Nissan Pulsar Forums

My brakes have felt horrible the past week or so. There's a grinding noise when the brakes are applied below 20mph and they don't seem to bite the same. There is still a good 4-5mm of pad left and the discs are good. I'm going to strip them down, skim the discs, clean and lube everything and fit new pads. Plus the car moves a foot or so after I apply the handbrake on a slope. Weird! I notice ecp do brembo pads for a bag of sweeties more than pagid's. Anyone have any experience with aftermarket pads? And is the grinding sound common? The c-max I have too does the same but only in reverse . I've driven 15k plus a year for 15 years but had more brake issues in the last 3-4 year's than in the first 11 odd combined.

The movement after the handbrake is set seems to be normal for the Pulsar, if a little disconcerting. I sometimes hear a bit of a 'clunk' as I pull away when the handbrake has been on overnight which I have put down to it not releasing properly. It doesn't happen when stopped at lights etc, only after it's been applied for an extended period.

The handbrake is strange. Mine doesn't hold completely until the very last click. I'm not a fan of yarking it on that much, can't be good for the cable. I'll see if I can adjust anything when I get round to the job. Be interesting to see if the shoes self adjust or not. I don't get a clunk, but if the car sits for a few days, the pedal feels lumpy for the first few applications. They just feel like they need a strip down and sort out.

The grinding could be something lodged between disc and pads or maybe a shim has moved and rubbing somewhere.
Have you got any scoring marks on disc, this may show if something rubbing.
The handbrake is set high, something like 10 clicks which is higher than a lot of other cars I have driven
Agree about the forward movement once handbrake applied but mine moves forward about 2-4 inches, this I think is due to there been two brake systems, one for braking whilst driving which uses all 4 wheels, one for handbrake which is separate system all together within the rear wheels.

Someone mentioned before about it being an electronic handbrake which is why there's that small movement when it's applied. Moving a foot or so sounds dangerous ! Mine moves probably a couple of inches at most.

its not electronic on my 16 plate but standard handbrake lever, electronic ones tend to be automatic when you stop then you activate a switch to deactivate the electronic one to move off.

I'm pretty sure they're not electronic. It's two brake shoes inside the drum part of the brake disc. The shoes' job is to hold the position, not actually to slow the car down, so I'm thinking that there will not be any friction material on them, which may cause the movement. I said a foot but it's probably less than that. The shoe might actually pivot slightly before it bites, which may affect it. I'll report back after the strip down. Which will happen once it stops being freezing cold outside!
My last car had an electronic handbrake, which seized and was a nightmare to re calibrate. Here's hoping my initial joy of having a manual handbrake isn't short lived!

its a manual handbrake like the old juke setup before it changed to rear drums. its easy to maintain if done correctly.
I notice Haynes now do a repair manual on the Nissan juke, it includes the 1461 diesel. but most of the engine bits and brakes are same as the pulsar,
ive got a juke too so double value for me. the brake system is thoroughly explained in there.

Well, job done today. As you can see by the photos, the handbrake is a brake shoe set up. Both shoes share a single mounting point and the whole setup can be pivoted slightly, so that would explain the movement after applying the handbrake. There is an adjuster screw which can be accessed through a hole on the disc (the one with a rubber gromet). I opened mine out one click which has helped the handbrake travel, but might give it one more. Quite simple really, the pistons not windy ones and push back easy. The shims are fiddly ish but are quite obvious as to orientation etc.