[V8Huntr]

Well since I couldn't find any how-to's on this I figured I'd make one for anyone who can find some use out of this! This is still a work in progress but if anyone has suggestions feel free to ask.

This how-to has some suggestions in it that you may not agree with. If you have a better way, by all means do it that way.

Tools needed:
- 19mm socket
- 19mm open ended wrench
- 17mm socket or wrench
- hammer
- small punch
- Needle-nose pliers
- brake parts cleaner
- disc brake lubricant
- rags

Ok let’s get started!!

Step 1:
Remove the wheel

***We’re going to remove the pads first. So get your pliers, pin punch, and hammer.***

Step 2:
First you need to remove the 2 clips (circled in green). Grab them with your needle nose pliers and pull straight up. They come out very easy!



Step 3:
Now you need to remove the two rods that go across the caliper. Lightly tap the front of the rod with your punch and hammer. It shouldn’t take much force to tap them out. The retainer piece puts pressure on these rods so you want to hold it down when you remove the rods because if you don’t it will spring outwards when you take the rod out.




Step 4:
Now you want to compress the pistons so you can remove the pads. So press the caliper against the rotor until you free it up enough to remove the pads. Once you have both pads out it’s time to remove the caliper.

Step 5:
Here you are going to need your 19mm socket and wrench. You need to remove the caliper bolts (circled in green). The lower one can removed with a breaker bar and socket. The upper one is a little more complicated. You will notice that if you try to get a socket onto it you are going to have a problem with the shock bolt (circled in blue). Here is where you need the 19mm open ended wrench. This will allow you to remove the bolt without worrying about that damn shock bolt.

Another option (by aus_taz)
Use a shallow 19mm socket and a medium length extension. The socket will end before the strut bolt and the extension fits nicely past it to allow you to use a breaker bar




Step 6:
Swing the caliper up and off of the rotor. Don’t just let it hang because it is not good for the brake line. So either have a helper hold it or prop it up on something.

Step 7:
Remove the rotor. The rotor is going to be seized on so take a hammer and give it a few taps until it pops off of the hub. Then simply just take it off just like a wheel.

Another option (by sti robot)
To get a very seized rotor off there are special holes on the rotor that you can put a bolt into to push the rotor off. These two holes can be seen in the picture below. (circled in green) These are going to be 8mm bolts.



Step 8:
Now you need to prep your new rotor and mating surface. Get your brake parts cleaner and spray it on the rotor surface and wipe it clean with a rag. You need to do this to remove any machining oils that may still be on the surface of the rotor from the manufacturing process.




You also need to clean up the hub. Spray it down with parts cleaner and clean it up with a rag. You don’t need to get it squeaky clean, you just want the loose crap off.




Put your new rotor onto the hub

Step 9:
Time to put the caliper back on. Before you put it back on make sure all 4 pistons are flush with the inner surface. You are going to need all of that room for the new pads!
Here is a hint: Use the old pads to press the pistons back. Put the pad onto both pistons and you can squeeze it back with your hand.

Bolt the caliper back up with the two 19mm bolts and torque to 80 ft. lbs (Thanks to covert for the heads up)

Step 10:
Time to put your new pads in. If you are reusing the old shims, clean them up with parts cleaner before putting them back on.

Use disc brake lubricant on the back of the pad where it will meet with the piston. You can’t possibly use too much of this stuff so don’t be stingy with it!




You may have noticed that out of your 4 pads, 2 of them have a small metal piece on them. Those are going to go on the outside of the rotor. So your pad set is going to look something like this. Notice that the lower pad has a metal clip piece on the bottom left, and the top one doesn’t.




Put your pads into the caliper making sure that the pad with the clip is on the side closest to you.




Step 11:
Now you need to put the retainer, rods, and pins back on. It’s just the reverse of the removal steps.

Step 12:
Verify that everything is torqued to spec and put the wheel back on.

And that’s how you do the fronts!!!

[V8Huntr]

Ok I finally got around to finishing the writeup for the rears.... and this is how it's done

Tools Needed:
- 17mm socket or wrench
- hammer
- small punch
- Needle-nose pliers
- Flathead screwdriver (possibly)
- brake parts cleaner
- disc brake lubricant
- rags

Step 1:
Remove the wheel

***Again, we’re going to remove the pads first. So get your pliers, pin punch, and hammer.***

Step 2:
First you need to remove the 2 clips (same as the front). Grab them with your needle nose pliers and pull straight up. Again they come out very easy!

Step 3:
Now you need to remove the two rods that go across the caliper. Lightly tap the front of the rod with your punch and hammer. It shouldn’t take much force to tap them out. The retainer piece puts pressure on these rods so you want to hold it down when you remove the rods because if you don’t it will spring outwards when you take the rod out.

Step 4:
Same as the front, you want to compress the pistons so you can remove the pads. So press the caliper against the rotor until you free it up enough to remove the pads. Once you have both pads out it’s time to remove the caliper.

Step 5:
Here you are going to need your 17mm socket or wrench. These bolts have a lot of room around them so you don't need to worry about tight squeezes. Remove both bolts holding the caliper to the frame.

Step 6:
Swing the caliper up and off of the rotor. Don’t just let it hang because it is not good for the brake line. So either have a helper hold it or prop it up on something.

***NOTE: The rear rotor is different from the front rotor in that this is part of the parking brake assembly. You want to make sure you release your parking brake before attempting to remove the rear rotor!!!***

Step 7:
Now we're going to remove the rear rotor. You can try tapping it loose with a hammer but chances are that it's being held on there by the parking brake shoes. If this is the case then try these 2 options in order.

- First: Loosen the parking brake by turning the adjusting screw enough that the brake shoe moves away from the rotor. There is a rubber cover on the hole, just pull it out and you'll see the adjusting screw. When you loosen the screw count the number of teeth you moved it by because you are going to need to adjust it when you put the new rotor on!!!



- Second: Using 2 8mm bolts, thread them into the two holes to press the rotor off of the hub. These are the same holes shown in the picture below.



Step 8:
Again you need to prep your new rotor and mating surface. Get your brake parts cleaner and spray it on the rotor surface and wipe it clean with a rag. You need to do this to remove any machining oils that may still be on the surface of the rotor from the manufacturing process.

You also need to clean up the hub. Spray it down with parts cleaner and clean it up with a rag. You don’t need to get it squeaky clean, you just want the loose crap off.

Step 9:
Place the new rotor onto the hub. If you had to loosen the parking brake then now is the time to tighten it back up. I hope you took notice as to how far you loosened it!!

Step 10:
Time to put the caliper back on. Before you put it back on make sure all 4 pistons are flush with the inner surface. You are going to need all of that room for the new pads!
Here is a hint: Use the old pads to press the pistons back. Put the pad onto both pistons and you can squeeze it back with your hand.

Bolt the caliper back up with the two 17mm bolts and torque to 47.9 ft. lbs

Step 11:
Time to put your new pads in. If you are reusing the old shims, clean them up with parts cleaner before putting them back on.

Use disc brake lubricant on the back of the pad where it will meet with the piston. Again you can’t possibly use too much of this stuff so don’t be stingy with it!

As with the fronts, out of your 4 rear pads, 2 of them have a small metal piece on them. Those are going to go on the outside of the rotor as well.

Step 12:
Now you need to put the retainer, rods, and pins back on. It’s just the reverse of the removal steps.

Step 13:
Verify that everything is torqued to spec and put the wheel back on.

[covert747]

Just an FYI - this is a sticky in brakes forum about the misinformation on torquing the caliper bolts. It should 80 ft/lbs instead of 114 ft/lbs - there's been a few instances were the bolts snapped!

[sti robot]

Add that to get a very seized rotor off there are special holes on the rotor that you can put a bolt into to push the rotor off.

<--had to do this with a friend's wrx at 60k miles.

[Crewchief]

Nice write up!

[aus_taz]

I just finished doing most of this last week due to a broken wheel stud and found a good way to get the top caliper bolt out.

Use a shallow 19mm socket and a medium length extension. The socket will end before the strut bolt and the extension fits nicely past it to allow you to use a breaker bar.

[V8Huntr]

Great suggestions guys! I added them into the write up and gave credit where it's due.

And thanks for the heads up on the torque spec covert!!!

[05-WHITE-STI]

good writeup!

[covert747]

Originally Posted by V8Huntr

Great suggestions guys! I added them into the write up and gave credit where it's due.

And thanks for the heads up on the torque spec covert!!!

No problem - props to you for doing the write-up. I always tell myself everytime I do an install to take some pics and do a write-up to be posted here, but I guess you can consider me lazy

[flytojungho]

good job. I like reading your DIY

[UltimateLurker]

Just about to do this, thanks for the write up. The only thing I'd add is a brake-bedding procedure, like this one...

Instructions for bedding in your brakes

[moorex]

How are the rears coming along? Are they much different?

I see you're in Allentown. That's cool, I'm up there a couple times a month.

[V8Huntr]

Oh yea I completely forgot that I never put that part in! I'll try to get it up this week

[RFFG]

Awesome info

Someone STICKY this thread!

[Warvetiraq]

Great info! i just got done doing my rotors and pads.. this deffinatley helped!