G'day,
When I had my previous car (N14 Pulsar with 2 channel ABS) I was advised (by Nissan) to keep the same brake pad type front and rear. Reason being so the ABS would work "predictably". Being a 2 channel system this made sense. So I only every had the genuine nissan pads, (when I sold it the original rear pads where only half worn and was on it's 3rd set of fronts at 186000km.) Never had any problems.
Now the rear pads on the Magna are about a third worn, if that, but the fronts are soon to be due, 99% sure that they are ultimates all round at the moment, put in by the previous owner (NSWP). My question is does it matter if I put in say Bendix CT's at the front and have what ever is in the rear?? Or should I change all 4 corners at the same time?? As the Magna is 4 sensor 4 channel ABS would this matter? Or does it Matter??

Thanks,

based on my experience it really doesn't matter, i've only ever replaced 2 pads at a time, if the rears still have plenty of life, there is no need to replace them.

im not 100% sure of what the braking ratio of front to back is, so lets assume it's 70/30. Really the rears are only under 30% stress at any time, so if you slam the brakes, they will only ever be under 30% MAX, so i dont see how replacing good rears will make any difference at all

If you're really worried about braking or want to improve it, the best thing you can do is have the rotors machined, flush the brakes and put in some good quality brake fluid and spend the extra $50 and get yourself performace brakes.

Bendix Ultimates are arguable the best, however they make a LOT of dust and tend to squeal a bit, quite annoying. I did find that if you spray the calipers red, the pads stop squealing! Im serious, it works haha

No it doesn't matter with our ABS/EBD system.

In the rear I run EBC Black with the standard calipers.

In the front I switched to evo4 calipers/rotors and run Ferodo DS2500, which being a more track-focused pad has very different properties to the rear pads.

No problems with brake bias/ABS/EBD behaviour - on the track where any problems/oddities in braking are very noticeable, and I have none.

im not 100% sure of what the braking ratio of front to back is, so lets assume it's 70/30. Really the rears are only under 30% stress at any time, so if you slam the brakes, they will only ever be under 30% MAX, so i dont see how replacing good rears will make any difference at all


I doubt it's even 70/30.

The pads I have in the rear have done eight track days, and still have say 30% material left.

At the front I've chewed through 3 sets of pads.

Yes different wear rates etc, but IMO in a front-heavy fwd the rear brakes play a pretty minor role in braking in terms of the total work done. Though they are still important for balancing the car under brakes, especially on a trailing brake into a corner.

With about 3x the factory spring rate in the front, my car expriences FAR less nose-diving under brakes than a stocker..yet it seems pad wear at the rear is pretty insignificant.

Even in a RWD with 50/50 weight distribution the VAST majority of braking is done at the front end.