Replacing brake pads DIY

[blue2]

Thinking of replacing my brake pads myself to save some cash. Is it a fairly straight forward job? Ive not replaced brake pads before but am ok with basic stuff oil changes, sparks etc.
Cheers
Dan

[PW@Woodsport]

i'll tell you if you leave that sticker off...lol

The fronts are straight forward,lever the pistons back with the bleed nipple open,fit pads making sure the spring clips are installed properly.

The rears are a little more involved,firstly slacken off your h/brake cable under the floor...then you will need to wind the pistons in (clockwise) and there are two holes in the piston face that one of must fit into a lug on the back of the pad....also when you wind the piston all the way in it must be rotated out by at least 180 degrees to reset the handbrake lever mechanism,in the words of michael caine,"not a lot of people know that!" if you dont unwind 180 the h/brake will be gash....but unwinding 180 can move the piston out too far making it impossible to fit the new pads so the trick is to wind it all the way in to a point where you know it will wind out and be perfect......note if you wind it in again even by a smidge you will have reset the handbrake mechanism again and the whole proceedure will need repeating,the last action you should perform on the piston is winding it out.Once the calipers have an "interference" fit and the disc is just rubbing on the pads you can refit.....then take up the slack in the cable until you get 3 or 4 clicks,job done.

On a side note if watched people posting up the wrong info on how to adjust mr2 rear brakes for years now,just sat smiling....the above is the ONLY way to do it.

Now i want photo evidence of that shitey sticker going into the bin blue...lol

[PW@Woodsport]

nipple .... lol no way,profanity filter overkill!!

testing....
bum
turd
dong
boob
swanky new shoes

[blue2]

LOL
Its gone!!. Im getting too many weird looks from people so i'm considering putting it on my mates car! Failing that it will go in the bin. If i can borrow my mates digi camera ill post up the pics.
Thanks very much for the brake advice. Now im thinking if I dont do it myself, then i'll have to go to my local garage and if so will they know about rotating the piston 180 degrees and will they be peed of if I tell them. I dont know, it sounds a bit too technical for me. I was hoping it would be a bit simpler as Im not that mechanically minded. Im more used to basic stuff like oil changes and sparks Just dont want to end up paying a small fortune.
Cheers
Dan

[sadako]

Oh well, tried to do this job a while back and ended up with three rounded bolts. The mechanic ended up having to drill them out and getting more bolts from the scrappy

[JohnnyC]

Opening the bleed nipple seems like a bit of a bigger pain (and more likely to get air into the system) than simply removing the cap off the brake fluid resevoir.

Didn't know anything about having to slacken the handbrake cable either
When I bled my brakes a while back the handbrake was gash at first, but after lifting the lever a few times it was fine

EDIT: Sorry, regarding the handbrake - wasn't when I bled my brakes, it was when I took the rear pads out.

[Lauren]

Opening the bleed n1pple seems like a bit of a bigger pain (and more likely to get air into the system) than simply removing the cap off the brake fluid resevoir.

Didn't know anything about having to slacken the handbrake cable either
When I bled my brakes a while back the handbrake was gash at first, but after lifting the lever a few times it was fine

Yep i don't know if the Mk2 is that different from the MK1, but i've never disconnected the handbrake cable or opened the bleed nipple to change the pads. Just took the cap off the brake fluid reservoir and took the caliper off with handbrake cable still attached.

[PW@Woodsport]

Yep i don't know if the Mk2 is that different from the MK1, but i've never disconnected the handbrake cable or opened the bleed n1pple to change the pads. Just took the cap off the brake fluid reservoir and took the caliper off with handbrake cable still attached.

You MUST slacken off the cable,if the cable is pulling on the arm at all then the rear calipers wont adjust up properly,this goes for mk1 and 2 and pretty much every car on the road.....cables slackened,adjust rear pistons using the guide above,retighten cable.

The bleed nipple thing is a precaution on the front calipers,its not unknown for pushing the pistons back to flip the seals in the brake master cylinder,taking the cap off will have zero effect.I must admit ive never had an mr2 seal flip yet myself but ive seen it happen on other cars and ive heard of one mechanic who flipped the seals on an mr2.....better safe than sorry i say.

[Lauren]

Yep i don't know if the Mk2 is that different from the MK1, but i've never disconnected the handbrake cable or opened the bleed n1pple to change the pads. Just took the cap off the brake fluid reservoir and took the caliper off with handbrake cable still attached.

You MUST slacken off the cable,if the cable is pulling on the arm at all then the rear calipers wont adjust up properly,this goes for mk1 and 2 and pretty much every car on the road.....cables slackened,adjust rear pistons using the guide above,retighten cable.

The bleed n1pple thing is a precaution on the front calipers,its not unknown for pushing the pistons back to flip the seals in the brake master cylinder,taking the cap off will have zero effect.I must admit ive never had an mr2 seal flip yet myself but ive seen it happen on other cars and ive heard of one mechanic who flipped the seals on an mr2.....better safe than sorry i say.

Ok see your point about the cable, but its much easier to remove the cable at the caliper rather than getting underneath the car.

[milan]

Its easy to change the pads I have recently changed my fronts and it didnt take long at all, think there use to be a write up about it somewhere not sure if it was on this site though. If you have any Q's just ask me I should be able to help.

[Dragon]

I'm going to be replacing front and rear pads over the next few days and have read the posts concerning Pauls method which also includes the 180 degree wind thing routine for the handbrake, and have a few questions.

1, Are any special tools required and if so, where to get them from?
2, Any special precautions to be taken with the calipers/pads?
3, Paul's advice is to slacken h/brake cable under the floor. Where is this? Is it inside or outside the car?

Apologies if i seem a complete numpty, but i would like to get it right first time.

Cheers

Danny

[System-G]

If you are just going to leave the brake fluid filler cap open, It might be an idea to wrap an old cloth around the resevoir as I have had fluid bubble out over the top once before. I forgot the rag and found it a pain to clean the engine bay (This was on my Corolla GTi)

I also did a "How-To" on front discs and pads for TOC. It was done with my GTi, but is pretty much the same for most car with discs and pads on the front. I didn't get around to doing one for the rear as I had a number of bolts seized so just took it to my mechanic who had a right time of it

Here's the brake change link:
Font Discs and Pads Changing

[anna]

Opening the bleed n1pple seems like a bit of a bigger pain (and more likely to get air into the system) than simply removing the cap off the brake fluid resevoir.

Watch out for the that. With some cars it can be a very bad idea to do it the brake reservoir way as you can end up forcing debris and crud into the ABS - stopping it from working...

[Dragon]

Hmm, any suggestions on being able to leave the filler cap off, but without allowing any foreign substance to get in?
Is there anything i can put over the filler? or just leave the cap resting on top, but not pushed down properly?

Cheers for all your help and cautions
Looking forward to doing this.

[Lauren]

Hmm, any suggestions on being able to leave the filler cap off, but without allowing any foreign substance to get in?
Is there anything i can put over the filler? or just leave the cap resting on top, but not pushed down properly?

Cheers for all your help and cautions
Looking forward to doing this.

Just take it off, i just leave it resting on the edge of the reservoir. for half an hour or however long it takes to do swop the pads its not going to matter that much. I can't seee anything getting in there unless a fly lands in it.

[anna]

Hmm, any suggestions on being able to leave the filler cap off, but without allowing any foreign substance to get in?

If this is regarding my comment - it's not crud at the filler cap that's the issue.
You will probably have some debris in the brake fluid in the pipes in your system just from normal wear and tear (unless you are very lucky), and for cars with ABS, forcing the fluid the 'wrong' way in the system can clog sensors (which are probably designed with the fluid going the 'right' way in mind)...

But if you don't have ABS, then it probably doesn't matter which way you do it (other than the seal issue highlighted above - but again, likelihood is you won't manage to break it)

[System-G]

My Rev3 had ABS and just removing the filler cap was fine - it didn't cause any problems with the ABS at all. I wouldn't expect any crud to be in the braking system at all. If you do find debris in there, I would sugest a complete drain and refill of the entire system quick sharp - wouldn't be nice to get a blockage in one of the most important systems on a car

[anna]

My Rev3 had ABS and just removing the filler cap was fine - it didn't cause any problems with the ABS at all. I wouldn't expect any crud to be in the braking system at all. If you do find debris in there, I would sugest a complete drain and refill of the entire system quick sharp - wouldn't be nice to get a blockage in one of the most important systems on a car

well - debris as in very very small particles of dirt - I do tend to get fairly mucky brake fluid when I bleed my '2, but then it is stock, and almost 20 years old!

It is my Ford that has ABS, and I suppose given their build quality, 'debris' might mean anything that was left lying around on the production line! Or the ABS might be set up in a different way to Toyotas....

Anyway - I think it's a recommendation - much like the seal one - that you would be very unlucky to manage to clog the ABS sensor by forcing fluid up the wrong way, but that someone somewhere probably managed it once upon a time. (Plus I imagine sorting that out would be a rather long messy job - so best avoided!)

[Dragon]

Thanks for all the tips, going to do this first thing tomorrow

Could you point out where the h/brake release part is? Paul said under
the floor. Is this inside the car or under it? Is it just a clamp, and when i go to tighten it back up, is there a special way to do it?

Thanks again

[Bluebear]

Its not a good idea to expose brake fluid to air for too long (days).

Some DOT fluids are "hygroscopic", which means they absorb moisture from the air and this can encourage corrosion in the brake lines and cylinders.

Regards,

Blueking.