This weekend I did a complete brake job at 119,910 miles. Two bolts off, remove caliper & pads. Two bolts off, remove caliper frame. WD40 and an 8mm bolt to break it free from the hub and pop goes the rotor. Pull the rotor. Clean everything with brake cleaner. Put on the new rotor. Replace the caliper frame. Push in the piston with a wood clamp. Grease liberally. Place new pads. Replace the caliper (and pad springs in the front). Go onto the next wheel.

I also completely drained and replaced all the brake fluid by the old standard pump while bleeding and adding fluid method.

I now have happy brakes. BTW, the front pads are original and the rears almost as old.

I also drained and refilled my power steering fluid, which was also original. My bad, that should have been changed earlier. The reservoir was so dirty I had to clean the inside with a paper towel and an Allen wrench to be able to see the fluid level.

It was a good car day.

 

Did you scuff up the new rotor prior to installation?

 

I've heard of this in the past but have never done it. What do you use to scuff it? What direction (if sandpaper is specified?)

 

My garage guys do it to remove any slight imperfections / light oil from manufacturing / handling. It had a black backer to it. Will ask for specifics and advise.

 

No. I didn't get bottom-of-the-line rotors so they were good to go. The braking was fine from the very first pump. My old front rotors were a bit warped so it is so nice to have an absolutely smooth braking feel. New pads on new rotors are a thing of beauty.

 

Thanks for the instructions - very helpful in convincing me to DIY. It's been a while since I've done brakes, but these seems so easy I thought I'd give it a shot. Replaced pads and rotors all the way around. Used Centric premium rotors and centric semi-metallic (low dust) pads.

The only part that was hard/tricky was installing the clips on the front pads. These are used to force the pads away from the rotors (must be an anti-squeal mechanism). Could not get the clips on without the pads pulling away from the assembly.

After much trial and error, I got a C clamp from the basement, which kept the pads in place while I installed both clips and then swung the caliper assembly in place. Not a perfect solution as it mucks with the brake pad grease on the rear of the pad, but was the only way I could find to do it.

Other than that, all went well. And most importantly, the brakes are working perfectly.

 

If you use brake clean on the rotors you get all of the shipping/cutting oil off of the rotors. Just "bed" them in correctly and you'll be OK.