How much have you guys paid for a brake job in Canada (specifically Vancouver BC area)? I'm just looking for stock parts, or whatever is cheaper, not looking for anything fancy. Are you getting it down at the dealer? Or do you have a reliable garage to recommend?

I'll probably need pads and rotors.

 

do it yourself. Piece of cake.

 

Around how much would the parts cost?

 

oem will be expensive. I would go aftermarket. Itll be cheaper

 

lol, midas once quoted me with parts and labor, thats rotors and pads at 1600 lol.. I felt like commiting my first murder lol... if you can and live close enough to the u.s border just drive down and pick them up at autozone or something like that.. parts are way cheaper.. for eg. spark plugs in ontario = 90.00 a piece, watertown ny = 19.00 a piece... I honestly cannot explain why teh hell its such a difference.

 

Considering the value of our American dollar has decreased, you should take the suggestions mentioned and order the parts here; nevertheless, you should take time to read the D.I.Y. and you'll understand how simple it is.

 

i paid 490$ with a club discount at jrp for the EBC slotted and RED stuff combo. installed at a shop with Russel SS lines and Motul brake fluid for 300$

 

I took a look at the DIY. Has anyone removed their rotors themselves? The DIY said it can be hard to remove the rotors because they may be seized on. I remember seeing my mechanic friend having to use a torch to get rotors off a car once. Did anyone do this themselves and have trouble with it?

 

The front rotors takes extra work, remove both the bolts located at the rear that holds the brackets. The rotor is bolted with two philips screws, remove those and it should come off. The rears are easy, remove the bracket along with the caliper and the rotor slides out easily.

 

+1 .... but

+1 but ......

Ok guys ... I skimmed the thread quickly but you all are missing two very important gotcha's that can and will likely occur during the brake job.

First: Most people will require a hammer screw to remove those front phillips head screw holding the rotors on (and no they don't need to go back on ... the screw that is not the rotor)

Two: Depending on pad and rotor wear you need to collapse the rear rotors and that in done using a special caliber piston tool. It's not expensive and I was able to pick one up at Canadian Tire.
This tool is used to rotate the caliber piston while you apply some force to collapse the piston.
Using a straight C-Clamp will damage the piston.
And watch the brake fluid in the Master Cylinder .. forcing the pistons back can sometimes cause it to overflow.

This is all based on the Series I .... don't know if its the same on the Series II

Edit:
Picture of Hammer screw, Impact Driver ... whatever
https://www.rx8club.com/forum/showpo...18&postcount=3
Napa Auto - Impact driver set
http://www.napacanada.com/en/PartsAc...rd.aspx#Detail

Picture of piston caliper tool I purchase from crappy-tire
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

 

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

 

I've never seen anyone around here with seized rear calipers ...

And we still use salt on the roads in the winter ....

Ya ... I KNOW

 

There was a member in a different "brake pads" thread that had a problem compressing his 'seized piston' and ended up taking the car to his dealer. After picking up his car he drove it home parked it and noticed that his rear pads emitted a burning smell and caused the rear rotors to heat up, sizzling the water he splashed upon contact. In conclusion, we think the mechanic didn't properly install the rear brake pads by not backing the pistons all the way through. Anyway, I just don't think it's seized also.

 

I found that a decent set of needle nose pliers does the job for this.. you're just looking to rotate it back.

also be sure to clean the lil' bits o'metal (clips) while you're in there working to remove any brake dust etc... lil' bit of sandpaper goes a long away...

Oh... and I've seen it on many occasions where someone hasn't lined up the lil' nub that sticks out on the back of the brake pad with the recess in the back of the rear brake piston... this will cause it to sit incorrectly. don't do that.

 

I found that I had to apply some pressure and rotate at the same time ... mmmm pliers ... I will try that next time .. good info thanks.


Oh good one ......

 

I didn't have the proper tool when I replaced mine, instead, I did use a "C-Clamp" with the ball-mount/pivot ends and since the piston needs to be turned clockwise, it worked out well for me.

 

Where art thou turbo?

 

Up and running (mostly) ... I'm tuned to 6 psi right now.

I wanted to go to 9 psi this week ... first I had to clamp down the Jet Air lines, replace front sway bar and put in some new plugs and oil ...
So while I had it up on the stands I did some inspecting to make sure everything was altogether ... noticed some heat damage.

So I'm waiting from some thermal protection from DEI to arrive today.
Should be back on the road tomorrow.

 

dude... I gotta see this beast. We'll likely be having a mini-install meet next weekend at Rick's place (he doesn't know this yet :D) to install my coilovers... you should drop by and gloat... there will be beer

 

Ah .... next weekend is bad for me ... we have our hockey summer golf tournament ..
If its a Sunday I might be able to do it

 

Cool.. welp... we'll see what happens I suppose

 

Back on topic - can the rotors be turned/lathed? I know some cars don't recommend doing that, while others say you can lathe them once or twice. My rotors are warped - I can feel it in the steering wheel when I brake hard.

 

Technically Yes. But no if you're smart. You're just thinning them out... they can't dissipate heat as well.

 

I'm at 90,000km on stock rotors since brand new. I feel a very slight shudder when I brake (not the pads because I've changed those at 75,000 km already).

Do you guys think 90,000km is reasonable lifespan of the stock rotors?

 

Measure them When they are out of spec put on new ones They really are not expensive...so changing them out is not too hard on the pocket book

To the OP...I live close...have a set of Hawk HPS pads I can sell you cheap( new in box). If the rotors are OK...I can help you slap in the pads...lube things up and you can buy me lunch or something. Otherwise I can help you get parts etc at decent prices. Only problem is that I am gone for a couple of weeks....