GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I am planning to (finally!) replace my stock rotors with the Brembos I've have sitting here forever and the new Axxis pads. Just have 1 question that I have been getting conflicting responses to, so anyone who's done this please feel free to throw in your $0.02 here. When you are putting the calipers back on, do you have to open the valve or remove the hose to close them? I have been reading here that you just have to clamp them back closed, but my wife's cousin who changed the pads on his moms Corolla said you have to open the valve and the bleed the brakes to get the calipers back on. I plan to do this tomorrow, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I have never changed the pads on my vibe. But, In the past all I have done is crank them with a clamp. I have opened the resivore under the hood though. Put a rag around the resivore just incase some comes out. This only happens when you add fluid to the res. as the pads wear down. if you open the bleeders or remove the hose( Line) you will need to bleed them off which is not easy with ABS system.

When I changed them on my mom's Sunfire I just clamp them back. I don't think you have to bleed it.

What kind of clamp do I need? I can get one beforehand. Something strong enough for this.

Get a big C clamp

Quote, originally posted by Digger »Get a big C clampAnd remove the cap on the reservoir when I am squeezing them down?

don't open the brake lines/bleeder valves. If you have added brake fluid to compensate for the brake pad wear, then clamping the calipers could cause an overflow when you push that fluid back up the line. If you have never added fluid, you should not have that problem. compressing the caliper cylinder is not an explosive thing, so while compressing the caliper, you can stop to take a peek at the reservoir to verify it's not going to overflow. I had never added fluid to mine, and had no overflow problem.

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »don't open the brake lines/bleeder valves. If you have added brake fluid to compensate for the brake pad wear, then clamping the calipers could cause an overflow when you push that fluid back up the line. If you have never added fluid, you should not have that problem. compressing the caliper cylinder is not an explosive thing, so while compressing the caliper, you can stop to take a peek at the reservoir to verify it's not going to overflow. I had never added fluid to mine, and had no overflow problem.That's what I thought. I won't be opening anything.

I don't know for sure what happened with mine, but it did end up squirting some out of the reservior. And I think the cap was still on it at the time, but my memory may be failing me on this one so I can't speak with any sort of certainty. When it was all said and done, I had a level that was higher than I would have liked to see... So, I ended up running down to the grocery store and buying a turkey baster, sucked some of the excess out. I've never added fluid, only thing I can think of is that the dealer did somewhere along the line...