HOW TO REPLACE BRAKE PADS, ROTORS, AND WHEELS ON A 1992-1996 HONDA PRELUDE
© (c) copyright 2004-2017 Trevor E. Cordes. Copying is expressly prohibited except for
personal and/or archival purposes. Linking is permitted.
Disclaimer
I am in no way responsible for any consequence of your choice to read and/or use the
instructions contained in this document. I am not a mechanic and do not claim to know what I am
talking about! I am just relating my experiences with the procedure in the hopes that it might
add some insight into the task for someone else. Working on your car, especially your brakes, can
have serious consequences including injury and death so please be careful. I am not liable for
anything as the result of this document!
Credit
I based my install on the document by Todd Marcucci of the North Texas Prelude Owners Group
(NTPOG) provided at http://www.ntpog.org/mods/fourth-brakes/index.shtml.
Those instructions were the best I had found and enabled me (a total non-mechanic who had never
even changed a tire) to successfully complete the task. My instructions are based on his, but
elaborate on many points that, with hindsight, would have been nice to know ahead of time.
Experience Note
I am not a mechanic. Up to this point I had never done any work on my car except for car
stereo stuff. Everything was figured out from info from the net and from common sense. For that
reason, there are many points in this document that I had to trust the info I found, or guess at
something. Any points I am not sure on I point out with questions and guesses. If someone more
knowledgeable ever reads this and wants to correct me, please email webprelude04 at
tecnopolis dot ca, and I will update the site with corrected info. Also, I am not a racer -- I
just drive my car on normal streets in a semi-aggressive way. Your driving style may lead you to
different choices than I made.
Rationale
I had two main problems:
- My 11 year old stock wheel rims were looking pretty ragged. The machined aluminum really started
oxidizing and scuffing, especially around the hub, nuts and outer edge. They just didn't do my
near-mint Prelude justice. And I've always meant to move to two sets of rims/tires -- summer and
winter -- since we have cold/snow here for more than 6 months of the year. All these years I've
stuck with the stock Michelin Pilot XGTV4 tires and have been pretty happy with them as all-seasons.
I got 75000 km's on average out of each tire. However, being all-season they are less than perfect
in both summer and winter. So I thought I'd use the old rims in winter with some Alpins and some
shiny new rims with some summer-only tires in summer. Then the change twice a year is a piece of
cake -- just mount the proper set with no need for balancing, etc.
- I was getting really bad wobble under braking (even light braking). I had gotten new Honda pads
about 3 years ago and they had machined some rotors saying they were "rough". Ever since
then my brake performance went downhill and the wobble started slowly building up. But hey, my rotors
were 11 years old so I'm not too shocked. A friend said that the problem actually could have been
faulty tires, which also were changed around the same time, but I will not be able to prove/disprove
the rotor/tire question until this winter because I changed rotors and tires simultaneously (but will
put my old tires back on this winter).
Major Part Choices
Rotor choices: When I started looking into rotors, I quickly realized there are basically
4 types: blank or plain (ie: like stock), cross-drilled,
slotted, and cross-drilled AND slotted. After much reading on the subject
and talking to local dealers, I came to the conclusion that blanks were the best choice for a
driver like me: no racing, semi-aggressive to aggressive driving style. Cross-drilled and slotted
rotors have the disadvantage of much shorter life (from what I read) for both the rotor and pad. They
also can lead to worse brake performance under normal driving conditions when the brakes
don't get hot enough. However, they do have the advantage in looks and greater resistance to rust
(again, looks). If you race, do tons of heavy constant braking or think cosmetics are the most
important requirement, perhaps the fancier rotors are a better choice for you.
I ended up buying blanks from a local racing/tuning dealer. The fronts were Brembo OEM (in
genuine Brembo boxes) and the (much less important) rears were some other brand. Strangely
enough, when I broke open the boxes of the rears I noticed the two rotors were shaped differently
yet were the same part number. I guess they switched looks for a new model year or something.
The actual fitting/contact dimensions were identical so I didn't worry too much. However, you
may want to make sure your dealer gives you identical units. I will be calling my dealer about
this when they are next open (I did all this work on a long-weekend).
Pad choices: This was a tough one. Everyone and their dog makes semi-metallic pads
which are almost impossible to compare to each-other. There's no real measurable performance
ratings. I wanted longevity with good (ie: stock or better) performance under my driving style.
Also, low noise and dust are always desirable. Consumer reports (consumerreports.org - pay
subscription required) had a good article about pads and chose new style ceramic pads as the
top pick. However, absolutely no one in my city seemed to carry or even heard of these pads! For
that reason, and because pads are relatively cheap, I chose to go with the "house brand"
of the company that I bought the rotors from: PBR semi-metallics from Austrailia. Worse case
scenario is I track down and order some ceramics or a different semi-met brand next time. Beware
of full metallic and kevlar/carbon pads as they may not perform well until your rotors are hot.
No one at the stores really wanted to talk to me about this, but perhaps some pads go better
with some rotors -- in other words, there must be an advantage to a better matched set? Or not.
I've since been told it's not terribly important. Anyways, this is another reason why I bought the
rotors and pads at the same place -- they knew the combination to be compatible after years
testing. It would seem that as long as you stay away from organic pads with slotted/drilled rotors
you should be ok no matter what you choose as long as you get pads that match your driving, which
would mean "street" pads for most people.
Wheel Rims: This is almost all a cosmetic decision. If you're racing you want light
wheels, but otherwise just pick the ones you like. Sizing can be tricky. There's some great helpful
info at preludecrazy.com: look for wheel & tyre specs/recommendations. Based mainly on the fact
that my city's streets are notoriously bad for potholes, I wanted to upgrade to "only"
16" wheels. 17"'s would be so low profile that they would dent in a month I'm sure. Also,
I'm a ardent Michelin fan and hot tires in 17" extreme low-profile size would be $50-$100
(Canadian) more per tire. If you decide to go 16" like me, your wheel choices become very
limited, but this is actually a benefit as there are literally thousands of wheel styles to choose
from and it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite. However, if you live somewhere with perfect roads
and you are choosing cheaper brand tires, you probably want to go 17's for the better look and wider
wheel selection.
One thing I learned is you can vary the wheel size but you have to make sure that you keep the same
ride height (aka rolling radius) or overall outer diameter of the tire. That means that
as your wheels get bigger, you must decrease the tire height to compensate (lower ratios). There's a
good chart at that preludecrazy.com site. I chose 16x7 wheels with 205/50/16 tires mainly because the
alternative 225/45/16 Michelins were $50 more per tire and 245/40/16 is so wacky I couldn't find
anyone who made them. 17's let you choose from 215/40/17, 195/45/17 (wacky) and 245/35/17 (wacky).
18's aren't recommended. If you don't stick to these rules, your odometer/speedometer will be off,
your ABS may become dangerous and other nasty things may occur.
The other big dimension issue is bolt hole count/spacing. You'll need 4 (or 8) holes with
114.3/114.4mm spacing. It seemed to me that almost every 4/8 hole wheel had 114.4mm spacing. The
8's are just two sets of 4's with one set 110mm and the other 114.4 so they can fit more cars.
The last big dimension issue is offset which tells you how far in or out the mounting point
of the wheel is in relation to the center point. You need a positive offset (also known as front
wheel drive offset as all FWD vehicles use this. The stock 15's have a 55mm offset and it sounds
like you can go as low as 40mm. With my 16's I ended up with 42mm offset, which mostly all 16's seemed
to be. If you have lowered your car you may have to get something close to the 55mm stock
offset, which may be tricky and will severely limit your wheel choices. If you get too small an
offset your tires can actually rub against the inside of your wheel well during aggressive driving!
I ended up choosing 16" Motegi MR7 chrome wheels. I thought the super shiny chrome look would
go great with my stock Brittany Blue-Green Metallic (a dark-ish color) paint job (and it turns out
I was right!). The MR7's are a simple, elegant 7 spoke design that should be very easy to keep clean
as they lack all the fancy in's and out's and grooves of some styles.
Tires: I've had stock Michelin Pilot XGTV4's for 11 years and have gotten great performance
and longevity out of them. That makes me a satisfied customer and I wanted to give summer-only
Michelin's a go. Since there is no summer-only V-rated tire, I went to Z-rated and chose the Michelin
Pilot Sport. It had decent reviews (most only complained about the price and longevity), was
moderately affordable in my choice of 16" size, and scored 3rd best in a Consumer Reports lineup
(the top pick was Goodyear, and I hate Goodyear...). If you're on a budget, you can get most Japanese
brands for 1/2 to 1/3 the price of Michelins, but watch out as almost all of these are H-rated, which
isn't the same as V or Z. They also are usually at least slightly all-season which degrades
performance. Other than that, it's all really subjective. I'll report back after a while when I have
a feel for these new Michelins. As for sizing, you have to choose based on your rim size choice (see
above).
I bought my wheels and tires from a mail order place here in Canada: 1010tires.com. They have a
pretty good web site with lots of info and reviews and quick pricing. They also do all the mounting
and send you a ready-to-mount-on-car finished product that is balanced and comes with all mounting
hardware (weights, hub rings and tuner nuts) free! If you buy from elsewhere or separately you'll need
to make sure you get hub rings of the correct size (to fit 64.1mm center bore). Most fancy
wheels also require tuner nuts instead of the stock lug nuts. A set of wheel locks is
also probably a good idea.
Shims: If it's been 6 or so years since you last had the shims (usually with the pads)
replaced, I would advise ordering new shims ahead of time so that you're not stuck having to do
some of the work twice. The reason I say this is that when I got the rear brakes off, I noticed
the rear shims were nearly completely disintegrated. Normally you would reuse the shims off the
old pads. Strangely enough, my front shims were ok, so either they were replaced 3 years ago when
I had the dealer do my pads, or the fronts don't rust as bad as the rears. In case you don't know,
shims are these thin little metal (stainless steel?) things that are shaped like a brake pad and
fit between the pads and the caliper. From what I gather, their purpose is to stop "brake
chatter" (whatever that is) and/or squeaking, and generally result in a better overall brake
system. I also gather that they are somewhat optional. In fact, I ran my car for 3 days with no
rear shims with no apparent braking problems while I waited for my Honda dealer to get them in
stock. Since they are so cheap (relative to the other costs involved), next time I would just
order them regardless to have them on hand just in case. Some brake pads include shims free in the
package, though the ones I got did not.
Part Purchase Breakdown: Here's exactly what I bought, from where and the cost in Canadian
dollars. To convert to approximate US$, divide by 1.4.
$ 138 2 Brembo front rotors - Jackson Autosport, Winnipeg MB
$ 136 2 generic blank rear rotors - Jackson Autosport, Winnipeg MB
$ 83 2 PBR front brake pads - Jackson Autosport, Winnipeg MB
$ 48 2 PBR rear brake pads - Jackson Autosport, Winnipeg MB
$ 999 4 16" Motegi MR7 chrome wheels/rims - 1010tires.com, Vancouver BC
$1040 4 Michelin Pilot Sport 205/50R16 tires - 1010tires.com, Vancouver BC
$ 11 TODO each shim (optional) - Honda dealer
Tools Required:
Even after all the preplanning and research I did, I had to make three extra trips to the tool
stores while work was in progress because I found I needed something no one had mentioned. Here
is the list of everything I used with brief explanations where applicable:
- Car jack: This device enables you to lift your car off the ground. I thought I'd be able to
use the stock spare-tire jack but quickly discovered it wasn't going to cut it. It doesn't extend
high enough to get most jack stands under the chassis support points. It also takes a lot of work
to crank that stock jack. So I went out and bought a hydraulic jack (Michelin 3.5 ton $190). Make
sure the jack you buy has 5.5" or lower minimum clearance. Even with 5.5 I needed someone to
lift the car up by hand a little to get the jack under the front support! If you have your car
lowered, you'll have an even harder time! The hydraulic jack is wonderful, easy to use, fast and
almost effortless, though it was an added expense I hadn't counted on. You don't need to spend
$190 -- they had noname ones for $120-ish that probably would have been adequate (I just can't
resist that Michelin blue). A place to try might be HarborFreight.com and look for their
all-aluminum racing jack for $80 US$.
- Jack stands: You need these to rest your car down onto after lifting it up with the jack. They
are basically just little but strong steel legs. I bought Michelin 2 ton ones ($40), though they
seem to start (noname) for as low as $30. Make sure you get stands with as flat a top as possible
as the support points on the Prelude are surrounded by plastic that highly curved axle stands would
likely damage. I at first got very angular axle stands and realized that I would only be able to
use them rotated at a 90 degree angle -- something which is probably dangerous.
- Wheel chocks: I finally figured out what these are. Two autoparts stores I went to had no idea
what these were. I guess these are those little thingies you wedge into the wheel at the pavement to
stop the wheel from rolling -- just like they use on airplanes. Since I didn't have them in time, I
just used some wood blocks and the emergency brake/gearbox as I guess the whole idea is just to keep
the car from rolling while jacked. However, I could be wrong... I found that when jacking the rear
the front wheels were rolling a bit, even with the car in gear, so chocks would have been nice. I've
heard Wal-Mart stocks chocks, so that might be a good place to look.
- Ratchet: You'll want one with a 1/2" connector for sure. You'll also need a 3/8" one
either as a second ratchet or a converter from 1/2". The reason I saw you need 1/2" is that
the torque on some of these bolts is insane and I actually broke the connector clean off a cheaper
3/8" ratchet while trying to loosen a bolt! I couldn't believe it! I ended up buying a really
nice one with 72 teeth and it is incredible how smooth it works compared to the cheap-o ones ($35
Mastercraft from Canadian Tire) -- you get what you pay for!
- Sockets: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 19mm. Make sure the 17mm has a 1/2" connector or you
risk a broken ratchet. The 14mm should be either 1/2" or 3/8" but no smaller. The rest
can be 3/8" or 1/4" as they are low torque ($2-$6 each separately, or buy a good
set).
- Socket adapters: depending on your socket set, you probably will want to get some adapters. I
ended up using 1/2" to 3/8" inch connector converters (both ways), plus a 3/8"
ratchet to 1/4" socket connector converter ($19 for a set of 3 at Canadian Tire). A small
extender or two is also handy for reaching some tricky places.
- Liquid Wrench spray: I bought a can of "Liquid Wrench" spray (other name brands are
also available), which helps loosen stuck and high-torqued bolts. I ended up using this quite a
bit on the real tight bolts ($3 at Canadian Tire).
- Naval Jelly: or some other good rust cleaner. You will use this to clean the rotor mounting
surface/hub before attaching the new rotor.
- Anti-squeal spray: I bought Gunk No Squeal spray. You'll use this to coat the rotors and
shims to eliminate brake squeal/squeak. There are many different name brands available ($6
Canadian Tire).
- Brake cleaner spray: You'll use this to clean your new rotors. Brembo (on the box) recommends
cleaning the "protective layer" off the new rotors before installation. I used
"Certified Professional Strength Brake Cleaner" ($6 Canadian Tire). Other brands are
available. Highly recommended as there was a lot of dirty gunk (oil, dust, dirt) that came off my
brand new rotors after applying this cleaner.
- Torque Wrench: this is like a ratchet in that you attach sockets to it to tighten nuts/bolts.
However, it is unique in that it will show you exactly how much torque (foot pounds, etc) you're
applying so you know when you've tightened a nut/bolt enough. Why do you care? Well, I discovered in
my researches that over or under-tightened nuts/bolts can damage components like your rotors. They
can also be dangerous as they may come loose. I read something about dial-in torque wrench but
didn't find anything like that in the store, so I bought a long-handled 2-arm torque-wrench that also
seems to do the trick. The second arm acts as a dial to show you the measurement on a calibrated
plate ($23 for a 3/8"). I'll keep looking for a dial-in type that I'm told would be much easier
to use in the confined space of the wheel well. I hear Sears carries one, so maybe try there.
- Big C-clamp: 6" or larger. This is a vice-like tool in a C or U shape. You need a big
enough one to get around the front caliper assembly to the piston in order to compress the piston to
enable you to mount new pads. It didn't make any sense to me either, but it's only $16 and you need
it so buy it!
- Piston compression tool or large flathead screwdriver: You'll use this to compress the rear
pistons. This is a tricky one. I ended up borrowing a loaner kit from a local Parts Source. Not
one of the 3 places I went to had a tool for sale. Well, Parts Source said they did but they were
all out of stock. Who knows if it would have been the correct size. After doing the job, I guess
I can say a really really huge big (1" or wider head) flathead screwdriver might just do the
trick, but it may be tough. The size you need (there were many sizes in the kit I borrowed) is
1-1/4". Actually, after another look around I found one that fits onto a standard 3/8"
ratchet tool. It's a little cube shaped thing with 6 different sizes (including the one we need).
It was $9 at Piston Ring (WLM W80621). It was a little trickier to use than the round loaner from
Parts Source, and was certainly easier to use with 2 people (with one holding the caliper).
- Impact driver and #3 Phillips bit: This is a neat little tool that was a bit hard to find.
It's a massive heavy screwdriver type tool that is set up so that when you hit the top (handle)
with a hammer it generates huge momentary torque to allow you to loosen really stubborn screws.
They appear to be sold in kits, usually with the #3 (very large head) Phillips bit you need. I
read many warnings about stripping the rotor screws if you don't have this tool. I had zero
problems with this tool and would recommend buying it. I found it hidden in the lock-case at
Canadian Tire for $37 for the kit with 4 bits.
- Hammer: to use with the impact driver. A standard steel head hammer worked for me.
- Small chisel or flat-head screwdriver: To chisel out the built-up dust/rust that builds
up around where the rotor meets the hub for easier rotor extraction. Probably only required
if your car/rotors are old (5+ years?).
- Files: you'll probably want to have a large flat and some small flat metal files available
to clean rust off certain areas.
- Caliper supports: you need something to support the caliper after you unbolt it. You can't
leave it dangling by the brake line. I just used a couple of thin boxes of the correct
height. I also read that some people use hooks. Or you can try to have a helper hold them up,
but it gets tiring and tight in the confined space of the wheel well.
Directions
Fronts
- Clean your new rotors. Spray them with brake cleaner spray and then wipe off as per the
instructions on the can. Do this a couple of times if there appears to be lots of grime coming
off.
- Spray no-squeak on your new rotors and shims. Follow the instructions on the can. I coated
both sides of all rotors. I didn't spray the inside hub part of the rotor. I did spray the
outside (visible) part of the rotor for cosmetic purposes, though I won't know the efficacy of
this until they've had a chance to weather. If you bought new shims, spray these both front and
back. If you are going to use your old shims, you'll have to wait until you get them off first.
Let dry. The no-squeak I used appeared to take forever (probably a day) to dry and was very messy
and came off easily on my fingers. Be careful when spraying so that you don't accidentally remove
the stuff you just sprayed when doing the other side.
- Wax your wheel rims. If you are putting on new rims, and the rim is wax-safe, apply your normal
high-quality car wax or special rim-type wax. Ask your rim dealer for details. Both my dealer
and the net stuff I found said it was safe and recommended to wax chrome rims. Almost certainly
painted wheels should be waxed. However, I'm not sure about machined aluminum. I waxed every
part of my chrome rims except for the part that touches the hub, including the inside. That should
help protect the entire rim against brake dust, scratches, etc.
- Break the torque on the front lug nuts. With a 19mm socket loosen the nuts just enough so
that they will be easy to unscrew after you jack the car. If you don't loosen them, it's really
hard to break the torque once in the air. Trust me, I kept forgetting this step and had to relower
the car many times. There may be some other reason you should break the torque before jacking,
but nothing I read explained the issue.
- Put the emergency brake on. This will (hopefully) help keep your car from rolling while
jacked.
- Insert the wheel chocks. If you have chocks, put them in place at the rear wheels now. If
you do not have chocks, maybe put a 1x2 or some other wood as a wedge between the wheels and the
pavement.
- Jack up the front of the car. Position the jack under the front tow hook, which from what I
read appears to be the best front support point. It's obvious where/what the tow hook is once you
look under the front in the middle about 1 foot back or so. For hydraulic jacks, you'll need
someone to manually lift the front of the car a bit so it will clear the 5.5" jack clearance
that most jacks appear to have. Anyone can lift it as the springs/suspension make it very light.
Be sure to read and follow the instructions on your jack first. I found I had to jack the car up
quite a bit to get the stands under the mid-position support points. I used nearly the whole
extension of jack (especially in the rear), and I bought a mammoth one. In case you didn't read
my point in the shopping list above, the spare tire jack will be inadequate for this job.
- Immediately insert the jack stands under the factory recommended support points. Your manual
describes where these are. They are about 8" behind the wheel well and 5" in from the
sides. There's an arrow molded into the plastic trim to indicate them. I found that the jack
points were too close to the plastic to allow me to use the axle jack stands I had bought in the
correct orientation and instead turned them 90 degrees. This resulted in less stable and
safe-looking support but seemed to do the job ok. I still haven't found jack stands that have
tops shaped like you'd need to properly support the Prelude. You'd need something that was
essentially flat. Position the jack stands so that they are as centered as possible. Then slowly
lower the jack until the car is resting on the stands. Double-check both sides to make sure the
stands are centered properly under the supports. If not, jack it up and try again. Again, make
sure you read and follow the instructions that came with your jack stands.
- Reraise the jack slightly so that it provides backup support in case the stands fail. Make
sure you don't raise it so much that all the weight is still on the jack as that is bad for it.
Just raise it such that it is snugly in place. This seems like a good idea as you occasionally
hear stories of people getting crushed because of failed jack stands.
- Remove the wheel nuts and then the front wheels.
- Remove the lowest slide bolt on the first caliper. Use a 14mm socket. You'll know which bolt
this is as it's the lowest one of the only two 14mm bolts on the caliper.
- Swing the caliper up away from the rotor. It should move fairly easily. Have someone hold
it up for you (or hook it somehow), and/or be very careful it doesn't fall back down, which it seems
prone to doing.
- Remove the old pads. They just fit into place and easily come free if you move them away from
the rotor.
- Note which shim is attached to the inboard versus the outboard pad (they are different).
- Remove the old shims from backs of the pads. Skip this step if you are going to install brand
new shims you bought from your dealer. Be careful with the shims, they are very thin pieces of
metal and if rusty/worn they may easily break. If the shims are heavily rusted or corroded,
consider ordering new shims as I suggested above. If the shims are ok and you are reusing them,
spray them now with no-squeak (both sides, see above) to allow them time to dry. You might want to
give them a light cleaning first if they are dirty. A little Naval Jelly might help.
- Remove the caliper bracket bolts. Use a 17mm socket preferably with a 1/2" connector.
They are located in the back of the caliper (the only 2 17mm bolts in the assembly). They are
hard to get at and require tons of torque to loosen. Make sure you are turning your ratchet the
correct direction (because you are coming at it from the reverse). I used some Liquid Wrench here
to help get these off. Even with that they took an amazing amount of force. If you can't get it
with your hands, try your legs if you can find a way to get some leverage.
- Remove the caliper assembly. It should slip up and free from the rotor. Be extremely careful
not to put stress on the brake line (the rubber hose). Take one of your prop-up boxes, hook or
a friend and prop up the assembly as much out of the way as the brake line allows without undue
stress. Spend a moment to check the brake line for cracks/wear/damage and replace if necessary
(contact your dealer or see other articles on the net).
- Remove the 2 rotor retention screws. Use your impact driver and a #3 phillips bit. Perhaps
put a little Liquid Wrench on the screw first. See the instructions that came with your impact
driver for correct usage. For mine, I had to turn it a certain direction manual first where it
would lock into the unscrew position. If you fail to do this, you may end up tightening the screw
instead of loosening! Now put the driver against the screw and hold it firm and apply pressure
counterclockwise. Now hit it as hard as you dare with your hammer and after 2 to 5 tries it
should be loose. Remove both screws in this way and set them aside where you can find them as you
will need them for the new rotor if you did not get extras with your new rotors.
- Remove any rust/debris buildup where the hub and rotor meet. My ancient rotors had tons of
something built up there. I at first thought it was glue that was supposed to be there. But then
I realized it chipped and came free easily and was just some hardened dust/rust or something. I
took a little flat head screwdriver (you could use a small chisel) and carefully chiseled away the
stuff. You don't want to damage the hub or rotor doing this so be careful.
- Remove the rotor. If you wiggle it a bit, it should start coming free without much effort.
If it fights you, you could try Liquid Wrench between the rotor and hub.
- Clean the rotor mounting area and hub. If your car is like mine, there will be tons of rust
and debris buildup on the hub and surrounding area where the rotor rests against. I cleaned every
area the rotor contacts with Naval Jelly (rust remover). Follow the instructions on the jar. You
might need to repeat it twice to get it really clean. I used an old toothbrush to help work in
the jelly and water on a really wet rag to rinse.
- Mount your new rotor. Your new rotors should be dry (from painting on the no-squeak) by
now. Mine were still a bit wet and I put them on anyway as the no-squeak is not mission-critical.
I have not had any squeaks at all (yet) so this seems safe. Be extremely careful with the rotors
as you do not want to ding/dent/damage them in any way.
- Screw in the retention screws. Put in new ones if they came with your new rotors (my Brembo
front's came with new ones), otherwise use the old ones. If the old ones are horrid looking,
you'll probably want to source new ones. Or don't worry about them at all as I've read they are
pretty much optional; used only to hold the rotors in place on the assembly line. That said, I did
put them back on and think it's probably a good idea. If you want new ones, I'd look at a dealer
or a screw specialty store. Just make them hand-tight with your #3 phillips bit. Do not use the
impact driver again. Supposedly the heat/wear of the rotors will cook them in solidly again. Try
to position the rotor precisely in the middle and tighten the screws a bit at a time, alternating
between them and turning the rotor/hub to help work it into centered position.
- Clean the caliper assembly pad area. Where the pads touch the caliper, look for rust or debris
and gently clean both away. I used a couple of files to gently remove any buildup. You want the
area clear so that the pad can slide within it freely.
- Reinstall the caliper assembly. Be careful not to scrape or damage the rotor. Work it into
place as best you can without touching the rotor. Put the 2 17mm bolts back in and tighten with
your torque wrench to 80 ft-lbs. You may have to do some tricky maneuvering to get the long
torque wrench in the cramped space, but I managed to get it eventually. Try coming at it from
below or the rear. Since these bolts are the only thing holding your front brakes in, you don't
want to screw this up!
- Compress the piston. Under your hood, remove the brake fluid reservoir cap and check to make
sure it's not too full. Have someone keep an eye on it for overflow while performing this step. I
didn't have any problems with the fluid, but I read you had to be careful of overflow. Use your
C-clamp to push the piston into its housing a little bit. Put the screw-part of the clamp onto
the piston (the round looking thing in the recessed area) and the fixed part of the clamp around
the back. Screw the clamp tight and keep screwing until the piston is fairly flush with its
housing. I read that 1/4 to 1/2 inch is the required distance to compress but it seemed like I
had to go a bit further or I was unable to get the pads in later. I'd be careful how far you go.
Try to compress only as much as you need to. See my comments in the UPDATES section near the
bottom of this page. Don't forget to rescrew the fluid cap after you are done. Be super careful
not to get any fluid on anything as supposedly it is extremely corrosive and nasty.
- Put the shims on the new pads. When you install new rotors, you must always install new pads
(or so what I read indicated). So put your no-squeak painted shims onto the backs of the new
pads. It should be pretty obvious which side of the pad is the back. The inboard and outboard
shims are different. Either from noting the shim shape earlier or from trial and error, make sure
you put the correct shim on the correct pad. If you have trouble, try installing the pads with
shims on one way then the other. They will only both fit one way. I had some problems with the new
shims not quite snugly fitting the new pads. I used some light hammering to get the clip things to
fit more snugly. Be careful not to damage the pad!
- Install the new pads. With the caliper arm swung up, they should easily slide into place
against the rotor. Which orientation they go in should be obvious. The pad part should rest
against the rotor. Make sure you put the inboard one (with the wear indicator) on the inboard
side (of course!). The wear indicator (the funny bent metal tab) should be aiming towards the
rotor.
- Swing down the caliper arm. It should swing with not much force over the new pads. Make sure
the pads are tight against the rotors for easier maneuvering. If it fails to swing down, you'll
have to compress the piston a bit more first. If this step still fights you, be careful now to
put on too much force or you'll damage the piston if that's what's blocking it.
- Install the lower caliper slide bolt. Torque it to 40 ft-lbs.
- Check the rotor/pad fit. Turn the wheel hub by hand. It should move freely. If it doesn't
make sure your car isn't in gear. I didn't do this but Brembo recommends (and now that I know it
sounds like a good idea) that you screw on and properly torque the wheel nuts before running
these tests. That will more accurately mimic the condition the brake will be under after the
wheel is reinstalled. Test to make sure the pads do not scrape more on one part of the rotor
than the other (listen carefully or look at how the tightness between the pads and rotor changes
while you turn). If a certain part of the rotor scrapes more than the rest then you should
loosen and retighten the phillips retention screws until you get a good centered rotor (see Screw
in retention screws area above for details). I had no problems with the fronts going in
perfectly but the rears took a few tries. Perhaps this step isn't that critical as once you
install the wheel nuts their force will tighten and hopefully center the rotor. The Brembo
instructions recommend using a "run-out" tool or "micrometer" to ensure the
rotor is mounted perfectly. I couldn't find either tool (both of which are probably expensive) so
had to skip that step and rely on audible and visual clues.
- Install your wheel. Tighten the nuts with only a small amount of force. Make sure you
tighten them in a criss-cross pattern. For instance, do one then the one diagonally across from
it, then the one adjacent to that, then the last one (which should be across again). This ensures
that you the wheel and rotor get well centered/positioned. If you have wheel locks, make sure you
tighten them last.
- Turn the wheel and repeat the "Check the rotor/pad fit" instructions, but this time
with the wheel on. It should turn smooth and have no abnormal noises. I noticed that there was a
slight pressure against it turning, but I attribute this to the new pads/shims and the reduced
play area, and I assume it will disappear as the pads wear a bit. If you hear that a part of the
rotor rubs more than the rest, you may want to remove the wheel and play with the retention screws
a bit to try to better center the rotor. It took me a few tries to get this right, especially on
the rears.
- Tighten the wheel nuts to a fairly tight measure with your ratchet. Don't try to tighten them
to the required torque level, just get them most of the way there. Make sure you tighten them in
a criss-cross pattern as described above! The reason I say "most of the way" is because
it's hard to torque them to the specific level while they are jacked up. It's much easier to
torque as much as you can here and finish it in the following steps (see below).
- Repeat the above steps for the other side of the car.
- Jack up the front of the car a bit and remove the jack stands. Then lower the car so the
tires are just touching the ground, following the instructions for your jack. If you have a
hydraulic jack with a turn-handle valve release, turn it SUPER gently until it starts lowering
extremely slowly. A tiny bit too much turning and your car will start lowering too quickly for
comfort! You want to lower the car just enough so that there is some, but not all, of the weight
of the car on the tires. This enables you to easily do the next step. If you screw this up
and lower it all the way, don't worry about it. I like this partial lowering idea because it
lets you get those nuts tightened without pressure from the weight of the car possibly putting
lateral forces on some of the nuts. This is just what I like to do, after doing it a few times,
and is probably not necessary.
- Finish tightening your wheel nuts with your torque wrench to 80 ft-lbs.
- Lower the jack the rest of the way and remove.
- Now you're done the fronts!
Rears
- The instructions for the rear assume you have read about and completed the fronts
first. I have cut out any repetitive instructions as they are so similar to the fronts. For
extra details, refer to the same instruction part in the fronts section.
- Break the torque on the rear lug nuts.
- Put the car in gear. Disengage the parking brake.
- Insert the wheel chocks on the front wheels.
- Jack up the rear of the car. Position the jack under the rear tow hook, which from what I
read appears to be the best rear support point. You'll have to jack up the car quite a bit to
get the stands under the mid-position support points -- much more so than the front. I used
nearly the whole extension of jack and I bought a mammoth one.
- Immediately insert the jack stands under the factory recommended support points.
- Reraise the jack slightly so that it provides backup support in case the stands fail.
- Remove the wheel nuts and then the rear wheels.
- Remove the plastic caliper cover. Use a 10mm socket and remove the 2 bolts. MAKE SURE you
are turning it the correct way for loosening (remembering that you're coming at it from the back).
I broke the head of 1 of the bolts accidentally by turning it the wrong way! It was a extreme
hassle to get that broken bolt out, so don't make the same mistake I did!
- Remove the 2 slide bolts. Use a 12mm socket.
- Lift the caliper away from the rotor. It's a little bit tricker than the fronts. Once off,
support it the same way you did the front assembly (box, hook or person), and check the brake
lines for wear.
- Remove the old pads.
- Note which shim is attached to the inboard versus the outboard pad (they are different).
- Remove the old shims from backs of the pads. Skip this step if you are going to install brand
new shims you bought from your dealer. Be careful with the shims, they are very thin pieces of
metal and if rusty/worn they may easily break. If the shims are heavily rusted or corroded,
consider ordering new shims as I suggested above. If the shims are ok and you are reusing them,
spray them now with no-squeak (both sides, see above) to allow them time to dry. You might want to
give them a light cleaning first if they are dirty. A little Naval Jelly might help. On my
car the rear shims had literally disintegrated into near nothingness!
- Remove the caliper bracket bolts. Use a 14mm socket. They are located in the back of the
caliper (the only 2 14mm bolts in the assembly). They are hard to get at and require tons of
torque to loosen. Make sure you are turning your ratchet the correct direction (because you are
coming at it from the reverse). I used some Liquid Wrench here to help get these off. Even with
that they took an amazing amount of force. If you can't get it with your hands, try your legs if
you can find a way to get some leverage. I had a way worse time with the rear bolts than the
front. It takes a lot of effort to loosen them. Good luck!
- Remove the caliper bracket carefully.
- Remove the 2 rotor retention screws.
- Remove any rust/debris buildup where the hub and rotor meet.
- Remove the rotor.
- Clean the rotor mounting area and hub.
- Mount your new rotor.
- Screw in the retention screws.
- Clean the caliper assembly pad area. Where the pads touch the caliper, look for rust or debris
and gently clean both away. I used a couple of files to gently remove any buildup. You want the
area clear so that the pad can slide within it freely. I had to clean the rear a lot more than
the front as everything seemed way more corroded.
- Compress the piston. This is a bit different from the fronts. You'll need to use your piston
compression tool to turn the piston as though you were screwing it in. Press down (in) on it
while doing this. It should recede slowly into the caliper making it flush with the surrounding
area. As with the fronts, watch the brake fluid under the hood to avoid overflow. Be VERY
careful that the rubber boots aren't twisting too much or getting out of whack. If you turn too
fast they will start to mangle and I assume that would be bad. Best to go slowly. I'd be careful
how far you compress the piston. Try to compress only as much as you need to. See my comments in
the UPDATES section near the bottom of this page. I needed to make the pistons mostly flush to get
the pads to fit. Make sure you align the slots of the piston with the tabs of the pad. The way
to do this is picture a line from one slide bolt to the other and make sure the piston is lined up
in the same orientation. Since it is a cross-pattern, one slot line will be parallel to this
imaginary line, and one slot line will be perpindicular. Lots of sites don't mention this
alignment thing and I ran my car for a while without bothering with it, but I now hear it's bad to
be misaligned so make sure you do it right. This mixup might be why I had a later issue: again,
see my UPDATES section below.
- Reinstall the caliper bracket. Be careful not to scrape or damage the rotor. Put the 2 14mm
bolts back in and tighten with your torque wrench to 40 ft-lbs. You may have to do some tricky
maneuvering to get the long torque wrench in the cramped space, but I managed to get it
eventually. If you can't get at a couple, try to approximate the 40 ft-lbs as best you can with a
standard socket wrench. Under-torquing here would be bad. Over-torquing a bit won't really hurt
it I don't think.
- Put the shims on the new pads. I had some problems with the new shims not quite snugly
fitting the new pads. I used some light hammering to get the clip things to fit more snugly. Be
careful not to damage the pad!
- Install the new pads. With the caliper arm out of the way they should easily slide into place
against the rotor. If they require more than a bit of force to push into place, then you'll need
to reclean the pad/assembly area with files some more, or shave some of the pad "arms"
off pad with a big file. You should be able to tell which part of the pad arms are causing the
blockage and file just those parts. File ever so slight a bit of the pad arm at a time and then
install it to check if that's enough. I hadn't really read of having to do this step, but my
local brake store indicated it may be necessary as the pads must be fairly free to move
towards/away from the rotor.
- Install the caliper arm. It should go down with not much force over the new pads. Make sure
the pads are tight against the rotors for easier maneuvering. If it fails to swing down, you'll
have to compress the piston a bit more first. If this step still fights you, be careful now to
put on too much force or you'll damage the piston if that's what's blocking it.
- Install the 2 caliper slide bolts (12mm). Torque it to 17 ft-lbs.
- Install the plastic cover with 2 bolts (10mm). Torque it to 17 ft-lbs.
- Check the rotor/pad fit.
- Install your wheel.
- Turn the wheel and repeat the "Check the rotor/pad fit" instructions, but this time
with the wheel on.
- Repeat the above steps for the other side of the car.
- Jack up the rear of the car a bit and remove the jack stands. Then lower the car till the
tires are just touching the ground.
- Finish tightening your wheel nuts with your torque wrench to 80 ft-lbs.
- Lower the car the rest of the way and remove the jack.
- Get in the car and pump the brakes to seat the pads before you start the engine or move the
car. Now start the engine and pump some more with the power-brake assist. Now you're done!
Testing
- Start your car and apply your brakes. The pedal will probably really go down far the first
couple of times but then stiffen up quickly. Drive the car forwards and back on a private
driveway or road really slowly with your windows open and/or someone standing outside
listening for weird noises. You may here some slight constant scraping. I took this to be the
new pads being too tight on the rotors and rightly thought it would disappear (after a few days).
What you do want to listen carefully for is a more metallic scraping sound or an uneven one that
seems to occur periodically, when the wheel hits a certain position in its rotation. That could
indicate a rotor that isn't centered vertically and require you to remove the offending wheel and
rescrew/reposition the rotor (you can do this without removing any of the caliper assembly parts).
I had to do this a bit on the rears. I suppose there should be more to listen for but this is all
I could think up.
- Take your car for a little drive, not going any more than 30-40km (20mph). Periodically
apply your brakes very gently and for no more than 3 seconds at a time. They should start
to feel "right" after a few uses. Listen more for weird noises. I originally got
a fair bit of light constant grinding noises from the rear but it slowly went away after a few
days. Any uneven grinding or chaffing should be looked at.
- Try progressively faster tests until you feel comfortable everything is ok.
- That's it! Enjoy! And don't forget to read through the Post-Install Tasks below.
Post-Install Tasks
- IMPORTANT: Don't hammer your brakes, or drive under strenuous braking conditions such
as steep extended hills for 200-300km (150-200 miles) or so. That means driver slower than usual
and try to not get caught by suddenly changing yellow/red lights.
- Try to apply even brake pressure throughout each braking use. Don't vary your braking
pressure too much or too fast within one braking period.
- IMPORTANT: Retorque your wheel nuts after 40 and/or 100km (30/60 miles) and/or
semi-regularly. This ensures even torque across all bolts and will help balancing and prolong the
life of your rotors, as well as ensuring safety. Always recheck your torque after your wheels
have been removed (because of rotation, etc). I found that the torque was off by quite a bit when
I rechecked them and will be doing this step regularly from now on! The torque appears to stabilize
and not change much after the second torquing, so as long as you do it as recommended after some
driving, you should be ok.
Feedback
Did you use these instructions and want to comment or let me know how it went? Do you know
more about this stuff than I do and want to help me clarify/correct some of the document? Whatever
the reason, feel free to contact me at webprelude04 at tecnopolis dot ca ! I hope you found
the procedure as fun and interesting a challenge as I did!
Updates
As a followup, I'm putting new info in here (and updating the relevant sections above)
to reflect changes, results, and lessons learned as time goes on. It's been over 1 year
since I did the job.
- 2005-06-01 After putting my summer wheels back on in the spring, I was getting some
decent steering wobble at higher speeds. I did a rotate to see if the problem was a
thrown balance weight and that seemed to help (by moving the badly balanced wheel to the
rear you won't feel it as much). However, I'm not convinced it was a balancing problem.
I'm now pretty convinced it was a nut torque problem. I think I didn't tighten the nuts
enough before lowing the car off the jack. Then the lateral forces caused the nuts to
appear fully torqued but in fact they were not. Anyways, rotating caused the problem
to pretty much go away. I'll report back when I finally get my wheels balanced.
- 2005-09-15 I had the rear passenger brake caliper seize. It was putting some pretty good
force on the disc and while the wheel still turned, it caused some pretty brutal symptoms. The
first thing I noticed was on hard braking at high speed I'd get really bad brake wobble -- like a
warped rotor feeling. Then I noticed that at low speeds the car felt like it was braking itself a
bit -- even when I wasn't depressing the brake pedal! The final hint was looking at each wheel I
noticed that that one was exuding a ton of heat and making clicking noises as it cooled after
driving. The heat it was putting out was astounding. At this point, you stop driving and don't
drive it until you get the problem fixed! I took it to my dealer and they replaced the seized
caliper. Not cheap, but I'm happy it's fixed. The pad and rotor appear ok, so I must have caught
it early enough. My theories as to why this happened is either: a) old-age; b) balance/wobble
stressed the caliper into early failure; c) I wasn't careful enough when turning/compressing the
caliper and somehow damaged it and that let it deteriorate over the subsequent year; or d) the
short period of time I ran the car without having the caliper slots aligned properly damaged
it. I don't suppose I'll ever know. I'm watching the other side carefully for a similar problem.
As of right now the car drives and brakes extremely well, and I'm wondering if part of my spring-time
wobble was a sign of the imminent caliper problem.