I did my rear pads for the second time since I bought my car in May of '08 earlier this week. I didn't even need to mess with the parking brake (disengaged of course).

I popped the brake fluid lid and put it back on loose to prevent splash.

Top bolt on drivers side.
Pull caliper cover back
Pop old pads
Grease springs and back of new pads
Install new pads
Trusty caliper tool twist a little left and a little right. Grab boot while turning clockwise. I had to do a good couple full turns this time as I waited way too long (old pads had maybe 3-4 mm at most left)
Aligned piston to notch on back pad
Put caliper cover back on
Reinstalled bolt and torqued it down

Repeat on the the other side.

Ensure brake fluid lid is secure.

Ended up being about a 45 minute chore soup to nuts... just like I remembered from the last time (after reading this and other threads).

 

Do you need to push the front pistons all the way in or just enough? I just replaced all four brakes and while bed-in them I notice a weird sound coming from the passenger side. Now the front passenger side brake locks up. I've been reading other forums from other cars and they mention pushing the piston all thew way in, otherwise they will be positioned incorrectly making more pressure than what its needed, locking up the wheel. Is this true?

Also, my e brake is not strong enough and it wasn't like that before. Any ideas why?

 

Never mind, I found the problem. One of the caliper bolt was lose and whilst driving it fell off. The caliper started hitting the rotor making me think that it was locking the wheel. Now, the steering wheel vibrates just a little and is more noticeable at higher speeds. Since it wasn't like that before it is very noticeable for me. The alignment and the tires were fine before the incident so it has to be the rotor. I'm going to turn them again and if it doesn't fix it I'll buy new ones.

 

good luck on the rotors, if turning them doesn't work then you always have getting a set of drilled and slotted if you don't already have them :-)

 

Awesome DIY, definitely helped, thanks!

 

Hey guys, I hope some people still lurk here. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with Power Stop brake products. I found a set of rotors and pads, that seem decent, for a steal! So... I was wondering if that's because I'm lucky, or if they suck. Anyone heard anything about them?

 

I would also like feedback on these. I've asked around quite a bit and still no response from anyone. They're pretty cheap on Amazon and without any feedback I'll most likely get the EBC rotors and with EBC red pads.

 

Wow, scary. Was there damage to the wheel?

 

How do you know the caliper is hitting the rotor not the wheel? I had a similar issue on another car, when I took the wheel off it was leaning against the wheel so I thought it was hitting the wheel giving me the knocking noise. Interestingly other than the noise I didn't feel any difference in brake feel. :P I figured during brake the centrifugal force pushs the caliper out. The upper bolt was the one that got lost.

Just for giggles I took it back to the shop (I was out of town), they installed another bolt and it fell off that night again, so I had to take it back in the morning before the 14 hour trip...

 

LOL, same thing. Second time I've replaced the rear pads which were done three years ago. I still used the large G-Clamp to compress the caliper piston.

 

I think this is the proper tool, not a clamp, no?

 

That is the tool but the clamp works for me, nonetheless.

 

Hi guys, FYI for those of you who don't own a
c-clamp or a rear caliper tool, lots of auto stores will loan the tool to you with just a deposit.

 

Man if I would've known that before... I didn't have the tool so I decided to get the job done at a local Canadian tire. My calipers were jammed so I had to change them both along with new discs and pads. I bought a set of rotors+pads off ebay and bought the calipers from the local Canadian tire store at 213 each. With installation of my parts + their calipers the bill still came up to 740$. I got screwed by a few hundred bucks on the install. 2.5 hours labor + 60 bucks for a brake fluid flush. The whole job took them 40 mins.

I can tell you I was pissssssed.

ALWAYS DO IT YOURSELF

 

That sucks.
Usually a good idea to check with the club before doing repairs. A lot of jobs are not too difficult with a little guidance.
You will probably save some $$ down the road.

 

Yes, I second that. I made that mistake once before I fixed my A/C system, I knew there was a leak but I took it to a shop anyway and paid $80 for them to tell me that I neede it fixed.

 

I see this has been dead for a few months now but I have a question this rx8 has a ABS control valve block (or what ever it's called) in some cars with this type of setup you can't push the fluid back through it with out Fing up the ABS so you must open the bleeder on the caliper is this the case with this car ?

 

I did watch this video and agree that these steps should also be done to make sure new brake pads will wear evenly:

 

Sorta wish i would have taken the time to read this instead of thinking "ive done brakes before. It wont be hard." I ended up grinding off the nipple on the brake pad itself to make it fit flush on the inside pad. havent had any problems with it yet. Anyone know specifically why the pads are made that way?

 

The "nipple" is needed for the emergency brake to work properly

 

Define "properly" because mine still functions lol. I guess I haven't tried slowing down at speed with it. But while parked it keeps the car stopped

 

I did my front brake pads today. I'm going to do my rear brake pads tomorrow. Thanks for the useful info; I didn't have to go hunting for the correct socket to loosen the caliper slide bolts, and now I know the twist-to-retract caliper piston tool I bought will be useful for more than just my old VW.

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but even though you only have to remove one caliper slide bolt to pivot the caliper out of the way, it helps to loosen the other one a bit. Just make sure to tighten the one that you loosened after you're done installing the new pads -- it's easy to forget since it's out of sight and you didn't have to remove it completely.

I had 1/8" left on the front pads after 50,000 miles. Can't really complain about that.

 

You don't have to remove both, but imo, it's a good idea to remove both and lubricate them.

 

I checked all four front caliper slides for smoothness; one of them felt a little sticky, so I regreased that one. The inboard pad on that brake also showed slightly more wear than the outboard pad, whereas the other front brake showed identical wear between both pads.

 

I am about to install the HPS rear pads right now and noticed that both sets of pads come with the protruding metal clip. Is this the way yours were too? I thought only the passenger side had that clip.