Freeing up brake calipers - Is it hard?

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Having just been quoted £449.65 to change all four discs and eight pads on my '2, I'm seriously thinking about doing it myself!

I was going to do it myself anyway when I found an ebay shop selling 4 generic discs and 8 mintex pads for a shade over £100 (tempting..), but over the past month or two, I've been hearing a noise which leads me to believe that my drivers rear caliper might be sticking.  As this new noise might add complication to the discs and pads renewal, I wanted to take it to a garage for a trained mechanic to sort out, plus it's hassle free for me.

Now, I'm pretty handy with a spanner, having changed gearbox's, brake discs and what not on previous cars, but I've never had to contend with (what I *think* is) sticking calipers as I've generally only been involved in quite smooth remove and replace jobs.

Is it just a case of popping a film of copper grease on the bar to get it functioning/sliding correctly, or am I looking at a "dismantle, clean, reassemble" process?

[uktotty]

Easy job, call Rob, he will come round at 11.30PM and do it for you.  s:) s:)

Just make sure you have the Brake Piston tool, the rest is a breeze

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Is that FGrob? If so, I'll drop him a PM and get some helpful hints

[SimonC_Here]

Probably custardavenger
 l viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25219&p=312181&hilit=+brakes#p312181 l

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Cool, thanks Simon  s:D s:D

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Just wanted to ask what you guys thought of that package?

Are Mintex pads alright or total pants? Does it generally matter what discs you fit, as long as they're vented?

THanks in advance

[uktotty]

My deal for 4 x grooved and drilled and mintex pads was £200

The pads seem to develop a LOT of dust by comparison to the last ones.

So £500 vs £200 seems steep to me

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Which pads would you recommend to go for? ....within reason of course   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[uktotty]

General consensus is GreenStuff pads or OEM

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Thanks uktotty  s:D s:D

[Innocent]

Yeah, toyotas own are very good and last for ages. Good value too. Changing them is a doddle, follow the guide in the how to section. If there is any sticking or warping it makes no difference to the diffculty of the job so long as you're changing discs too.

[Anonymous]

By the love of God don't buy the Greenstuff crap. Utter, utter garbage unless you want a pad worse than stock with even more dust.

OEM all the way unless you want to spend silly money.

[aaronjb]

My Greenstuff work rather nicely.. dusty, but they stop a lot better than the Toyota stuff that was on there before (although it's a little bit unfair since I did discs & pads at the same time - still I don't remember it stopping this well at any point in it's life)..

[Anonymous]

I STILL SAY DO NOT WANT

Hate them. 'Orrible things. *spits*

[spit]

*spits*

My turn then  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

I had 'em donks back and using them again now. They are way less dire than they used to be. Good even.

Said it before, but I'd still favour OEM or proven branded disks over EBay unknowns when it comes to life-saving stuff   s:? :? s:?  For the sake of an extra 15 quid a corner its a no-brainer .... no disrespect intended towards anyone who has used them, just my own view.

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My understanding was that metal brake discs are metal brake discs, its the vented/grooved/drilled technology that set them apart, and the pads are the important factor to spend money on.

Apologies if im being extremely niave, but surely an unbranded brake disc is just the same as a branded. I dont understand how a metal disc can be differ?

[spit]

Metal is metal, true, but the quality of steel - impurity content etc - is not something you'll be able to tell by staring at it.

The choice is yours to make of course.

If you're going drilled/grooved, I'd opt for dimples rather than holes. I'm told that EBC use OEM as their raw material - whether this is true or not I dunno. Someone else may be able to comment.

I've seen drilled-through disks on a '2 with heat damage/fracturing around the holes - not pretty.

[ChrisGB]

My understanding was that metal brake discs are metal brake discs, its the vented/grooved/drilled technology that set them apart, and the pads are the important factor to spend money on.

Apologies if Im being extremely niave, but surely an unbranded brake disc is just the same as a branded. I dont understand how a metal disc can be differ?

All discs are not the same. Cheap and sometimes nasty knock offs can get to the market and they typically warp or crack pretty quickly. I got a set of EBC discs (plain) and OEM pads and it stops just fine with no sign of warping or cracking.

Chris

[kanujunkie]

I've seen drilled-through disks on a '2 with heat damage/fracturing around the holes - not pretty.

a lot of race teams dont use drilled discs anymore due to the issues with the fracturing between the holes and have gone back to solids. A friend used EBC discs on his skyline and had this issue, there wasn't a single hole without a crack to another. Personally i'd never use drilled discs, they're a fad especially on the 2, i never used anything but stock discs and brakes on the 2 even on track and never had a single issue, only worth while mods were stainless lines and some rb600, far cheaper than expensive unnessesary discs and pads

[ChrisGB]

I've seen drilled-through disks on a '2 with heat damage/fracturing around the holes - not pretty.

a lot of race teams dont use drilled discs anymore due to the issues with the fracturing between the holes and have gone back to solids. A friend used EBC discs on his skyline and had this issue, there wasn't a single hole without a crack to another. Personally i'd never use drilled discs, they're a fad especially on the 2, i never used anything but stock discs and brakes on the 2 even on track and never had a single issue, only worth while mods were stainless lines and some rb600, far cheaper than expensive unnessesary discs and pads

Likewise I have had cracking between holes on a vented disk before. I think the key thing to ask when looking at replacements is "how was it on what I had?" If you were happy with the stopping but not the feel, then perhaps look at some braided brake hoses. They make a big difference to brake feel when you are really on it.

Maybe the stopping was ok on road, but you boiled your fluid on track. RB600 or similar is your answer here.

Maybe you had fade, then uprated pads are the most likely answer. I have pushed the 2 very hard on the sort of brake torture B / C road drive that really melts brakes and it has never had an issue with fade. These conditions tend to be as hard or harder on brakes than the track sometimes in my experience. Also remember that no matter how good a pad is, fade will happen eventually, but if you are comparing worn to new, the worn ones will fade earlier. Only uprate pads I would recommend for the roads are the Ferodo DS2500 of the Mintex compound that replaced the Extreme series (cannot remember what it is off the top of my head). Pagid do a good fast road as well but I found they stained the wheels yellow.

If your existing setup was working well, I would not change it.  

Chris