Nissan Repair: Rotor replacement, cross drilled rotors, caliper pistons

Question
Hi Von,
I have a 2001 Nissan Sentra SE and I need to replace the rotors.  I have a few questions, I hope that's okay.  
1.  What tools will I need for the job and what size?
2.  Is it wise to replace the front and rear at the same time (the car has rear disk as well?)
3.  What is the size of the rotors on the car/front and rear?  Most part stores get very confused when I tell them the car came equipped with 16in alloys.  I'm asking this to insure that they give me the right rotors when buying the parts as most don't believe that it has 16's on it and they have no reference in their computer for that size for my car.
3.  Do you recommend a certain type/brand of rotor?  I do a lot of highway driving and the stock rotor didn't do well at all.

Thanks much,
Tim  

Answer
Tim,

No, you do not have the do the front and back at the same time.  That is, unless the back are worn down too.  The back brakes usually last twice as long as the fronts.  Tols needed will be a set of metric tools, to get the calipers and torque members off as well as a piston compressor for the caliper pistons.  rockauto.com is great for parts at about half the price of the dealer.  I do not know the size of your rotors.  If they are stock they will show up on their on-line catalog.  I would go with the factory pads from courtesynissan.com and whatever aftermarket rotor rockauto.com sells.  I think the calipers come off with a 14 MM and the torque member, the thing the caliper bolts to, is a 19 MM or a 21 MM.  Can't remember since I just do the work and bring out a set of sockets.  You could go with cross drilled rotors to keep the rotors cooler and tirerack.com has them.