Posted: Jan 12 2005 at 10:53am | IP Logged

My thoughts exactly IQ9!!! There are days I drive my Titan like a sports car, but for a majority of the time, I drive it like a truck, allowing ample space for slowing and stopping.

I think your on to something about the thickness of the rotor....I picked my truck up yesterday from the dealer.  In asking about the braking system, this is what I was told. 

Every Armada and Titan sold at this very large dealership has come back at least once with a brake issue.  He said Nissan is building another brake kit to support the weight of the truck, which is due out sometime in May. 

I'm very fortunate that each time I call (5 times now) regarding my brakes, they tell me to bring it right down and they fix it within a half a day. 

A couple of things to chew on.. the 05 Titans are out now, what does there braking system look like?? How about the new heavier, Pathfinder??

Safety first right?? if I had a problem with my back sliding window not sealing correctly for example, I could live with it, but a problem with the brake system....I or my family might not LIVE with it.

My BIGGEST problem is I love that freakin truck....I makes me Happy.

Have a great week.

Thanks

Posted: Jan 14 2005 at 10:16am | IP Logged

No IQ9, you shouldn't have to adjust your driving style.  That's not what I was trying to say nor imply.  I was simply wondering aloud.

FWIW, I used your same argument with the Acura service writer when we had to have the rotors turned on our TL-S with only 11,000 miles on them.  What I find interesting is that once they were turned, they've been fine ever since and we now have almost 50K miles.

I'm not sure what the real issue is.  I mean, look at this logically.  If the brakes were inadequate - i.e. the amount of energy they were required to dissipate into heat, then every single Titan would suffer from brake fade.  But that's not the case.  Brake fade is the result of the brake system not being able to dissipate heat fast enough therefore transferring that heat into the fluid or causing the pads to glaze.

And if the rotors, by design, were junk, then all Titans would suffer from rotor warpage.  But that's not the case.  Typically, warpage is due to uneven heating of the rotor and the heat cycling the rotor sees.  Just about all rotors (sans high performace applications and motorcycle disc's) are ductile iron.  And for the most part, ductile iron is ductile iron.  However, like aluminum alloys and steels, there are variations in the material properties.  I'm wondering if this is not what's really going on.  Possibly Nissan is sourcing their rotors from a company that doesn't have tight controls on their materials.  Maybe the heat treating process isn't adequately controlled.  Maybe GM is using premium materials.  I dunno.  But what I do know is that it's not a systemic problem.  If it were, then one could point at the component(s) as being the bad actor.

And for the record, I don't think it's necessarily a driving style issue.  IMHO, I think an agressive, late, heavy braking driving style can be a contributor, but certainly not solely the problem.  And I think that's what makes this rotor warpage issue so damn difficult to solve - there's no consistency or pattern.  If it were me, I would go back to the source and start pulling material data sheets for the iron used in the rotors and try and associate material lots to specific vehicles.  And who knows....maybe that's what Nissan Engineers are doing.

But like I said, I know it's a PITA and I've BTDT waaaaay too many times.  So I feel for you. 

Tom