Replacing Brakes.....

[Pyro-Andrew]

how do you change your rotors and pads????? neeed help......thanx!!!

[ColonelPanic]

For the pads: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=20981My dad and I tore into mine one evening and changed out the front pads. The hardest part was getting the stupid wheels off where the people who rotated the tires last chewed up the lug nuts. Flipside's procedure for this is right on.The rotors, however, are another story. It was my intention to replace the pads and rotors up front initially, but that just couldn't happen. On my past cars that I've changed the brakes out on, all that needed to be done was remove the caliper and the rotor would pull straight off. But things didn't seem to want to work like that here, we couldn't get the rotor to move at the slightest. It looked like it may be held in by the nut at the end of the axle. We gave up on replacing them since we didn't want to take any chances with it - who knows what sort of procedure you have to follow or what special tools you may need. The service manual just said "remove disc." Uh, ok. Seeing how it didn't work that way, I figured I would leave the rotors to somebody else. Sorry I'm no help with the rotors. Maybe somebody else can chime in on how to get this done. Here's a PDF of the procedure if you need it.http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...1.pdf

[harryyiii]

The official procedure PDF has a lot of extra steps. In a nutshell, if you know that you are replacing the rotors and pads, Remove the wheel Remove the two floating caliper bolts Remove the caliper, careful not to stretch the hose. support the caliper with a wire. Remove any retainer if applicable, and remove the rotor. May need a rubber mallet Remove the pads. Compress the cylinder with a large clamp. If there is problem collapsing the cylinder, you may need to remove the hose, and work at a vice Install the new rotor and retainer Install the new pads Reinstall the caliper.Rotors are so cheap nowadays, it makes no sense to reuse one. Pads and rotors on my Neon lasted 100K m. Rotors were 20 ea in the front and 30 e in the back. By the time that I replaced the fourth rotor and pads on a Neon, it only took 45 minutes.

[Pyro-Andrew]

thanx for the help!! i have this coming weeek off so ill be putting on my new hood (from Bluecrush) and liner, and changing pads and rotors! thank you!!!

[bh357]

I replaced my fronts a couple of months back, after getting 100k miles out of the stock pads. The rears were replaced at about 65k, as the rotors were wearing (scoring, but with plenty of meat still on the pads).The hardest part of the job was removing the old rotors. The service manual makes it sound really easy, but they neglect to mention that almost 4 years worth of rust is a great bonding agent. It took soaking with penetrating oil and plenty of whacking to get them to pop free.Make sure that you support the calipers with wire, so they are not hanging from the brake line. Also, be careful when compressing the caliper cylindar, ensuring that it goes in straight and doesn't bind up.

[03frostygt]

Thanks for the PDF I'm printing it as we speak.

[NSimkins]

Quote, originally posted by bh357 »The hardest part of the job was removing the old rotors. The service manual makes it sound really easy, but they neglect to mention that almost 4 years worth of rust is a great bonding agent. It took soaking with penetrating oil and plenty of whacking to get them to pop free.You ain't kidding! I changed out my rotors tonight and still have some ringing in my ears from pounding on those things to break them out from the rust "seal". I have about 61,000 miles right now and had some pulsating braking so I figured I'd replace them straight out (I replaced the pads at about 50,000 even though they weren't too bad). Everything is nice and smooth now, at least for another 50,000 or more.

[ColonelPanic]

Man, I know what you're talking about... I was never able to get mine off of there. Dad and I gave up before we broke something. You just jogged my memory, now I realize I have two brand new rotors sitting down at the folks' place that I have absolutely no use for! Guess I'll be taking them to a meet this summer to see who wants 'em.