Front brakes at 119K
05-28-2013, 01:33 PM
#1
Suzuka Master
Thread Starter
Front brakes at 119K
OK so I had a vibration under heavy braking so I decided that it was time to investigate before it got out of hand.
Rotors were OEM orignal that came on the car. Brakes were changed for the first time at 81K miles and the replacements (due to the horrid rotor condition) lasted rougly 38K with about 40% pad left.
Now part of the reason for the rotors is that I do not drive the car much in the summer - maybe once every 15 days or so due to being a 2 wheeler scooter guy..
Replacement rotors and pads from auto zone totalled $150 Plus one can of brake fluid $5 caliper grease $2 (Cmax pads without the grease and shims.
Some pointers
1. did I mention how I hate to do brakes on honda/acura? On some cars you have to remove the caliper bracket if you want to change out rotors. The CL is one of those cars... Thank God for Craftsman tools and the 5lb sledge hammer.
2. If all you do is daily driving then OEM/OEM replacement brakes will do the job. If you are Cole Trickle, look elsewhere.
3. If you cannot easily squeeze your caliper piston back in, replace it or rebuild it.
4. If your caliper is not moving freely on it's guide pins, replace the pins
5. If the rubber boots are cracked on the guide pins, replace them along with the pins
6. get a metal coat hanger to hang the caliper from while you are removing / reinstalling the caliper bracket.
To actually do the brakes
1. loosen lugs
2. jack car up just enough to get the wheel off
3. remove lugs/ wheel
4. remove caliper an hang it from the spring using the coat hanger, leave pads in the braket
5. remove caliper braket.
6. remove pads from bracket, remove shims from bracket, and then clean braket with brake cleaner.
7. clean shims and reinstall if your pads do not have new shims
8. remove caliper pins and inspect. If good, lube up and reinstall. you can use emry cloth or steel wool to clean them up if they have a buildup of crud on them. any rust, replace.
9. install brake shoes into bracket and set aside
10. if you have them, remove two retaining scews. If not, remove rotor. (I do not recommend reinstalling screws).
You might have to drill them out if you cannot impact them out. I didn't even try to remove them, I just drilled mine out as it was faster.
11. install rotor
12. install loaded caliper bracket
13. install caliper make sure it floats freely on the pins
14. get a pal and bleed each caliper until the fluid is clear. Make sure that you close the valve while he is still pushing down on the pedal and that you are adding fluid every so often as you are vleeding. NEVER let the resivoir go empty.
Enjoy nice brake pedal feel and butter smooth brakes
Rotors were OEM orignal that came on the car. Brakes were changed for the first time at 81K miles and the replacements (due to the horrid rotor condition) lasted rougly 38K with about 40% pad left.
Now part of the reason for the rotors is that I do not drive the car much in the summer - maybe once every 15 days or so due to being a 2 wheeler scooter guy..
Replacement rotors and pads from auto zone totalled $150 Plus one can of brake fluid $5 caliper grease $2 (Cmax pads without the grease and shims.
Some pointers
1. did I mention how I hate to do brakes on honda/acura? On some cars you have to remove the caliper bracket if you want to change out rotors. The CL is one of those cars... Thank God for Craftsman tools and the 5lb sledge hammer.
2. If all you do is daily driving then OEM/OEM replacement brakes will do the job. If you are Cole Trickle, look elsewhere.
3. If you cannot easily squeeze your caliper piston back in, replace it or rebuild it.
4. If your caliper is not moving freely on it's guide pins, replace the pins
5. If the rubber boots are cracked on the guide pins, replace them along with the pins
6. get a metal coat hanger to hang the caliper from while you are removing / reinstalling the caliper bracket.
To actually do the brakes
1. loosen lugs
2. jack car up just enough to get the wheel off
3. remove lugs/ wheel
4. remove caliper an hang it from the spring using the coat hanger, leave pads in the braket
5. remove caliper braket.
6. remove pads from bracket, remove shims from bracket, and then clean braket with brake cleaner.
7. clean shims and reinstall if your pads do not have new shims
8. remove caliper pins and inspect. If good, lube up and reinstall. you can use emry cloth or steel wool to clean them up if they have a buildup of crud on them. any rust, replace.
9. install brake shoes into bracket and set aside
10. if you have them, remove two retaining scews. If not, remove rotor. (I do not recommend reinstalling screws).
You might have to drill them out if you cannot impact them out. I didn't even try to remove them, I just drilled mine out as it was faster.
11. install rotor
12. install loaded caliper bracket
13. install caliper make sure it floats freely on the pins
14. get a pal and bleed each caliper until the fluid is clear. Make sure that you close the valve while he is still pushing down on the pedal and that you are adding fluid every so often as you are vleeding. NEVER let the resivoir go empty.
Enjoy nice brake pedal feel and butter smooth brakes
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Dead-Fox (05-28-2013)
05-29-2013, 07:21 AM
#3
Those screws were a bish. Thank God for impact screwdrivers! You may want to put the screws back. Only because they do help to keep the rotor in place in case the wheels hub doesn't sit flush against the hub. You could get vibrations & warp the rotors if they move around.
05-29-2013, 05:57 PM
#4
Suzuka Master
Thread Starter
^I had to drill my one remaining screw.. The acura dealer who did the brakes last time only put 1 screw back in on the passenger side and had already drilled out the driver's side.
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