brake upgrade for 1st gen altimas?

I've been through about a half dozen altimas in the past 5 months. I have one now that I plan on keeping for a bit. My issue is that they ALL have lousy brakes to me. I need a much better setup. Sadly I can find no suggested upgrades that are anything more than pads and rotors of stock replacement type. These lousy brakes have cost me 2 of the prior altimas and almost a third, plus they are less than confidence inspiring.
I'd like to upgrade to something like a J30/Q45 caliper setup with a slightly larger rotor for the front and rear discs from an SE/GLE.
HELP!!!

The B15-up sentra and P10/P11 G20s both used that bolt pattern for wheels, and I bet you can find a brake upgrade there.

If its anything like rwd nissans the brake parts exchange like legos.

remember that a "component" upgrade can really eff up your system performance. at the end of the day, you need a balanced system with appropriate gain and reasonable compliance.

i would start with Porterfield R4S pads on both axles if they're available for that vehicle. Hawk HPS would be my second choice.

You can make larger increases in system gain by upgrading pads than by any other means. Increased pad gain means less pedal effort and less pedal travel for a particular deceleration.

I owned a 2001 Altima for a few years. I thought the brakes were fine. The front rotors actually looked like they had a lot of surface area.

What's your problem with them exactly?

they take longer to stop then I would like, and the pedal feel is lousy. I know on my 240 the brake upgrade to larger rotors and 2 piston calipers made a world of difference. Though it did make me quite aware of brake balance issues.

have you tried any of the obvious stuff like pads/fluid/braided steel lines?

Knowing you, have you actually even bled the damn things? :P

~Alex

had a 99 for a while and never had problems with braking..... they consistently had enough power to lock up the wheels if i pushed too hard. and peddle had good feel after ss lines,

Rustspecs13 wrote: Knowing you, have you actually even bled the damn things? :P ~Alex

that would imply I owned one long enough to do the brakes :P

I haven't done anything to them. The current one needs brakes so it will get whatever upgrades are cost effective when needed.

are running 4 wheel discs or rear drum brakes? The discs are only a parts yard away otherwise.

In reply to sanman: currently rear drum. When the rear brakes need to be replaced I will swap to disc. right now it seems to the fronts that are bad (pulsing pedal)

belteshazzar wrote: have you tried any of the obvious stuff like pads/fluid/braided steel lines?

This is usually always the best way to better brakes. Not included on the list is stickier tires. If that maxes out THAN you should be looking for bigger and better.