circuitbkr

Wanted to post some notes for those of you doing rotors for the first time. Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures. These are the notes I wish I had when I did mine.


YOU'LL NEED:

• A lift or however you prop your car up.
• 17mm socket wrench
• M8 x 1.0 bolt
• Torque wrench (duh)
• Fresh pads and rotors
• Your fav insta filter

1. Get your car up and take the wheels off. You know how to do this safely. Use a 21mm socket (or if you're in a pinch, 13/16")
   
2. REMOVING THE CALIPER: Remove the retaining pin lock from the caliper and pull the retaining pin out. The retaining clip can be freely removed. Use a 17mm socket wrench to remove the 2 caliper mounting bracket bolts from the hub, and set aside. From here, you can pull the caliper off the rotor. Pull the pads out. Laugh at how awful they look. Carefully balance the caliper on the control arms behind it, or, if working from a jack stand, prop them up on a box on the ground. If you're going to paint them, this is the time. (If you find out a painless way to disconnect them from the brake lines, let me know!) If you're fancy, use safety wire to suspend them. Don't let them hang from the brake lines.
   
3. REMOVING THE ROTOR: WD-40 is your friend. Apply liberally in the set screw holes. You'll likely need to use your M8 bolt in the small set screw hole to pry the rotor off the hub. If your car isn't too old and you don't have a bolt, you might have some luck with a rubber mallet, but this is generally harder.
   
4. REPLACING THE ROTOR: You don't think you're actually just going to pop it back on, do you? Look at all that rust! You should be ashamed. Wirebrush it off the hub, and apply a thin, even coat of anti-seize on the hub/rotor contact surface. This step ensures your rotors seat properly, and that they won't be rust-welded on next time. Pop the new rotor on and put the lug nuts on to hold it in place while you put the calipers back on.
   
5. REPLACING THE CALIPER/PADS: This task seems daunting, because your new pads are sooo much thicker than your old. But never fear! Put the inside pad in the caliper, then mount the caliper to the rotor with the bolts most of the way. To depress the outer pistons, use a table clamp (or a friend with some large pliers) to depress them. It may help to rock the caliper towards the outside of the car to ensure the inner pistons don't re-extend. Now, slide the outer pad in the caliper, and re-insert the retaining clip, retaining pin, and pin lock. Repeat for the other caliper and rotor. When finished, torque the retaining bolts to spec. (22Nm if I'm not mistaken).
   
6. Post sweet brake pics on insta.
   
   
   
   

Please let me know if I messed anything up!

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

I'll just add that I'd recommend getting a cheap set of steel teeth brushes at Harbor Freight and use them to knock off any debris on the threads before installing the wheels and lugs. You'd not imagine how much metal that is left on those threads even from steel lug nuts. More so with aluminum lugs.

getafewliv

I will add that you should lube up the slider pins as well as anti squeal grease on the back of the pads, or use the anti squeal shims (or both as I did). If you have brake squeal when you are almost at a complete stop, it will most likely be fixed by the shims.

Also, since this is for the IS350, do not rotate your wheels (excluding AWD) since you have a staggered setup. You don't want your tires reverse direction and you don't want your skinny front tires on the rear.

If you aren't replacing the rotors, you don't need to remove the caliper at all.

When you depress the piston back into the rotor, I recommend taking off the brake fluid reservoir cap under the hood to allow the air to escape. If your reservoir is high and there's a risk of overfill spillage, cover the surrounding area with a rag. You do not want brake fluid getting on anything as it is very corrosive.

Lastly, if you're going to do the rears, you don't need to remove the caliper completely. Removing one bolt will allow the caliper to pivot back enough to let the rotor clear.

And regarding aluminum lug nuts... I advise against them. I was in a pinch and found a set on Craigslist (cheap China of course), used them for a summer and never had any real issues, but I think they messed up my studs slightly. When I went back to proper steel lug nuts, I had 2 separate wheel studs break on me. Only 2 times I have ever had to replace a wheel stud in my life.

circuitbkr

Well, the whole point of this was because there wasn't a rotor write up......

Fair point about the wheels. I forgot the stock setup wasn't rotatable.