StapleGun

Alright I wrapped up the front brakes last night....You'll need about 2 hours to do if you do it quick and dirty, maybe less. I kind of took my time and took pictures with the intent of posting here...enjoy fellas!

To commence you'll need the following:

- Car Jack
- Jack Stands
- Lug wrench (17mm) and torque wrench
- Wheel Chocks
- 3/8" and 1/2" ratchets (6pt. sockets if you need, otherwise you'll strip heads)
- 5mm allen wrench (for brake set screw)
- 18mm for caliper retaining bolts
- Loctite Blue 242 (I prefer the twist tube 242)
- Permatex Anti-seize compound
- Rotors - I purchased AMG rotors that were cryogenically treated by www.frozenrotors.com (Purchased from www.rimier.com (cost $618 w/shipping)
- Two (2) brake wear sensors ($4.96 each)
- EBC Red front brake pad set from perfect brakes at $75

Prior to starting I prepped all the pads by applying some Permatex anti-squeal paste to the reverse side of the pads. This is purely a suggestion, it won't hurt though....I hate squealing brakes.

THE STEPS:

1) Commence by loosening your wheel lugs, either pax or driver's side - do not completely remove them yet.
2) Jack driver's or pax side, whichever side you started, and place jack stand in a suitable frame location.
3) Completely remove the lugs and wheel and set aside where it will be out of the way - go the opposite side and do the same.
4) Now you'll need your 18mm wrench (ratchet, box end or whatever you may have) - you'll need this to remove the two (2) caliper retaining bolts - I used a box-end wrench and a dead-blow rubber mallet.
5) Once you remove these two bolts, you'll need to slide off the caliper. Ensure you support this caliper AND DO NOT ALLOW IT TO HANG BY THE BRAKE LINE!!! Tie it up and support with a wire, rope, cable, etc...

NOTE: I don't know the shape your rotors, you may have to finagle a screw driver or small pry bar to back up the pads slightly. My rotor had a substantial ridge that I had to slide over and had to wrestle a bit to get it off - my old pads had substantial material left, my rotors were shot. Be careful of where you place the screw driver and aware of the point you use as a leverage point.

6) Once you have the caliper off....it's now time to remove the set screw (this is what the 5mm allen wrench is for) - some cars may have a T30 Torx. You should be able to pull the rotor off at this time.

NOTE: Your rotor may be frozen...lightly tap w/brass mallet around the periphery of the rotor, slowly rotating and lightly tapping to loosen. You may want to use penetrant oil at the hub area and let it set for a couple minutes.

7) Clean up everything, you may wish to wirebrush the caliper and scrub it, prime and paint it, that's entirely up to you. Just ensure you thoroughly clean and dry everything and be careful to not damage the dust covers protecting your pistons inside your calipers.

Pretty much the reassembly is the reverse of the above procedure. I added some 'tidbits', just suggestions you may or may not wish to do.

Suggestion(s):

- Apply a thin layer of anti-seize to the surface area underneath the rotor hat. This will prevent it's future seizing.

- Once you're ready to assemble everything, carefully clean up the bolts and apply Loctite blue to the set screws and caliper retaining bolts.

- I add a touch of anti-seize to the top of the wheel lug nuts to avert galling to my wheels which I had recently powder coated, I torque them to 85-90ft/lbs.

StapleGun

As seen through wheel...and added picture of pads. The blue tube is 'threadlocker' blue gel from Loctite - stuff kicks *** and lasts a long time (love you long time...), good for gun stuff too...

Just as an aside...I replaced the brakes, all the way around when I purchased the car (app 72/73K). I saw that the rotors were marginal at the time. I had so many other small issues and since I bought the car outright, ca$h was a lil' low so I waited.

What finally pushed me over the edge, is that the rotors finally sustained a warp that became unbearable during hard breaking. The pads had lots of material left, practically new....I however, was not about to bed-in an old brake pad on a virgin steel rotor - neither should you.

Today is raining, thus the pads will not be bedded-in until I have a nice sunny day AND dry road conditions. Never, bed-in a set of pads on a rainy day..you'll never get uniform temperature across the rotor and you can warp it and get off to an expensive start.

C43AMG

Please start another thread on how you painted the garage floor.....and post some pics!

StapleGun

If people are interested I will, that was a royal pain in my ***...

toamend

Staple,
THANKS for the brake job overview. I bought a set of pads (f + r) like 2 years ago but have not gotten around to the task as of yet. Your tutorial will prompt me to do this in the next couple of weeks.

BTW- I did the same treatment to my garage floor, only mine is a deep blue with the color flakes. What a huge pain in the *** it was, I did it before we moved into this house so the garage was empty. Still, it takes days because you have to acid wash it, wait to dry, prime, wait ti dry, paint, wait to dry.

Results are worth it though.
Todd

C43AMG

Please.

NitrogenBalance

You chose to go with the EBC red over the EBC green huh? The red pads look a little nicer than the neon green one's I had.

My brakes are toast and will need both rotors and pads come spring. I was going to buy EBC green again but I'm curious how yours will perform.....nice job.

StapleGun

Agree, it is well worth it. I purchased my house about four years ago now and I had, prepped, etched, and carefully masked my garage. It was devoid of anything then.

I used BEHR paint, the stuff specifically made for garage floors....IT'S CRAP. I waited a whole week for it to dry thoroughly BEFORE I even parked any of my cars and it lifted the paint in the very spots where my Toyo truck tires sat - four ugly spots. Hell, it even lifts up where my Harley's tires sit...it's total crap, avoid it at all costs. I should have known, generally water-soluble paints suck for this type of application.

So after two years and touching up about every other week and even putting down a rubber mat for the MB. I took the splurge and purchased a 2-step epoxy paint from armorpoxy. I researched various different coatings and this one is great, its store is online.

The job entailed moving ALL my crap from one side, chemically removing, scrubbing off the old paint, sand, and busting my *** for many, many hours. After sanding, prepping, and finally painting. I had to slide all the contents from the one half of the garage to the other half and start all over again. Took approximately two months, cost was very high since I had to strip old paint - about $1000 roughly.

Also, worthy of mention, my garage settled and had a couple long cracks - I used good ol' bondo to patch and it works like a charm, it's holding up after a year with no problems.

I used the two-part armorpoxy mixed with silica (a.k.a. sand) for grip, sprinkled paint flecks, and waited over night. After that was all done, I used a two-part clear coat to top it - the new surface is awesome with absolutely NO paint lift.

If you guys are interested, since this is off-topic, please email me, I'll send you all pertinent links and information.

C43AMG - I'll post a little more detailed post once I get home with all the pertinent info for this job.

StapleGun

I want rotor-friendly pads - I'm sure they'll be fine for my use.

StapleGun

TOAMEND - the rear brake pad replacement is even easier than the fronts, the calipers require no removal to replace the pads. It'll take longer to jack up the car than it will to actually replace the pads.

m a x i m u s

hey staplegun, thanks for the tutorial!

question: can you briefly explain the pad wear sensor replacement process? how do you reset the dash light?

Eurosport

lol +1
that's my next project once weather gets nicer i got the paint waiting, says on the box though has to be 50+F bah not warm enough yet still bear concrete!

StapleGun

Too easy - yank it out carefully and insert, I guess you could say it's plug and play. If your in the northern climates I would add a little dab of dielectric compound inside to keep corrosion at bay. Once you have replaced the sensor the light should go out, if not disconnect the battery. Remember you have two L/R.

CHECK OUT POST #15 BELOW YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE THE SENSORS

StapleGun

I have THE solution for your "bear" concrete below...muriatic acid is just gonna **** it off....j/k I meant what you knew

StapleGun

NEW ROTORS by www.frozenrotors.com - purchased through www.rimier.com




New EBC Red Pads from Perfect brakes, Loctite Gel Blue for bolts and set screws also Permatex anti-squeal compound



OLD ROTOR



SUPPORT ROTOR do not allow it to hang by the brake hose!!!



APPLY ANTI-SEIZE UNDER THE ROTOR "HAT"



PAX SIDE COMPLETE