By Core Brake Parts Tech Team — Circleville, OH warehouse
Working out how to replace brake rotors on an Infiniti QX60 is mostly a matter of adding two steps to a pad job: getting the caliper bracket off the knuckle, and getting the old rotor off the hub. Nothing about it requires special training, but the QX60 is a large three-row crossover, so the rotors are heavy and the bracket bolts are torqued high enough to need a breaker bar.
Check the rear axle before you order
Some older or base QX60 trims use rear drums rather than discs. A quick look through the rear wheel settles it: a caliper clamped over a flat metal disc means rotors, while a smooth closed cylinder means a drum with shoes inside. Ordering rear rotors for a drum axle is a wasted week, so verify first.
Beyond that, plan for the weight. The QX60 uses large, heavy rotors. Support the caliper carefully once it is unbolted, and keep a hand on the disc as it separates so it does not drop on your foot or the brake hose.
Tools and supplies
- Floor jack and jack stands. Never work under a vehicle held only by a jack.
- Lug wrench, socket set, and a breaker bar for the bracket bolts
- C-clamp or a dedicated piston tool
- Brake cleaner and a wire brush
- High-temperature silicone caliper grease for slide pins
- Anti-seize for the hub face
- Torque wrench
- Penetrating oil and a hook to hang the caliper from
How to replace brake rotors on an Infiniti QX60, step by step
- Loosen the lug nuts while the wheel is still on the ground and cannot spin.
- Lift and support the vehicle on jack stands, with the remaining wheels chocked.
- Remove the wheel.
- Unbolt the caliper and hang it from a hook, making sure the flexible hose carries no weight. A caliper hanging on its hose damages the hose internally, and that failure will not show up until you need the brakes.
- Unbolt the caliper bracket from the knuckle. Use the breaker bar; these are the tightest fasteners in the job.
- Get the rotor off. It is usually held on by nothing more than rust or a small retaining screw. Remove the screw, then work a stuck rotor loose with penetrating oil and taps around the hat, or thread bolts into the two jacking holes most rotors provide and drive it off evenly.
- Clean the hub face down to bare metal. This is the step people skip and regret. Rust or debris trapped under the rotor hat sits the disc slightly crooked, which becomes thickness variation and pedal pulsation a few thousand miles later. Wire wheel it, clean it with brake cleaner, and add a thin film of anti-seize to the hub face only.
- Wipe the protective oil off the new rotor with brake cleaner, then fit it.
- Reinstall the bracket and caliper at service-manual torque. Do not guess these values.
- Refit the wheel and torque the lug nuts in a star pattern.
- Pump the brake pedal until it is firm before moving the vehicle even a foot.
Bedding in the new brakes
Follow the pad manufacturer's bed-in sequence before any hard driving. It is usually a set of moderate stops from moderate speed with cool-down time in between, and its purpose is to lay an even transfer film of pad material onto the rotor. Skip it and the film goes down unevenly, which feels like a warped rotor even though nothing is bent.
Two rules apply on every vehicle and matter more on a heavy one: replace rotors in axle pairs, never a single side, and always fit new pads with new rotors. Old pads are worn to the shape of the old disc and cannot seat properly against a new friction surface. Buying pads and rotors together as an axle kit is the easiest way to keep them matched.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know when QX60 rotors need replacing?
Look for deep scoring you can catch a fingernail on, a pronounced lip at the outer edge, heat cracking, or a pulsation under braking that does not go away when the pads are replaced. Then measure. If the disc is at or below the minimum thickness cast into the hat, it is finished no matter how it looks.
Why won't the old rotor come off?
Almost always corrosion between the hub face and the rotor hat, and the rear is worse than the front because it runs cooler. Penetrating oil, time, and taps around the hat with a dead-blow hammer usually win. The threaded jacking holes in the rotor face are the cleaner method when they are there. Never strike the friction surface of a rotor you plan to reuse.
Do I need to replace the calipers too?
Not routinely. Replace a caliper if the piston will not retract, if it is leaking, or if a seized slide pin has left one pad worn far more than the other and cleaning and regreasing the pins does not fix it.
How much does a rotor job take?
Roughly an hour per axle for someone who has done it, and two to three hours per axle the first time. Rust-seized rear rotors are the main variable, so start early in the day rather than late.
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