Nissan Altima’s have gotten more popular after their latest release, thanks to a more stylish body design, lightweight profile, and great performance compared to similar models of midsize sedan.
But, like any car Nissan Altima needs new brake pads occasionally if you want to keep the brakes working their best. We know how important safety is, so we did a comprehensive review of the best brake pads on the market for Nissan Altima, particularly with the 2019 model in mind.
If you are looking to keep your family as safe as possible, or just want to make sure your car performs its best during your daily commute, these brakes are for you.
Will also go over the most important qualities to look for in brake pads for your Nissan Altima. That way you’ll know which features matter, which features are most important to you and your family, and how to choose the best brake pad set for your car.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- How to choose the best brake pads for Nissan Altima
- Which brake pad features matter most for your Nissan Altima
- And a lot more!
Below is our quick list of the best brake pads for a Nissan Altima. Keep reading to learn more of our top tips to choose and use the best brake pads for a Nissan Altima.
| Image | Product | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
My Top Pick  | My Top Pick | Nissan OEM Brake Pads
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| View on Amazon |
Best High-End  | Best High-End | Bendix Premium Copper Free Ceramic Brake Pad
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| View on Amazon |
Runner Up  | Runner Up | Bosch QuietCast Premium Ceramic Disc Brake Pad
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| View on Amazon |
 | KFE Ultra Quiet Advanced Premium Ceramic Brake Pad
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| View on Amazon | |
 | Detroit Axle Ceramic Brake Pads w/Hardware, Brake Fluid & Cleaner
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| View on Amazon |
What's in this Guide?
Our Overall Top #1 Pick: Genuine Nissan OEM Brake Pads
Like most car parts, there can be advantages to buying the original Nissan OEM brake pads for your Altima.
For one thing, OEM parts might help extend your warranty and make it easier to get maintenance down the road. For another, you know that you’re working with the kind of brake pads your brakes were designed to use. That means that your Altima will be closer to the actual on-road performance it is rated for since you’ve eliminated one of the performance variables that may change how well it drives.
Read More: >> When To Replace Your Brake Pads?
Buying OEM brake pads also means that you’re getting the exact pad type your car was designed for. Other kinds of brake pads fit, but they aren’t necessarily designed with Altimas in mind. That can mean that buying OEM is an easier install for you or your mechanic.
Fortunately, Nissan’s brake pads are already high quality and offer good performance value for the money.
Keep reading to learn more what you should look for in great brake pads for your Nissan Altima, and to learn more about the sets we recommend.
Looking to learn how to replace your brake pads yourself? This video has you covered. It is an older model of Altima (2010) but the basic principles are all the same.
Top 5 Best Brake Pads for Nissan Alima
In a hurry? Check out our top 5 picks below! Keep reading to learn more about these top 5 best brake pads for Nissan Altima.
- Genuine Nissan OEM Brake Pads (Our Top Pick)
- Bendix Premium Copper Free Ceramic Brake Pad (Best High-End)
- Bosch QuietCast Premium Ceramic Disc Brake Pad (Runner Up)
- KFE Ultra Quiet Advanced Premium Ceramic Brake Pad
- Detroit Axle Ceramic Brake Pads w/Hardware, Brake Fluid & Cleaner
What are the Advantages of Quality Brake Pads for a Nissan Altima?
With the driving improvements more recent models of Altima have made, it’s more important than ever to make sure you have good brake pads to keep you safely on the road. Altima’s are described as efficient, fun to drive, and are usually considered incredibly safe. But your brake pads are some of the most important safety equipment you can have on the road.
High-end brake pads have a few advantages in your Altima. One of the most important advantages of high quality brake pad is that it extends the life of the pads, your rotors, and almost every part of your braking system.
It’s also important to consider how high quality brake pads hold up in the weather, especially compared to less expensive alternatives. Weather performance is one of the biggest areas where high quality brake pads stand out. Cheaper alternatives, and materials, tends to have significantly lower wet weather performance compared to high quality brake pads.
That means that high quality brake pads perform better in wet weather, almost regardless of any other component to your car. The best quality all weather tires can’t help your car stop if your brake pads aren’t up to the job.
Read More: >> How To Release Brake Caliper Pressure
Since Altimas tend to be commuter vehicles, you want to make sure you’re only choosing brake pads that can work in all circumstances, not just a few specific ones. The last thing you want is for your commuter car to be stuck at home because the roads aren’t in good condition.
Fortunately, high quality brake pads aren’t actually that much more expensive than lower quality versions. That means that you only have to spend a little more to get a lot of benefit from a high quality brake pad. Benefits like longer-lasting rotors, more time before your brake pads wear out and need to be replaced, and better on the road performance all come with a relatively small price tag.
Since high quality doesn’t cost too much extra in this case, we really recommend that you go for the best brake pads you can afford in order to get the best performance and the most safety from your Altima.
How to Pick the Best Brake Pads for a Nissan Altima?
Like any brake pad, the first thing you need to check is to make sure you’re choosing a model that’s compatible with your Altima. Since Nissan has several different versions of Altima you’ll need to look for your specific model and year. However, since most brake pad manufacturers make different versions of the same brake pad, we are still going to look at broad brake pads that are compatible with most versions of the Altima line.
Just because we’re recommending these brake pads as being good options for your Altima, doesn’t mean that you don’t still have to make sure they’re compatible with your specific version. Fortunately, you can usually choose from several different versions of each brake pad on the same listing on Amazon (or your retailer).
Front or Rear Brake Pads:
It’s important to know that Nissan Altimas all need two different sets of brake pads, one for the front wheels and one for the rear wheels. Mounting the wrong brake pads on the wrong wheel can lower performance and in some cases can even cause damage.
Front and rear brake pads sometimes come in a set together, but it’s more common to need to order two different sets for your rear and front wheels. The actual materials and composition of your brake pad won’t necessarily change, but the shape and mounting hardware will.
Read More: >> How To Use A Brake Bleeder Kit
Brake Pad Materials:
There are several different options when it comes to brake pad materials. The actual materials used for Nissan Altima brake pads aren’t any different from the materials used in other brake pads, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important to choose high quality options.
There are four basic kinds of brake pad materials that are used right now—organic brake pads, semi metallic brake pads, metallic brake pads, and ceramic brake pads.
Organic brake pads are typically the softest, shortest life brake pads available. But, they do have the advantage of being easier on the other hardware in your braking system and wheel, which means they may be a good option if you’re trying to preserve those parts. The biggest problem with organic brake pads is that they don’t tend to perform as well in that weather conditions as any other material.
That means if you’re using organic brake pads you need to give yourself longer stopping distance anytime the roads are wet.
Semi metallic and metallic brake pads are similar in performance, the metallic brake pads are slightly more expensive. Metallic brake pads are also harder on your rotors and the other components of your braking system, which means you’ll need to plan for repair and replacement a little sooner if you use this type of brake pad.
You’ll notice, all of the brake pads we recommend in this article are ceramic brake pads. That’s because ceramic brake pads tend to offer the best combination of performance, durability, and wear and tear resistance.
Ceramic brake pads tend to be more reliable in all weather conditions than organic brake pads, but not quite as hard on your rotor as semi metallic or metallic pads.
However, no brake pad material is perfect. This guide talks more about the pros and cons of ceramic brake pads so you know what to expect from this material.
One other thing to consider—whether your brake pads have copper or not. Currently, there’s a legislative requirement that all brake pads be copper free by 2025. That’s because copper residue from brake pads has been shown to run off roads into local water tables where excess copper affects the health of fish and mollusks in the local environment.
Since the requirement for brake pads to be copper free is still a few years off there are only a few manufacturers who have entirely copper free brake pads on the market now.
But, making the switch to copper free brake pads early is not only a more eco-friendly way to drive, it can also encourage manufacturers to develop a wider selection of copper free brake pads before the legal deadline.
Read More: >> The Best Brake Pads For Honda Accord
Brake Pads Vs. Brake Pad Sets
If you’ve looked for brake pads for your Nissan Altima, you will probably have noticed that there are sets available that are just brake pads and sets that give you a more complete brake assembly. That’s because you occasionally need to replace more than just your brake pads for safe function of your Altima.
However, most of the time you won’t need more than just the brake pads, especially if you keep your car in good working condition and perform all regular maintenance as recommended.
So, unless you specifically know that you need more than just brake pads to get your car back in working order we recommend ordering just brake pad sets without the extra hardware.
Brake Performance Details
Before you commit to buying any brake pads, it’s important to look into the performance detail for those brake pads. Things like whether the brake pads are known to produce a lot of sound on the road, or whether they have quiet performance, can make a big difference in your enjoyment of driving your Nissan Altima.
You should also know whether your brake pads are rated for all weather performance, or if there have known performance differences in wet weather.
You may want to consider whether your brake pads will produce a lot of brake dust on the road. Brake dust usually doesn’t cause any performance issues, but it can impact the look of your tires. If you’re someone who cares about the appearance of your car, and let’s be real most people do, you may want to look for brake pads that are rated as low or no dust to reduce the maintenance that keeps your car looking good.
Our Reviews of the Best Brake Pads for a Nissan Altima
1. Genuine Nissan OEM Brake Pads
We’ve already talked a little about the Nissan OEM brake pads, but let’s dive into the details here.
This is one of the few sets of brake pads where you will get both the front and rear brake pads you need for your Nissan Altima. It also comes with all the hardware you’ll need for install and a small package of brake lubricant.
Like a lot of OEM parts, Nissan doesn’t tell you a lot of details about these brake pads. However, purchasing your brake pads this way gives you the full set in one package. It also guarantees that you will get similar specs as the original brake pads on your Altima.
These brake pads will also be some of the easiest to install since they are designed to go on your Altima.
However, since Nissan doesn’t publish a lot of the specs about these brake pads, likely so that you can’t go out and buy similar brake pads from the original manufacturer, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from a new set. So, you’re trading the security of knowing everything about your brake pads for the security of knowing you have OEM parts that are easier to include under warranties and are likely to offer the closest performance to expected wear and tear on your Altima.
| PROS (+) | CONS (-) |
| + Stable performance + Quiet brake pads + Durable + OEM | – Standard performance, no real improvements over original pads |
2. Bendix Premium Copper Free Ceramic Brake Pad
If you’re looking for a high-quality brake pad, that’s also copper free, these are a good option. These brake pads are reliable, durable, and long-lasting. They perform reasonably well in all weather conditions, and have better-than-average wet weather performance.
But, the real standout quality of these brake pads is that they are already copper free, even though we are several years away from copper free requirements.
The four-layer ceramic design helps keep these brake pads incredibly quiet on the road. If you’re concerned about noise level while you’re driving, these are a good option.
You also won’t have to worry about new brake pads squealing, and can trust that if you’re hearing noise from your brakes they need to be looked at.
This set comes with a full set of brake pads, brake lubricant, the installation hardware you’ll need, and hang tag for the brake pads.
One of the best features of these brake pads is that they are designed for high-performance vehicles. That means that they are well suited to even the most advanced versions of the Altima, and offer enhanced safety on any commuter vehicle.
The copper-free design and enhanced safety requirements of these brake pads do you mean this set is a little more expensive than some alternatives. It’s not a huge price difference, but these brake pads are still designed for people who really value high quality manufacturing and materials.
| PROS (+) | CONS (-) |
| + Copper Free + Very Quiet + Durable + Eco-friendly | – Slightly more expensive |
3. Bosch QuietCast Premium Ceramic Disc Brake Pad
The Bosch QuietCast Premium ceramic disc brake pads are widely considered one of the best options for Nissan Altimas. If we weren’t able to recommend Nissan’s OEM brake pads, these will probably be our top pick.
These brake pads are also a copper free option. They use an advanced alloy, originally designed for aerospace needs, to help reduce wear and tear from friction while still offering high-level braking performance.
This set of brake pads is also designed specifically to extend the life of your rotor. They’re a little spendier than some options, but you’ll recoup the extra cost of these brake pads in saved maintenance costs down the road.
Like most ceramic brake pads, Bosch’s QuietCast Premium ceramic disc brake pads are also designed with quiet performance in mind. That means that these brake pads won’t make excessive noise, even when you’re breaking at highway speeds. Altimas tend to be relatively quiet cars to begin with, that having a quieter set of brake pads can make them even more so.
This set also comes with all of the hardware, lubricant, and other equipment you need for installation. However, since the QuietCast line is large you will need to order your front and rear brake pads separately if you choose this type.
| PROS (+) | CONS (-) |
| + Ceramic brake pads + High performance + Highly durable + Good all-weather performance | – Must order front and rear brake pads separately – Wide selection can make it harder to choose the right model for your Altima |
4. KFE Ultra Quiet Advanced Premium Ceramic Brake Pad
If you’re looking for a quiet option from the first day you install the brake pads through the rest of their lifetime, these are a good option.
KFE’s Ultra Quiet brake pads go through a scorching process at the manufacturer that helps reduce the initial noise after installation.
That means that you have less brake in time, more consistent brake performance, and a quieter brake pad from the first day you install.
These brake pads also offer chambered edges. That means you get better braking grip while also extending the lifetime of the brake pads themselves. Who doesn’t want better braking performance and better durability in the same set?
These bricks are also designed to help reduce braking vibration, another detail that helps reduce the volume of your brake pads on the road. These brake pads offer quiet performance for heavy breaking city driving, as well as high-speed driving on the highway.
You should always check to make sure any brake pads you’re buying are compatible with your specific model Altima. However, this brake pad set is compatible with most available Altimas today.
| PROS (+) | CONS (-) |
| + High compatibility + Good all-weather performance + Very quiet operation + All ceramic | – Very basic kit, no extras |
5. Detroit Axle Ceramic Brake Pads w/Hardware, Brake Fluid & Cleaner
This brake set is just a little different from some of the others we talked about in this review. The main difference with this brake pad set is that it comes with a larger container of brake cleaning fluid. That’s a good addition if you like to keep your wheels particularly clean, if you know you already have a lot of grime buildup on or around your brake system, or if you just want to make sure you’re truly getting everything you need in the kit.
This set is 100% ceramic, and guaranteed not to have any metallic component. That means longer effectiveness, better durability, quieter function, and better all-weather performance over other material options.
Like most brake pad sets Detroit Axle ceramic brake pads also come with all of the necessary installation hardware. So, if you’re comfortable installing the brake pad yourself you’ll have everything you need to get it done.
This set also comes with a 12-ounce bottle brake fluid to help make sure you have everything for installation.
These brake pads are compatible with a wide range of Altimas, but it’s still important to make sure your particular model and year are one of them. Fortunately, Detroit Axle also includes a compatibility list with these brake pads, so you won’t have to check anywhere else before you buy.
| PROS (+) | CONS (-) |
| + Comes with brake fluid + Easy Installation + Wide compatibility + Ceramic brake pads | – Comes in 2 pack, so you’ll need to order 2 sets. |
Our Top Pick: Genuine Nissan OEM Brake Pads
Choosing OEM brakes is almost always a good way to. Unless you know your manufacturer had problems with brakes for a particular model year or with your model of car, it’s a good option. Since Nissan Altima has gotten high safety ratings on their last ever releases, and generally has good braking performance overall, there aren’t a ton of reasons to switch away from OEM brakes.
That said, it doesn’t mean that these brake pads are perfect. We still think that they are good value for the money, and making it a little easier to warrantee and to make sure the rest of your car is still protected are good benefits of choosing OEM.
However, Nissan doesn’t publish a ton of information about their particular brake pads. We also understand if you want to go for an option that’s got a little more information out there.
Overall, these brake pads are good value for the money under one of the safest options. However, since they are the OEM brake pads there’s no customization happening with these pads. If you’re looking for a change in your Altima’s performance you might want to consider one of the other brake pads recommended in this review.
Final Thoughts On the Best Brake Pads for a Nissan Altima
Choosing the right brake pads is critical for the safe operation of any vehicle, not just your Nissan Altima. However, since the more recent models of Altima have improved driving performance and some now come with more high-end high-performance parts, it’s more important than ever to get the right brake pad for your Altima.
Always remember to check and make sure you’re choosing a brake pad that is compatible with your Altima. Choosing the wrong pad can not only make installation of more difficult, or even impossible, but it can also reduce the life of both the brake pad and your brake system and rotors. It’s also important to make sure you have the right brake pads for your front and rear braking system since Altimas have two different sets.
As long as you’re doing that little bit of homework on your own, here confident in the performance and value of every single brake pad listed here.
There’s just one thing left, go hit the road and try out your new brake pads!
