I just had my front rotors and front pads replaced because of the warping TSB on my 2008 with 35K miles. When I talked to the service person about how much life they still had he said he didn't ask but on my car the back pads wear out before the front because of the way Infiniti designs their braking system. He also said they need to usually be replaced between 30 to 40K miles.

Is this true about the rear pads? I usually don't replaced rear pads until 60 to 70K miles on all my other cars.

 

The rear pads absolutely do NOT wear out faster than the fronts pads. The majority of your braking force is in the front, not the rear. Also no tech can tell you that pads should last for "XXX" miles. How long they last depends on so many factors that he cant possibly know that no tech can give y9ou a good answer on how long they'll last. If you live in a mountainous area and have a heavy braking style they might last only 20K miles. If you live in a flat area and drive with a style that preserves the brakes they may last 60K or more. The tech was blowing smoke.

 

Slightly off topic, but since you mentioned a TSB for the brakes warping, I figured I'd add this:

Contrary to popular belief, brake rotors almost never actually warp. The real issue is almost always uneven deposits of pad material that causes excessive lateral runout and results in brake shudder that is felt by the driver in the brake pedal.

That said, a simple change in driving habits is your best bet to prevent brake shudder in the first place. If more people understood the true problem, it would be easier to prevent it from occurring.

 

This was often true for the G35 non-Brembo models. The reason is that the rear pad shape is very small (FMSI number D905). The small pad runs hotter than a larger pad would, so the wear rates are higher.

On the newer cars, there is some rear brake application by the stability control and traction control systems. While not as bad as Corvettes, the more "spirited" the driver, the more rear pad wear.

Chris

 

On my g37, the rear pads did wear out faster than the front pads. I had a tech at Crest Infiniti do a ride along with him driving and he said that Infiniti designed it like that. It maybe B.S. but I replaced my rear pads several months ago and the fronts are still new at 20K.

 

It all comes down to driving. As Chris said, the more aggressive you drive (assuming you leave VDC on), the faster the rears wear. This is a very well documented trend, and is also a way for dealers to determine how a particular car has been driven.

Most production cars nowadays have a very clear rear brake bias, and rely on ABS and/or traction control to compensate. It's also why some people choose to alter the bias by running a more aggressive pad in the front.

 

I'm pretty easy on my brakes compared to most drivers. When I had my g35 with Brembos, others would need a brake job at 15k, when I can get around 25k out of them.

My rear oem pads on the Akebonos still had 50% left when I took them off. The akebono pads are not good IMO. I guess they might be the ceramic pads.

 

It has little to do with how you brake. VDC will engage the rear brakes individually to help you turn and maintain control of your car. That is what makes the rears go so quickly. A lot of G37 drivers don't realize how much the VDC is helping them.

I just drove to work in the rain, and saw people gettin their cars squirly just taking off from a stop at "normal" speeds. Guess what stops the wheel spin? The brakes, even if you aren't touching the brake pedal.

 

Question about the TSB, how did you that your brakes were jacked?

 

Warping will make your pedal pulse. It's VERY noticeable. It's not just a small vibration.

 

I just had my 30K service and they told me the rear pads were going to have to be replaced after another few thousand. I don't track the car and rarely do any sustained hard braking.

 

It has more to do with your turning than actual braking; actual braking generally loads the front more than the rear. The VSA uses the rear brakes to stabilize your turn and/or force your car to rotate (to assist in turning) and/or to act as a LSD and/or to prevent wheelspin.

The system is so seamless that most drivers will never even notice it kick in.


E.g. you could FLOOR it through a right turn on a wet surface from a stop with VSA on, and the car will take it smooth as if you were simply driving a much lower powered car. This is done via reduced engine output and power vectoring (via brakes). Turn VSA off, and the results will be much different. I used to do this demo all the time on rainy days.

 

Yeah, but the only problem is that rotors almost never actually warp. 99.9% of the time the real problem isn't warping, but uneven pad deposits on the rotors.

 

I never said the rotor warped . I'm just describing the symptom.