. and the upgrade is on 99 sentra


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

ReverbTek said:


> i'm doing the same upgrade but im doing rear brake rotors and brake pads what i need to know is which pads to get for the rotor im getting its a Brembo Rear Brake Disc - OE comparable i was gonna get the drilled crossed but as i read above and some other place they wear out your pads much faster.
> 
> and on the brake pads im not sure whether to get ceramic or semi metallic. and the upgrade is on 99 sentra


I was under the assumption that full cross drilled was the way to go until I started researching and finding out that it wasn't that great.

From what I have read ceramic are the quietest with minimal dust, but the performance is not as good as more aggressive pads. I have no idea if the stock Sentra pads and rotors are very good, but my hunch that even a ceramic pad from a good brake vendor would be an improvement.

On sports cars with better braking systems, my take is that ceramic usually isn't as good as stock. So that said, I'd skip ceramic.

Usually you can find good aggressive street pads that have minimal dust and squeaking. Also from researching, EBC Redstuff is a very good pad with low dust. On my other car, I am going with Racing Brake ET500s pads and their slotted rotors, but RB doesn't make stuff for our Sentra generation. I'm avoiding the non-ceramic Hawk pads, because they seem to produce a lot of dust, while providing good braking. I don't want to have to deal with rims that always look like they need to be washed.

Does your 99 SE 2.0 have ABS? My 97 GXE is stuck with rear drums and no ABS.


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

yeah i do have ABS, and thanks for the info. 

Would it be then fine to go with the semi-metallic pads cause i used them before, and same on the rotors do you think it is a good choice to go with the brembo once so let me know as well.


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

You could use either ceramic or semi-metallic. You'll be fine if you go with a good quality rotor. I think the Brembo OE-style rotors are fine. I'm sure they are good quality and the price is reasonable. 

Weren't you considering slotted rotors? What pads have you selected or narrowed down to? What's your budget?


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

well i was gonna go with slotted once but i looked at prices and they're expensive since i don't have work right now so im considering the brembo oe rotors and pads wise im thinking going with semi-metallic since i have them in the front but i've been doing some homework and ceramic once are very good and quiet so i'm not sure.

But rotor wise im going with the Brembo OE, in front i have powerstop drilled crossed, so if you think the once im going with could be a bad choice let me know and budget wise im willing to go up to $ 150-180, so far but let you know as i can get more


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

I think Brembo OE rotors are fine. Have your semi-metallic front pads been squeaky with a lot of dust? I ask b/c you seem to be interested in ceramic, but have semi-metallic front rotors.

The rear brakes do less work than the front anyways.


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

yeah alright thanks for the information this helps me out so much


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

Good luck. Let us know what you go with and how the install goes.


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

yeah im gonna install it in spring around march, cause its freaking cold here and i live in an apartment so can't exactly do the work, so we'll see hopefully there is a good weather around the end of February lol


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## SupraMK3 (Oct 2, 2005)

Go with slotted rotors since cross drilled has a good tendency to crack. Paying the extra $20 for premium metallic pad is also definitely worth every pennies. Last but not least don't forget good tires will also help you stop faster.


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## 89cef (Dec 28, 2009)

So the over all opinion is slotted disks and semi-metallic pads are the way to go then.

Shot guys, I've gotta do mine soon since the last owner never changed the pads and left 2mm deep canyons on the rotors. D*ck!!


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## SupraMK3 (Oct 2, 2005)

If you're lucky like me to own a 1998 200SX SE then you're one lucky owner. 1998 model comes with SE-R front calipers and disc!


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## xcountryflyer (Dec 25, 2007)

SupraMK3 said:


> If you're lucky like me to own a 1998 200SX SE then you're one lucky owner. 1998 model comes with SE-R front calipers and disc!


Blah blah.


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## SupraMK3 (Oct 2, 2005)

xcountryflyer said:


> Blah blah.


Don't be player hating! I want to add another thing that improve braking is steel braided lines. This will be my next upgrade to get rid of the mushy brake pedal.


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## ReverbTek (May 8, 2008)

Hey guys i appreciated your responses a lot in the past and i wanted to go thru this once again before since im buying them with in a week and my rear brakes are wearing out recently due to rain and snow, so as you know i was considering the Brembo as stated below and just wanted to ask you on if this is good to go or not. there was another once as well by centric oe comparable but pretty sure that brembo is a good idea instead so let me know what you guys think.

Brembo Rear Brake Disc - OE comparable

and pads wise well i still don't know whether to go with ceramic or semi- metallic im fine with either of them just need to know which one lasts longer, cause i'm going away for college for a while so the car is gonna be in my mom's care and i wanna make sure she doesn't have any problems so please let me know which is better and well good to buy pricing its ok since ceramic are like 24 and semi-metallic are 35 so its fine with either long as one of them is better to have

Thanks Everyone
RT


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## sr20jet (Feb 5, 2003)

You seriously don't need slotted or cross drilled rotors, good brembo blanks and semi-metallic pads does the job. Best upgrade for fronts for B14's are AD22VF calipers from the NX2K. But you'll need to have at least a 15" wheel to run them. You can run stock B13 SE-R 14's with minor mods to the calipers by grinding the calipers down. I do have a set of NX2K calipers if anyone is interested.

As for those with drums, find a good B14 SE-R or Sentra SE/SE-L donor to swap over rear beam and discs setup.


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## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

Ok it goes like this

GXE early brakes 9.1 inches Dia

SE-R B14 9.7 inches ( and 98 on Sentra )

2000NX Big brakes ABS 93 made in japan, 10.1 and 26mm thick.

I found some cheap pads gave me problems when cold and wet, changed to PBR / metal-master Semimetalic on recommendation of forum member, fixed the problem.


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