uncreative

I have a 93 XE 4WD Pathfinder and was wondering if it's possible or even worth it to swap out the rear drum brakes for disc brakes? If it's possible, can someone let me know how (do I swap axles from a model with rear drums? Which ones are compatible?)--I know Sentra owners do rear drum to disc conversions, but would it even be worth a damn to do it to my Pathy? She brakes like a freight train (Just today I enjoyed coming down an on-ramp and getting some religion when the ass in front of me decided to jam on the brakes when the light just turned yellow.

I appreciate your suggestions in advance

Jon

ReVerm

A rear disc swap won't do much for your braking woes. Those things experience so much load transfer under braking that rear drums do just the right amount of work with the setup from the factory.

What you really should be looking into are three things:
1. "Performance" brake pads
2. Stainless steel brake lines
3. New dampers (if you still have the OE ones, they're probably dead)

#1 will cost you only slightly more than those "quiet stop" ceramic compounds that shops will try to sell you, and will improve your stopping power immensely. Hawk HPS's and Stillen Metal Matrix's are available for your car for about $55 a set. Try a set on your fronts, and see how they fare.

#2 will give you better brake pedal modulation and reduce pedal travel. It won't give you more stopping power per se, but it will give you much more confidence in your brakes. Goodridge, Crown, Automotive Customizers, and a number of other brands sell SS brake line kits for your pathy for less than $110 for all four corners of your car. This is more or less a "nice to have" rather than a necessity, but I will say from first hand experience that it's REALLY nice to have.

#3 is often overlooked but is key to improving your car's stopping power. If you have worn out dampers, the load transfer during braking will be faster and more sudden than normal. This means that your brakes and front tyres will have to do a lot more work than usual. This also means that it will be easier to overload the front brakes/tyres. You can get KYB GR2's for $30 per corner (gas-a-justs for $45 per corner) from tirerack.com. This is really something you should do after you do #1, but it's definately something to look into in the near future.

If you haven't done so already, check out Project Pathfinder on Nissan Performance Magazine. There's plenty of information there about your Pathfinder and what you can do with it.

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Captain Slow.