Fit front brake pads & disks - By Richie

[Anonymous]

WARNING: WHILE THIS IS AN EXCELLENT GUIDE, PLEASE DO NOT WORK ON BRAKES OR ANYTHING UNDER THE CAR WITHOUT HAVING THE WEIGHT OF THE CAR FIRMLY ON QUALITY JACK-STANDS. WORKING WITH JUST A JACK IS PLAIN DANGEROUS. IF YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, YOU COULD BE STUCK UNDER THERE FOR A LONG TIME!!

Here is a guide I compiled whilst fitting new front brakes to the front of my roadster at the beginning of the year (only just getting round to putting the guide together   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  )

If I have missed anything / made a mistake then please let me know and I will edit this guide.

**** Usual disclaimer about doing it at your own risk and if it all goes wrong, both I / MR2ROC take no liability****

All of the items, neatly packaged, ordered from  w www.braking.co.uk w .





First of all, with the car on level ground, make sure the wheels are chocked so that the car can't roll away when it is jacked up. With the car still on the ground, loosen the 4 wheel nuts very slightly, about half a turn each. put the jack to the correct jacking points and jack it up.



remove the final four nuts and take the wheel off. Place the wheel underneath the car so that if the jack were to fail, the car would land on the wheel and not YOU.



Next, open the bonnet and remove the cap from the brake fluid reservoir.



With the wheel removed; look at the state of my discs.



First up, undo the bolt which holds the brake pipe in place.



Secondly, undo the top and bottom bolts of the caliper:





This allows you to remove the caliper and sit it out of the road. (NOTE: If you're only changing the pads, this is as far as you need to go. remove the old pads and replace with new ones. refit all other parts in reverse order to above)



If replacing discs as well, remove the bolts as shown in the picture below:



This allows the removal of the second part of the caliper.



Removing the disk is often a case of simply pulling it off to reveal the hub. If you cannot get the disc off, the 2 small holes are there so that you can insert two screws and tighten so that you are pushing the disc away from the hub, until the disc is removed. The hub should be brushed with a wire brush to remove any dirt / rusty bits and make a good flat mate with the disk.



Further inspection of my old discs revealed excessive wear and "Grooving"



For the new discs, it is important to wipe them down as they will still be slightly contaminated with oil and lubricant from their production. I used white spirits and a rag to clean them.



Next, simply fit the new disc over the hub.



and replace the first part of the caliper as shown below:



A comparison between my old pads and my new ferodo ones. Strangely, the new ones don't seem to have a groove up the middle. I have to say though my new brakes are a million times better than the previous so I don't think this is any kind of issue.





Fit the clips onto the brake pads and insert the new pads into the caliper



Carefully apply copper grease to the back of the brake pads. Be sure not to get ANY on the pad / disk surface as this will cause your brakes not to work! Applying copper grease to the back of your pads stops your brakes from squealing



Because the size of your existing brake pads is much thinner than your new ones, you will have to push the pistons back in a little to allow it to fit over the new pads & disk.  When doing this, be very careful not to damage the rubber seals of the cylinders.  To push it back, I put 2 bits of wood between the piston and the caliper and pulled them apart to push the piston back in.



Fit the caliper back over the brake disk and reinsert the 2 bolts that holds it on.



TADA! Doesn't that look nice?



Refit the brake pipe clip.



IMPORTANT: Refit the brake reservoir lid!



Now, Refit the wheel and jack the car down. remove the chocks and retighten the wheel. before driving the car, start the engine up and pump the brake pedal several times to get the pressure back up in the system.

when using the car for the next while, take care not to use the brakes too hardly / nor depend on them too much till they are properly worn in.

[Beowulf]

Nice guide.I did this just over a year ago.MrT recomended it on a service.They also recommended that I use genuine Toyota parts as aftermarket ones were 'inferior quality and wont last long'.As they did not sell parts at the dealership I go to (and normally its very good) I took their advace.Sadly after just over a year they are in worse condition than the ones I took off!! I think I will go for racing spec grooved ones next time and decent pads,lol.Bye the way,how did you colour code your calipers?Did you mask and spray them in siu or undo them off the brake pipe and spray them??  s:?: :?: s:?:

[kanujunkie]

The calipers are just painted. Nice writeup Richie  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Tem]

If I have missed anything / made a mistake then please let me know and I will edit this guide.

First up, undo the bolt which holds the brake pipe in place.
Secondly, undo the top and bottom bolts of the caliper:
This allows you to remove the caliper and sit it out of the road. (NOTE: If you're only changing the pads, this is as far as you need to go)

Nice writeup! But may I comment on this one a bit?  s8) s8)

IIRC, all you need to do to change the pads is to undo the lower bolt of the caliper. After that you can swing the caliper up and change the pads.


Also, I think it's worth mentioning that the fluid level in the reservoir will rise when you fit new pads and/or discs, so if you have filled it since you had new pads&discs, you might wanna remove some of the fluid, avoiding it overflowing. Brake fluid will ruin painted surface!  s:? :? s:?

And if anyone's doing the rear, the pistons won't push in, but instead they screw in. (uhm...  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  )

[Tem]

The calipers are just painted. Nice writeup Richie  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

How come you're up at this hour? This is supposed to be my alone-time at ROC!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[kanujunkie]

cant sleep, aprehension at todays impending nightmares for the engine   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

[spit]

Very nicely done Richie. Concise yet detailed.
How long did the all-round install take?

I think Tem's two observations are valid. I'd like to see this as an accessible article for Club members - its well within the reach of the keen DIY-er.

Just a couple of safety issues I'd like to add though, particularly if this is going to be a reference for a wider audience.

- scissor jacks (and a strategically placed wheel) should not be relied upon when doing this kind of work. You've proved its perfectly feasible, but we should be advocating axle stands rather than a roadside emergency tool.

- similarly, could you add that the car should be on level ground?

- perhaps a little added at the bedding-in end to help users identify potential problems with the install (eg car pulling to left or right)

Just my open-brain thoughts. Feel free to do what you like with them!

I know these sound daft, but I'm mindful that some will follow your instructions verbatim so we need to cover these bases.

[darrenjuggins]

Jesus - do you all suffer from Imsomnia !!!

I didn't rise until 9am and I was ment to be getting up to get some pictures of the sun rise doh !

Nice Story Board on the Brakes, I presume this will be moved to stickies at some point - mods ?

Cheers

Darren J

[spit]

I presume this will be moved to stickies at some point - mods ?

Sticky or Article seems sensible to me (with the above caveats added).

[Anonymous]

Cheers  s:D s:D  The calipers were painted by the previous owner in situ, using red enamel paint. I've never had to do them again, its a very hard-wearing finish.

Tem: that is correct, all you need to undo is one of the bolts if only changing the pads, however I had difficulty pushing the piston back in so had to remove the other bolt and take the caliper off to get better access.

As for the brake fluid, I meant to add that you should check the level before you start so that when you push the piston in, it doesn't overflow. As Tem suggested, remove some fluid if you think it will overflow from the reservoir when you push the piston back in.

Richie.

PS: Feel free to add to sticky / or "Articles"

[GSB]

One point to add:

When fitting new discs its always a good idea to remove any rust / deposits from the mating surface on the hub. Any crap caught in between disc and hub will stop the disc running straight and true through the caliper, resulting in all sorts of nasty issues.

[Anonymous]

Very nicely done Richie. Concise yet detailed.
How long did the all-round install take?

I think Tem's two observations are valid. I'd like to see this as an accessible article for Club members - its well within the reach of the keen DIY-er.

Just a couple of safety issues I'd like to add though, particularly if this is going to be a reference for a wider audience.

- scissor jacks (and a strategically placed wheel) should not be relied upon when doing this kind of work. You've proved its perfectly feasible, but we should be advocating axle stands rather than a roadside emergency tool.

- similarly, could you add that the car should be on level ground?

- perhaps a little added at the bedding-in end to help users identify potential problems with the install (eg car pulling to left or right)

Just my open-brain thoughts. Feel free to do what you like with them!

I know these sound daft, but I'm mindful that some will follow your instructions verbatim so we need to cover these bases.

Missed your post with my other reply there Spit, so....

1) to do both sides of the car, it took me a grand total of about an hour.

2) I agree with your point about the scissor jacks, but bear in mind that this is something which will be carried out by DIYers like me who don't always have access to good tools. That is why i therefore put the wheel under the car and chocked the other wheels to stop the car from rolling, in case the worst were to happen. I was under the impression that the wheel would take the weight of the car if it were to fall onto it. Is this then not the case?
I do agree that axle stands and a trolley jack would be the ideal equipment to use, but I thought the above equipment would be suitable to improvise as long as the correct precautions were taken. (Chocking and contingency-wheel  s;) s;) )

3)I will add the comment about level ground: Good thinking.

4)Good idea about the bedding-in bit. Perhaps somebody could help me out with this and give me an idea of some possible problems / solutions which could be added to the article?

Thanks for the feedback, I hope my reply didn't come across as though I was shooting you down   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

Richie

[Anonymous]

One point to add:

When fitting new discs its always a good idea to remove any rust / deposits from the mating surface on the hub. Any crap caught in between disc and hub will stop the disc running straight and true through the caliper, resulting in all sorts of nasty issues.

Another good point! I did this with a wire brush in my install, but didnt take any pictures. Will add to the article too...

[spit]

I hope my reply didn't come across as though I was shooting you down   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

Not at all, in fact I didn;t want you to think that I was criticising your write-up!! Its excellent.

Not outwardly criticising your jacking precautions either, as its very clear you worked within the safety of what you had to-hand.

I'm just worried that some may try the same thing without such attention for their safety. Without wishing to offend any readers, we need to cover the issues for those who may be less cautious or aware of the implications of what they're doing.

[Anonymous]

Team Hugs   s:D s:D

Seriously though I do appreciate the feedback. Its also very helpful for people intent on carrying this out.

Keep it coming...

[Tem]

Keep it coming...

As requested!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  


"Removing the discs is now simply a case of pulling it off to reveal the hub."

If it's rusty enough, it won't pull off. Instead you have to use two bolts in the two holes on the disc to pop it loose.  s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

Keep it coming...

As requested!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  


"Removing the discs is now simply a case of pulling it off to reveal the hub."

If it's rusty enough, it won't pull off. Instead you have to use two bolts in the two holes on the disc to pop it loose.  s8) s8)

or whack with large mallet

(The disk, not the pedantic Fin)

(joking)

added to article.

[Tem]

(The disk, not the pedantic Fin)

  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Don't do that while I'm in the office, people look at me with funny faces, probably thinking I'm going crazy cause I laugh at my work.  s:roll: :roll: s:roll: