2016-2022 Infiniti Q60 Brake Noise: Squeal, Grinding and Pulsation Causes

By Core Brake Parts Tech Team — Circleville, OH warehouse

Most brake noise on a 2016-2022 Infiniti Q60 falls into three groups. A light squeak on gentle stops is often normal. A high-pitched scrape that gets louder as you drive is the built-in pad wear warning telling you the pads are due. A pulsing pedal or shaking steering wheel points to uneven rotor thickness, not a rotor that has "warped." Below is how to tell them apart, what causes each one, and which parts actually fix it.

How the Q60 Brake System Is Built

Every second-generation Q60 uses four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, Brake Assist and Electronic Brake force Distribution. The owner's manual notes the disc brakes self-adjust every time you press the pedal, so there is no adjuster to set after a pad change. Brake fluid is Genuine NISSAN Super Heavy Duty Brake Fluid or an equivalent DOT 3.

There are two brake packages, and knowing which one you have matters before you buy parts:

If your calipers are finished in red, you almost certainly have the Sport Brakes. Order parts that list "sport brakes" in the fitment, or confirm with your VIN before you buy.

Squeal and Squeak: Normal, Hardware, or Worn Pads?

Infiniti is direct about this in the Q60 owner's manual: under some driving or climate conditions an occasional squeak or squeal during light to moderate stops is normal and does not affect braking. A little noise on the first few stops of a cold, damp morning, which goes away once the surface rust wipes off the rotors, fits that description.

Squeal that is constant, gets louder over weeks, or started right after a pad change is different. Brake squeal is vibration. As the pad rubs the rotor it sets up a vibration, and if that frequency matches something in the caliper, knuckle or pad backing plate, the parts ring like a tuning fork. Bendix's technical bulletin traces most of this noise to changes in brake torque across the rotor surface. Common causes on a car that has been driven a while:

• Worn or missing shims. The shim on the back of the pad adds mass and a damping layer between the pad and the caliper piston. A shim that is torn, rusted or left off lets vibration pass straight into the caliper.
• Tired clips and pins. Wagner notes that anti-rattle clips, springs and pins lose their temper from brake heat. A pad that cannot slide cleanly drags and chatters.
• Rust on the caliper and bracket. Rust under the clips pinches the pad ears, so the pad does not sit parallel to the rotor.
• Glazed pads or skipped break-in. A pad that was never bedded, or was cooked by holding the pedal at a stop after hard use, gets a hard, shiny face that squeals.

The Wear Warning Scrape and Grinding

The Q60's disc pads have audible wear warnings. Per the owner's manual, when a pad needs replacing it makes a high-pitched scraping sound while the car is moving. At first you hear it only when you press the brake. As the pad wears further, you hear it all the time, pedal or not. Infiniti's instruction is to have the brakes checked as soon as you hear it.

If you ignore the scrape long enough, it turns into grinding. Grinding is metal on metal: the pad's steel backing plate is cutting into the rotor. At that point the rotors are almost always damaged past resurfacing, and continued driving can damage the caliper too. A rhythmic scraping can also be a stone trapped between the rotor and dust shield, which is a quick fix once the wheel is off. Either way, grinding means pull the wheel now, not at the next oil change.

Pulsation: What "Warped Rotors" Really Means

A pedal that pulses under steady braking, or a steering wheel that shakes during stops from highway speed, is almost always disc thickness variation (DTV). Power Stop and Wagner both describe the same mechanism. The rotor develops thick and thin spots, and as those spots pass through the caliper they push the pistons in and out. You feel that as pulsation in the pedal.

DTV usually starts with lateral runout, which is the rotor wobbling slightly as it turns. Wagner puts most vehicles' runout limit at two thousandths of an inch or less. When the rotor wobbles, the pads touch parts of it on every turn. Semi-metallic pads wear thin spots into it; ceramic pads leave material behind and build thick spots. The common causes are all avoidable:

• Rust or scale left on the hub face when the rotor was installed. Wagner warns that even a small piece of rust there can cause runout.
• Lug nuts run on with an impact gun or tightened unevenly, which keeps the rotor from seating flat. Torque them in a star pattern to the factory value.
• Uneven pad deposits from holding the brake at a stop while the rotors are very hot.
• Worn suspension bushings, which Power Stop notes can mimic DTV symptoms.

Resurfacing can fix mild DTV if the rotor stays above its minimum thickness after cutting. On Q60 rotors that are already worn, replacement is usually the better choice.

The Fix: Which Parts and What to Replace Together

Match the repair to the symptom:

• Wear warning scrape, rotors smooth: new pads with fresh hardware. Our 2016-2022 Infiniti Q60 front ceramic brake pads from Bendix are a direct replacement; check the listing's fitment against your brake package. You can also browse ceramic brake pads for low-dust options.
• Grinding, deep scoring or pulsation: pads and rotors together. See our brake rotors, and pick the correct size for standard or Sport Brakes.
• Squeal with good pads: clean the caliper brackets, replace the clips with a brake hardware kit, and lubricate the pins and pad contact points with a heat-stable, non-petroleum brake lubricant.
• Soft pedal along with the noise: check the fluid level and condition. Infiniti's severe-service schedule for the Q60 calls for replacing brake fluid every 10,000 miles or 12 months and inspecting pads and rotors every 5,000 miles or 6 months.

Every time you replace pads, clean the hub face down to bare metal before installing rotors. Also clean the caliper piston face and the areas where the pads contact the bracket, and put a thin coat of silicone brake lube on the back of shims that call for it. Wagner cautions against putting any compound on rubber-type insulators, because it reduces their effectiveness.

Bedding the New Pads

Skipping break-in is the fastest way to get noise and pulsation back. Wagner's burnish procedure is 20 slowdowns from 50 mph to 20 mph with light pressure, with at least 30 seconds between each to let the brakes cool. Do not come to a full stop and sit with the pedal held while the rotors are hot. Pad makers sometimes publish their own procedure, so follow the one in the pad box if it differs.

Difficulty-wise, a Q60 pad and rotor job is a solid driveway job with basic hand tools, a torque wrench, and a jack with stands. Work one side at a time so the other side is there as a reference for how the clips and shims go back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my Q60 brakes squeak only in the morning?

Overnight moisture leaves a thin layer of surface rust on the rotors. The first few stops scrub it off and can squeak while doing it. Infiniti says occasional noise like this during light to moderate stops is normal.

How do I know if the noise is the wear indicator?

The Q60's wear warning is a high-pitched scraping sound. It starts only when you brake, then over time you hear it all the time. If that matches, inspect the pads right away.

Can I put standard Q60 rotors on a Red Sport 400?

No. Sport Brakes use larger 14.0 inch front and 13.8 inch rear discs. Buy parts listed for the Sport Brakes, or confirm fitment with your VIN.

Will new pads alone stop pedal pulsation?

Usually not. Pulsation comes from uneven rotor thickness, so the rotors need resurfacing or replacement. Clean the hub face and torque the lug nuts correctly, or the problem comes back.

What brake fluid does the Q60 use?

The owner's manual specifies Genuine NISSAN Super Heavy Duty Brake Fluid or an equivalent DOT 3. Use fresh fluid from a sealed container.

Sources

1. 2017 INFINITI Q60 Owner's Manual - pad wear warning behavior, normal brake noise, self-adjusting brakes, DOT 3 fluid spec, severe-service intervals
2. 2022 INFINITI Q60 Brochure - Sport Brakes 14.0 / 13.8 in rotor sizes, red calipers on Red Sport 400, ABS/Brake Assist/EBD
3. Wagner Brake - Brake System Noise - hardware, shim lubrication and burnish procedure
4. Wagner Brake - Pedal Pulsation and Disc Thickness Variation - runout limits, hub rust, lug torque
5. Power Stop - Why Do I Have a Pulsing Brake Pedal? - DTV causes, suspension bushings mimicking DTV
6. Bendix Technical Bulletin - Brake Noise In-Depth - torque variation and shim damping as noise causes