Two weeks ago, I posted a thread about some new front brake pads I ordered for my '04 manual TL. They are the Rotex Gold Kevlar series. I had asked some basic questions about the "special tool" for the pad pin removal and invited comments from those who have already done this (I have replaced both pads and brake shoes on a number of my previous cars). Anyway, here are some tips for anyone who may be contemplating this themselves.

After having removed the front wheels and before removing the pads, consider vacuuming the calipers, pads, and area around them.

You can use a punch or a nail to remove the pins. I used both since my punch was not long enough to complete the pin removal.

After removing the pins, gently force the pads against the pistons.. not hard or too much. This makes removal of the pads easier. Just work them out carefully with two small screwdrivers inserted through their pin holes.

You can reuse the shims or not use them at all with your new pads. If you want to reuse them, thoroughly clean them up then have some brake shim paste handy to refit them to the new pads. I chose not to use them, but did save them.

It's a good idea to clean the rotors once the old pads are removed before installing the new pads.

To compress the pistons, I used am E-A Hold II holding clamp I bought from Sears. It works super and I know it will find more use. Don't go overboard when compressing the pistons.. just enough to easily slide the new pads in place.

Before installing the new pads, apply a coat of NAPA Sil-Glyde to the back of the pads. Use this sparingly because you don't want any to get on the pad friction surface.

Put the pins back in and wheels back on, torquing to 80 ft/lbs.



Now for the really important part.. bedding in your new pads.

After I installed my pads last Sunday afternoon, I followed the advice of the man who sold them to me from brakewarehouse.com and did 6 firm brakings from 60 to 10 MPH with a 3 mile easy drive at speed in between each braking. THIS IS NOT HOW TO BED IN NEW PADS.

Here's how to do it. Get up early and drive (easily) to a road on which you can do this. Make 8 hard brakings from 60 to 10 MPH with NO wait in between. Hard brake, then accelerate back up to 60 and hard brake again. Do this 8 times in a row without any waiting other then gettting back up to speed. Around braking number 5 or 6, you will probably feel brake fade. This is good because at this point the pads and rotors have gotten hot enough to allow the transfer of pad material onto the mating surface of the rotors which is the whole purpose of the bedding in process.

After this, drive the car at highway speed for about 10 to 15 minutes (I did 20 minutes this morning) to allow cool down. Avoid traffic lights and stop signs and any sudden stops during the cool down drive if possible.

Hope this helps.

 

Damn SB that is an outstanding post. Thank you for all your efforts.

 

Thanks and you're most welcome.

Hey, if you do this (I seem to recall you were of a mind to do the same thing before too long), please add your experiences, too. The 6MT TLs seem to be a little more sensitive about there pads and their installation than other cars I've done this with. This is actually the first car I've ever gone through the bedding in process. With past installations, I've done just the reverse.. driven and braked VERY carefully for the first 200 miles. So to bed in new brakes like this seems at first to defy common logic.

Last Sunday, when I first bedded them in (and did it improperly), they really squealed Monday coming home from work. So I didn't drive the car the rest of the week until this morning when I took it out at 6:00AM to re-bed the brakes. With all of my other cars in which I have replaced disk pads, I've never done this and never had a squealing problem and now I think I know why. I always replaced the pads with OEM pads I got from the parts department at the dealership. So the pad material was the same as that which had already been deposited on the rotors by the original units. The two most important things about bedding in new after-market pads with existing rotors is to have the pads take on the surface contours of the rotors and to deposit pad material on the rotor surface. This process requires high heat in order for the transfer to take place.

So I've learned something here. And I welcome and encourage anyone else who had comments and/or suggestions to append them to this thread we can learn from their experience as well.

 

Good straightforward write-up Thanks.

 

And thank you for your input to my first post on this 2 weeks ago. You also installed the Rotex Gold Kevlars, didn't you? If so, how have they been? Any complaints or coments?

 

^ - Correct, I installed them, well, I think last November. I wanted to turn my rotors but the day I was doing the pads my shops brake lathe wasnt working. They seem to stop great, although when they get a little hot they make a weird noise when slowing down. The noise doesnt show up under moderate brake pressure, just when the pedal is slightly depressed. I've been pretty happy with the pads overall. I'm glad there isnt nearly the amount of brake dust that the OEM pads left. As for if I am going to buy them again...I dont know. I've been thinking about the Green Stuff pads, just to try something new. I'm in the same boat with my tires. I love the RE750's but want to see what else is out there.

 

Im thinking about getting all the DIY's together and making a sticky thread in 3G. This one will be in there for sure..

 

OK... i have my pads on order but reading this now i have a question.... If you dont have to remove the caliper to change the pads, how do you compress the pistons? Im not sure how to do this but I am going to do the install myself.... any help??

Also, I saw a tool at Autozone that was a piston compressor.. shoudl I get this? I never could figure it out on my old integra... i really dont want to screw this one up...

 

I just used a screwdriver to compress the piston...if you leave the old pads in its a lot easier to do. If you take the pads out a c-clamp works well.

 

So, do you just push the pads in with a screwdriver before you take them out?

 

Yep...it takes a second or two to figure out the best way to get leverage but its fairly straightforward. Once you have the wheels off its easier to see what to do.

 

Awesome.... thanks... well see how it goes...


BTW.. awesome post!!! Thank you SouthernBoy for taking the time to do this...

 

I was instructed to bed-in the pads in this fashion by a GM engineer:

1) Drive car to 40MPH, apply brakes firmly but not hard enough to activate the ABS.
2) Repeat Step 1 twelve times in row.
3) Drive for several miles.
4) Repeat steps 1 and 2

I didn't find out about this until after my brakes were done, so I never had a chance to do this. I had a brake job done at my mechanic after 88,000 miles on the original OEM pads and I went with AutoZone Duralast Ceramic pads in the front, and semi-metallics in the back. Same price for both ironically, as they only sold them in that fashion for the particular car. (Non-Acura) Rotors were also turned. So far, 1300 miles later, no squeals or problems.

 

I got an E-Z Hold II holding clamp (not an E-A like I first wrote) from Sears. It has a trigger and it works similar to a caulking gun in that each pull of the trigger moves the clamps closer together. The clamps themselves are covered in a soft plastic so as not to damage anything. Pretty good little tool for this.

You could also do as subinf suggests and use a screwdriver with the old pads. I've done this before in the past.

 

You're welcome. Actually, it's a pretty simple job.. quite a bit easier than some of the replacements I've done (like hanging the calipers with metal shirt hanger from a suspension member).

One other thing. When you first apply the brakes after putting every thing back together again, don't expect them to make full and hard contact. When you drive off, that's when you will want to apply the brakes gently a few times to seat the pistons to the pads. You don't want any surprises if you really do need to brake suddenly.

Also, don't be surprised if you hear a very noticable 'clack' when first hitting the brakes. That will be the pads moving in their caliper seats, taking a position. It goes away after one or two times.

 

One of my neighbors, who races a car at Summit Point, does something like this. I got my "good" info from this link:

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

I believe your method looks fine from what I can tell. The proof is in the performance afterwards, anyway.

 

BTW, in what part of Northern Virginia do you live?

 

I'm like you with the pad thing. Green Stuff was my second choice and I may also go that direction the next time around. I haven't had these Rotex pads on long enough nor driven enough yet to really tell how much less dust there will be, but so far, it does appear to be noticably less.

I am also getting tire real soon.. as in two weeks from today. I'm virtually certain that I'm going with the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires even though they are only H-rated for our size. I have owned the Pilot Sport A/S's on my previous car (and '02 Altima SE). Great tire but they do make a strange noise under load conditions. Kinda sounds like driving on a wet road.

When I changed my brake pads last Sunday, I spent some time really cleaning up the front wheels... especially the rear sections since you can't normally get to that part very well. Now I get to really see about the dust thing.

 

Here is another link.. good writeups.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_bedintheory.shtml

 

Im in Fairfax.... right off 66.... and I work in Dumfries/Quantico

 

I section of road I used this morning was near ideal for the bedding in process. I don't know if you're familiar with the area, but I took 29 South to the Warrenton area, then took 17 North towards Marshall. This section of route 17 at 6:20 on a Saturday morning is pretty barren and it's excellent road. No red lights, no stop signs, 55 MPH speed limit, 4-lane highway. I did my bed in there, then drove another 5 or so miles to the route 66 interchange and pulled off onto 66 east bound. This allow PLENTY of time for cool down and no stops in between.

The area in which you live is going to be hard to find someplace to do this, I would think. Just thought you might like to know of a good location for it.

 

Good write up. I'd like to add a few things while not related to bedding in the pads it does relate to changing them.

Before undertaking the pad change you must check the master cylinder fluid level. If the master cylinder is full to begin with it will overflow when you push the pistons in. You may not even notice because it is under the plastic cover on the drivers side of the firewall. Out of site out of mind.

If you have been maintaining the car and adding clean DOT3 brake fluid regularly the master will likely be topped up, so an overflow is a good posibility. You do not want brake fluid on your paint and mechanical bits as it will corrode whatever it comes into contact with.

If you do spill brake fluid use a car wash soap or dish detergent in a spray bottle and liberally soak the area then rinse. Just make sure you get it all removed. Resist the use of brake cleaners as they are also corrosive to paints.

So assuming your master cylinder is full, how are you going to get the fluid out without making a mess ? I found a turkey baster to be a great tool for removal of excess fluids. Mine is a stainless model with a removable hypodermic type tip that is designed to poke holes into the turkey and squirt drippings into the meat. I think this cost 2 or 3 dollars. Plastic ones will work but you'll end up throwing it away after a few uses. The plastic ones that I've used also do not seal well around the vacuum bulb area so be careful.

Make a nest around the master reservoir with several paper towels to catch any drips. Pour drippings into a empty tin can.

Since you are changing the brake pads it is a good time to suck out all the old fluid in the clutch and brake reservoirs and add new fluid. DOT3 fluid absorbs moisture and gets pretty dirty. The moisture causes the rust and corrosion in the brake system. Using clean fluids will help keep it in shape.

I did mine this way a few days ago and the fluid I removed was very dirty even on a low mileage car equipped with the Brembos. I can't say if the masters are the same for the 5ATs and the 6MTs but the volume of fluid I removed was substantial. >1/3L. It is difficult to get to the bottom of the reservoir but adding a nozzle tube from a can of WD40 to the tip of the baster gets you most of the way there.

BTW a dealer recommended that the fluid be flushed more often than the service schedule advises. DOT3 has not been improved over the years. It is the same stuff used in older cars that recommended more frequent maintanance.

Hope this helps.

 

Nice post and good tips. Thanks!