New Discs and Pads half-done

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Philosophico

Member
 S.Wales
Just a quicky to mention that despite several mishaps I've mnaged to get the front pads and discs done today :D

EBC 'dimpled' and grooved front discs,
EBC 'green stuff' pads.

Easy job, the only tricky part was removing the screw that holds in discs in place.
An impact driver with hex attachment did the job for the right hand side, a blowlamp and WD40 was needed as well for the left hand side.
- won't mention hammering my hand into the disc while removing the screw in the left disc....oh ar$e :oops:

One word of note, the EBC pads are a little oversize to fit easily into the caliper.
I had to use a needle file to remove the paint from the pad backplates where they sit it the caliper abutments.
Not a huge problem but something to bear in mind if you're going to use these pads - don't know if anyone else has found this?

Many years ago I made up a handy tool for pressing pistons back into calipers.
Just 2 strips of aluminium angle with a couple of holes drilled in each end, a couple of lengths of threaded bar and a handful of nuts/washers.
- aluminium so that it doesnt damage anything, angle section so that it doesnt just bend like toffee 8)
STRONGLY recommend making somethign similar BEFORE starting work on the brakes...a g-clamp may be a useful alternative.

Hopefully I'll find a gap in the rain to do the rears tomorrow...will report back when everything is bedded in nicely.
 
Wow - Sounds like you had a bit of a challenge with the disc locating screw. I presume some prior muppet rounded it? Next time I would do one of 2 things. Use a dot punch on the edge to revolve it, else drill it out and then just undo the stud once the disc is off. You can rebuilt without the screw and put a new one in when you get time to go the the stealers.

You surprise me re the EBC's I've fitted several sets on Z4 and X5 and never had any problems once the piston is fully pushed back

Hope you get on OK with the rears. Remember that you need to loosen the handbrake cable inside the car and may need to loosen the rear handbrake shoes inside the disc through one of the wheel bolt holes before you can remove it. It's a stupid design that means it can take as long to readjust the handbrake as the rest of the job put together.
 
The hex was fine (thanfully) just really seized in the thread...plenty of copaslip before he went beack in :x

It wasn't so much that the pads were tight to get back over the new discs (to be expected) but the ends of the pads that
fit in the brake caliper carrier was a tight fit...metal to metal...heavily painted backplates didn't help!

Cheers for the "heads up" about winding off the handbrake...you just might have saved me a couple of hours of
frustration and hammer-swinging :roll:
 
FINISHED 8)

Managed to fit the rear discs and pads today, just 2 hours from start to finish.

Damned pads are a pain to fit, much thicker than standard so they took a fair bit of "persuasion" to get them in.
On the plus side the screws holding the discs on came out with just a couple of swift taps with the impact driver.

CJ, cheers for the note about the handbrake :thumbsup:
Went one round the block to check everything was OK and noticed the handbrake was rather slack so whipped off a nut and adjusted them both up a little...now its fine.
Also noticed a horrific grinding noise...which turned out to be the guard plate...a shove with a screwdriver soon had it back in place and silence was returned :D



The fronts are now fully bedded in and they are amazing...considerably better than stock.
Really chuffed with the EBC stuff...had them on my bike and they were great on that as well.
 
Philosophico said:
FINISHED 8)

Managed to fit the rear discs and pads today, just 2 hours from start to finish.

Damned pads are a pain to fit, much thicker than standard so they took a fair bit of "persuasion" to get them in.
On the plus side the screws holding the discs on came out with just a couple of swift taps with the impact driver.

CJ, cheers for the note about the handbrake :thumbsup:
Went one round the block to check everything was OK and noticed the handbrake was rather slack so whipped off a nut and adjusted them both up a little...now its fine.
Also noticed a horrific grinding noise...which turned out to be the guard plate...a shove with a screwdriver soon had it back in place and silence was returned :D



The fronts are now fully bedded in and they are amazing...considerably better than stock.
Really chuffed with the EBC stuff...had them on my bike and they were great on that as well.
Click to expand...

Glad you got it all done. :thumbsup:
Don't forget to brake the handbrake in. It's something like 200m driving at 10mph with it applied. It burns the paint off the inside of the drum. Of course you also need to bed the new discs and pads in correctly before you can use them in anger
 
kind of a random question, but.. where can i find some resources on brake pad/rotor replacement online? im sure i can find generic stuff online, but is there anything specific for our cars that i can find?? im heavily debating changing the pads and rotors myself.
 
I had no problems with the fronts but the rears where a PITA the actual pad material was too thick, but they gave way too a bit if gentle persuasion.
 
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