How to Replace Front Brakes 2002-03 Nissan Maxima

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Hi, I'm Don from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video we will be showing you how to replace, or do a front brake job on this 2003 Nissan Maxima, pretty much the same for a lot of different years Nissan Maxima, but it will be very similar for any 2000 to 2003 Maxima, as well as the same years of the Infinity I30. You are going to need a new pad and rotor set from 1aauto.com, jack, and jack stands 14, 19, and 21mm sockets.

You'll need a ratchet, and you'll probably also need a breaker bar or a pipe for some extra leverage for some of those bolts, a wire brush. You may need some penetrating oil and the hammer if your rotors don't come off easily. You'll need some brake grease or white grease for reassembly, a torque wrench, and a large C-clamp, or large Channel lock pliers to reset the pistons in the caliper.

Let's start off by removing the wheel. You're going to want a 21mm socket and ratchet or breaker bar, or your tire iron, and you'll probably want to start with the wheel on the ground. Loosen the lug nuts, then raise and secure the vehicle with jack stands, and then remove the wheel and the tire. Okay, turn the wheels by hand or by using the steering wheel, to access the back of caliper.

We're going to just do a general inspection of the brakes. We're going to check the pad life. We're going to check the rotors. You can use a flashlight and look through the inspection in the caliper, to look for your pad. These have a little bit of pad left on them, a little bit of serviceability, but we're going to go ahead and replace them just to show you how to do it. In terms of the rotor, you're going to want to look for excessive rust, excessive wear, and lips, as you run your finger across the rotor itself. This one is in pretty good shape, but we're going to go ahead and replace it with a 1A Auto part, just for your reference.

The next step is going to be removing the two 14mm bolts that hold the caliper to the caliper bracket. Let's speed up as Don removes those two 14mm bolts. These bolts should come off without too much resistance. We're going to pry the brake pad away from the rotor, thus pushing the caliper piston in, creating more room for us to get this off. As you can see, I went right through the inspection port into the rotor and pulled towards me. At this point, we've gained enough access and enough clearance that it will allow us to take the caliper right off. Take the caliper; put it in a position where it's not hanging from the brake line. At this point now, you can remove the outer pad, inner pad if necessary, and you can always use a screwdriver to pry it out. Now, we're going to do just another inspection; take a look at the caliper guide slides. These are both fluid and go in and out, as they should. In the event that you find one that isn't, they can lead to premature brake wear. What you would do is pull it out. You can see this is greased correctly, but if it wasn't, you would take a wire brush to it, clean it up nicely, grease it, put it back in, and re-secure the boot.

Next, we are going to take off the caliper guide with the two 19mm bolts. These are the tools that we're going to use to remove the 19mm bolts: either a conventional half-inch ratchet with a 19mm socket, or if you experience heavy resistance, a breaker bar, and if even further force is needed, you can use a pipe as leverage through the breaker bar. Apply the pipe over and apply even pressure down, adding more force as necessary, so safely, it breaks the bolt free. I will speed up here as Don breaks lose that second bolt. Again, when using the pipe method, you can use it with just a regular ratchet as well, and just apply nice even pressure. Increase the pressure gradually until the bolt breaks lose. At this point now, the 19mm bolt, the second of the two is about to come out, and you want to be careful when you pull it out because your rotor could loosen up, which is still supported by the lugs, which your caliper guide is coming off.

Now, it's time for removal of the brake rotor. In this case, we have an ideal situation because the brake rotor is free. In some cases, you'll find that the brake rotor will be rusted and solid against the hub, in which case you can use some penetrating oil, spraying it around. Let it soak in for a little bit, and then give a tap from the back, breaking the rotor free. You've got to use a wire brush to clean off the hub, to get a nice surface for the rotor to lean against.

I've got the brake rotor. Something that you can do is take some mineral spirits, or brake part cleaner and clean the surface of the rotor, and make sure there's no residual oil left over. Once that's done, slide the rotor on the hub. Install a lug nut hand-tight to hold the rotor in place. Now use your wire brush and clean the stainless steel slides. They're on the brake caliper bracket.

That caliper guide cleaned up. We then install the 19mm bolts. Speed up here; Don first pressed those in by hand, and then uses a socket ratchet to preliminarily tighten them. I set the torque wrench to 98 foot-pounds. I'll go ahead and torque the 19mm bolts. At this point, we're going to recommend using brake grease on the surfaces of the pad that come in contact with the caliper and the caliper slide. You can see I've got a little bit of it sprayed here on the back of the pad, working that in. Then also at the edges that are going to fit into the caliper slide itself. We're going to be careful not to get it on the pad itself. When we took the pads out before, notice that the inboard pad had the clip on the end, so that's going to go in first on the inside, snapping into the caliper bracket; same goes for the outboard pad, snapping right in and leaning up against the rotor.

In order to fit the caliper back over the pads, we're going to compress the piston back into the caliper, using a C-clamp. I'm just going to fast forward as Don works that C-clamp in. You can see, as the C-clamp compresses the piston, it goes back into the caliper. You can also use a large pair of water pump or Chanel lock pliers to do this. You open the pliers up as far as they will go and squeeze the caliper and piston. What we're going to do when we're doing that, is use our fingers to keep the slides in, so that the caliper itself fits right back in. If you find that you're getting any resistance, make sure that these are pushed in, and slot it right up. Re-install my 14mm caliper bolts. Speed up here again, as those bolts are tightened up preliminarily. Now, we are going to set our torque wrench to 25 foot-pounds, and that's it.

Fast forward here, as we take that lug nut back off, put the wheel and tire on, and just put the lugs on by hand first, and then preliminarily tighten them. Set your torque wrench to 100 foot-pounds and tighten the lug nuts. Use a star pattern; draw a star pattern as you tighten them, and then just re-check them.

Every time we do brake work, we just make sure that we get in, pump the brakes a number of times, make sure you have you have a good solid pedal, and then do test stops from 5 and 10 MPH before road testing the vehicle.

We hope this helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.

How to Replace Front Brakes 2002-03 Nissan Maxima

step 1 :Removing the Wheel

step 2 :Inspecting the Brakes

step 3 :Removing the Brake Pads and Caliper

step 4 :Removing the Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket

step 5 :Installing the New Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket

step 6 :Installing the New Brake Pads and Caliper

step 7 :Reattaching the Wheel

step 8 :Testing the Brakes

Tools needed

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Part Details:

How to Replace Front Brakes 2005-10 Chevy Cobalt

How to Replace Front Brakes 2002-03 Nissan Maxima

step 1 :Removing the Wheel 1:05

step 2 :Inspecting the Brakes 1:24

step 3 :Removing the Brake Pads and Caliper 2:06

step 4 :Removing the Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket 3:50

step 5 :Installing the New Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket 5:41

step 6 :Installing the New Brake Pads and Caliper 6:55

step 7 :Reattaching the Wheel 9:23

step 8 :Testing the Brakes 9:45

Tools needed

Shop Products

Nissan Altima Maxima Infiniti I35 Front Semi-Metallic Premium G-Coated Performance Brake Pad & Rotor Kit with Calipers TRQ Performance BKA35811

Part Details:

How to Replace Front Brakes 2005-10 Chevy Cobalt

step 1 :Removing the Wheel

step 2 :Inspecting the Brakes

step 3 :Removing the Brake Pads and Caliper

step 4 :Removing the Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket

step 5 :Installing the New Brake Rotor and Caliper Bracket

step 6 :Installing the New Brake Pads and Caliper

step 7 :Reattaching the Wheel

step 8 :Testing the Brakes