Method
05-03-2008, 01:49 AM
Hi,
At the weekend I upgraded my front brakes with the following:
Red Subaru 4 Pot Front Calipers (taken from a newage WRX)
Ferodo DS2500 Pads (looking like new, about 80% life left)
Black Diamond Grooved + Vented Discs (virtually brand new)
Strangely this is one job I have never done on any car I have owned so was a good experience for me. I first decided to tool up properly so purchased some new Ratchet Axle Stands from Halfrauds (was suspicious at how well these would hold up but they worked really well), A 2 tonne Trolley Jack and various tools that had gone missing over time.
I started by chocking the rear wheels, making sure DCCD was set to diff-free and front wheels were straight. Jacked up the car on the driver side (tip: get some strong cardboard, wrap it up into a 1" high block and place this on the top of the jack arm, this will stop it from damaging your sill and give even pressure on the jack's lifting disc).
At this point I remembered my camber was off so I checked the camber settings on the passenger side, checked the scoobie pdf guides and set my driver side camber up correctly so most of Saturday was wasted on getting this right.
Sunday got the car jacked up again, stuck one axle stand under the point where the wishbone attaches to the chassis and let the jack down a little onto the axle stand (kept the jack up incase the axle stand slipped or something).
Here is a short guide of what I did:
1. Bled the caliper first by unscrewing the bleed valve located on the top of the caliper.
2. Once all the fluid was out I disconnected the brake line, inspected the crush washers and let the brake line sit in a plastic tub to soak up more of the brake fluid.
3. Got my son to pump the brake pedal a few times to get the rest of the fluid out (checked the brake fluid tank in the engine to make sure all of it was out).
4. Took off the caliper bolts, these are quite easy to take off, apply a little force and they come loose (you will need to use a good spanner for the top bolt as the suspension bolt is in the way so you can't get a socket spanner in there).
5. Pushed the caliper side to side to get the pistons back and then used a flat head screwdriver to push the calipers back further so I could lift the caliper off.
6. Got 2 x M12 bolts and threaded them into the two guide holes on the face of the disc.
7. Turned each bolt equal amounts until I heard a pop as the disc came loose, then lifted the disc off the hub
8. Cleaned the area on and around the hub and then pushed my brake dust shield back towards the suspension a little to give the caliper more room to fit.
9. Used some copper slip grease on the hub and on the inside of the new disc and it's centre and then fitted the disc on.
10. Used my wheel nuts to guide the disc on and then tightened them to make sure the disc was sitting flat against the hub.
11. Positioned the new caliper into place and then lightly done up the two securing bolts to hold it in place.
12. Took my old brake pads and took of the shims that were stuck on, flattened the shims with my wooden mallet.
13. Applied some copper slip grease to the Ferodo pads, fixed the shim in place and then put some more copper slip grease on the surface of the shim.
14. Guided the pad into place and did steps 12 and 13 for the other brake pad.
15. Once the pads were in position I got one of the securing pins and knocked it through the hole in the caliper making sure the pad holes were lined up properly and the pin went through out the other side.
16. I was missing one of the securing wires so I took the only one I had and cut it up, made some "J" shaped securing pins out of the wire and used these to secure the pins in place (bent the free end of the clip over so they wouldn't slide off).
17. Attached the metal securing clip over the top of the caliper (stops the caliper making noise when the pads move around).
*Note: My discs are grooved so I made sure they went on the right way i.e the groves move across the surface of the brake pad and not away from the very top of the groove first
18. Transferred my old bleed valve and brake lines to the new caliper (turned the copper crush washers the other way, will get new ones fitted soon).
19. Got my son to pump the brake pedal until I had bled the fluid into the line and the caliper.
20. Did steps 1 to 19 for the passenger side and then took the car for a drive to bed in the brake pads (applied gental pressure at first, once the discs + pads were warmed up I practiced some stronger braking).
21. Topped up the fluid a bit more to the correct line and then all finished :D
Photo's:
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-1.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-2.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-3.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-4.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-5.jpg
Next weekend I will tackle my rear strut brace, front h-brace and sort out my front anti-roll bar.
At the weekend I upgraded my front brakes with the following:
Red Subaru 4 Pot Front Calipers (taken from a newage WRX)
Ferodo DS2500 Pads (looking like new, about 80% life left)
Black Diamond Grooved + Vented Discs (virtually brand new)
Strangely this is one job I have never done on any car I have owned so was a good experience for me. I first decided to tool up properly so purchased some new Ratchet Axle Stands from Halfrauds (was suspicious at how well these would hold up but they worked really well), A 2 tonne Trolley Jack and various tools that had gone missing over time.
I started by chocking the rear wheels, making sure DCCD was set to diff-free and front wheels were straight. Jacked up the car on the driver side (tip: get some strong cardboard, wrap it up into a 1" high block and place this on the top of the jack arm, this will stop it from damaging your sill and give even pressure on the jack's lifting disc).
At this point I remembered my camber was off so I checked the camber settings on the passenger side, checked the scoobie pdf guides and set my driver side camber up correctly so most of Saturday was wasted on getting this right.
Sunday got the car jacked up again, stuck one axle stand under the point where the wishbone attaches to the chassis and let the jack down a little onto the axle stand (kept the jack up incase the axle stand slipped or something).
Here is a short guide of what I did:
1. Bled the caliper first by unscrewing the bleed valve located on the top of the caliper.
2. Once all the fluid was out I disconnected the brake line, inspected the crush washers and let the brake line sit in a plastic tub to soak up more of the brake fluid.
3. Got my son to pump the brake pedal a few times to get the rest of the fluid out (checked the brake fluid tank in the engine to make sure all of it was out).
4. Took off the caliper bolts, these are quite easy to take off, apply a little force and they come loose (you will need to use a good spanner for the top bolt as the suspension bolt is in the way so you can't get a socket spanner in there).
5. Pushed the caliper side to side to get the pistons back and then used a flat head screwdriver to push the calipers back further so I could lift the caliper off.
6. Got 2 x M12 bolts and threaded them into the two guide holes on the face of the disc.
7. Turned each bolt equal amounts until I heard a pop as the disc came loose, then lifted the disc off the hub
8. Cleaned the area on and around the hub and then pushed my brake dust shield back towards the suspension a little to give the caliper more room to fit.
9. Used some copper slip grease on the hub and on the inside of the new disc and it's centre and then fitted the disc on.
10. Used my wheel nuts to guide the disc on and then tightened them to make sure the disc was sitting flat against the hub.
11. Positioned the new caliper into place and then lightly done up the two securing bolts to hold it in place.
12. Took my old brake pads and took of the shims that were stuck on, flattened the shims with my wooden mallet.
13. Applied some copper slip grease to the Ferodo pads, fixed the shim in place and then put some more copper slip grease on the surface of the shim.
14. Guided the pad into place and did steps 12 and 13 for the other brake pad.
15. Once the pads were in position I got one of the securing pins and knocked it through the hole in the caliper making sure the pad holes were lined up properly and the pin went through out the other side.
16. I was missing one of the securing wires so I took the only one I had and cut it up, made some "J" shaped securing pins out of the wire and used these to secure the pins in place (bent the free end of the clip over so they wouldn't slide off).
17. Attached the metal securing clip over the top of the caliper (stops the caliper making noise when the pads move around).
*Note: My discs are grooved so I made sure they went on the right way i.e the groves move across the surface of the brake pad and not away from the very top of the groove first
18. Transferred my old bleed valve and brake lines to the new caliper (turned the copper crush washers the other way, will get new ones fitted soon).
19. Got my son to pump the brake pedal until I had bled the fluid into the line and the caliper.
20. Did steps 1 to 19 for the passenger side and then took the car for a drive to bed in the brake pads (applied gental pressure at first, once the discs + pads were warmed up I practiced some stronger braking).
21. Topped up the fluid a bit more to the correct line and then all finished :D
Photo's:
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-1.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-2.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-3.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-4.jpg
http://www.finalzero.com/images/4pot-fitting-5.jpg
Next weekend I will tackle my rear strut brace, front h-brace and sort out my front anti-roll bar.