I noticed that the front brake pads (non-brembo) are wearing fast. From looking at them through the wheel, they look like they're more than half gone. I have over 16K miles on the car. The rotors seemed worn down a bit. I thought it was maybe just my car. I looked at my sister's Z also and it is about the same. She has about 18k miles. Is this normal wear? It almost looks like these pads won't hold until 20k miles.

 

My OEM original pads lasted 12,500 miles (500 miles out of warranty).

My rotors were still within spec. I do not track my car or drive it that rough.

I replaced all four pads with the Hawk HPS pads. 75% less brake dust and the dust matches the paint color of the wheels.

 

From what I have heard that is just about right. I bitched when i had to replace everything at almost 30k miles but then people came back and told me how they trashed their pads and rotors under 20k, some under 15k miles. all depends on how you drive the car but either way, i would guess anything from 20-22k is right at the average for this car.

 

Nissan is curretly being sued for this very issue. In late 2003, Nissan admitted that the pads/rotors wore prematurely on G35 Coupes and Sedans, and extended the warranty on those parts to 3 years / 36K miles. Unfortunately, they didn't extend that courtesy to Nissan branded vehicles. I had to replace my front rotors and pads at 25K miles :-(
Mika

 

so if i understand you right its not the cars fault but the oem parts that nissan chose to use. so does that mean that us Z owners who have changed out can expect semi normal wear now.

or is the lawsuit more in terms of faulty vehicle/brake system design, and we should expect this continued premature brake pad and rotor wear???

 

The suit implies that there is a flaw in the design of the braking system that is not fixed by simply replacing the rotors and pads; it will most likely be recurring problem. Hence the lawsuit.
Mika