Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Anybody out there done a break upgrade on the 4.8GRX?

Tow a lot of heavy loads and have brake shudder under braking on mine even though the brakes were replaced less then 10000km back.

Thinking of fitting high performance disk which a friend said solved the problem on his Navara but would like to know if anybody out there has made the change?

Mark, did you have the discs skimmed when you replaced the pads? If not, the shudder wouldn't have been cured.

Hi Peter.

I replaced disks and pad. I suspect as I am always towing and towing loads in excess of 2 ton it quickly takes a toll on the disks.

Is the shudder on the steering wheel or body? if body it could be the rear disks.

My personal experience on shudder returning on other cars I've had:
Inferior disks , even from a known SA supplier
Overheating of disks due to drag from calipers, i.e. old rubber hoses etc
Not torqueing the wheel nuts properly to the correct (high or low) torque.
I've never really had much luck with skimming.

As for upgraded disk with slotted or cross drilled etc, I have my reservation if you use your vehicle off road very often, on the road it could work but slotted disks do increase the wear on your pads drastically. I'll rather stick with Nissan or ATE then.

But if you plan a proper upgrade, bigger disks and 4 pot calipers that will fit in a 16inch wheel then I'll be interested. (ok maybe 17 inch ) then I can tailgate with more confidence.

Mark, is yours an A/T?

The Auto's brakes work allot harder than the M/T's because you cannot use the gears for braking. I drove a 4.8 Auto a while back and also felt the discs warped on it.

I am not a fan of skimming discs as the disk now heats up quicker hence the fact that is thinner.
You obviously replaced yours so that can not be the problem.....

Hi Mark

Also due to a shudder I replaced my front disks some time ago with PowerBrake disks and the supplied Bendix heavy duty pads and never looked back as the quality is excellent.
I have however moved back to OE pads as their response/feel is better than the Bendix ones.

Slightly expensive but worth it