Pads starting to squeal on you? Need a brake change? Instead of getting screwed at the dealer, I'll include a step by step instruction for every skill level on how to do a complete brake upgrade. My motto is when something needs replacing, replace it with something better.
I will be putting in 13" Brembo rotors, twin piston PBR calipers with included pads, two stainless steel braided brake lines (make SURE you have two brake new banjo bolts and four washers), and will also bleed the system entirely because you pretty much have to. I got the kit over at fordracing.com which is located
here.Why upgrade to bigger rotors? Because the more clamping area you have, the better your brakes will perform, in most cases. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Mmmm....meaty.
Now before I get ahead of myself, let me list the required tools and accessories.
Tools and accessories you will definitely need are as followed:
- Torque wrench
- 16mm socket
- 10mm socket wrench
- 7/16 wrench
- An assortment of wrenches and extensions if need be
- Clear plastic tubing to fit around bleeder valve when bleeding brakes
- Tire Iron
- Brake cleaner
- New DOT 3 brake fluid (you need 96oz of it)
Tools that aren't required but make your life a hell of a lot easier. These are mainly for the caliper bolts because they are without a doubt the hardest bolts to get off during this swap.
- Impact Gun
- PB Blaster
- Breaker bar
- Butane torch (be VERY careful if you use this. Ensure there is NO brake fluid present and even if there isn't any, still be extremely careful)
First, before we begin I must add I am in no way shape or form responsible for any damage done to your car or personal injury that may occur. This is merely a guide that will help you change out your brakes.
Now, onto the swap!
First off, before you put your car on jack stands, loosen your lug nuts a half a turn with your tire iron (3/4) to break the seal on them so the tire won't be spinning when you're trying to get them off when it's off the ground. Myself, I used two jacks on the frame rails to support the front end and the other two under the rear axle tubes to support the rear end. After you successfully jacked the car up on jack stands and all tires are off the ground, you can now start to take off your tires.
After the tires off, you'll be greeted by this.
Now you have two ways of proceeding. You can either take off the brake line, let it hang, then take off the caliper, or, take off the caliper, and then take off the brake line. Myself, I took the brake line off first to get more working room on the caliper.
To take off the brake line at the caliper, you simply loosen it with a 10mm socket as shown.
After the brake line if off, you need to hang it vertically so brake fluid won't come out. I did it like so.
Now after that's out of the way, it's on to the caliper bolts as if yours are anything like mine, they will be very, very, very tough to get off. The caliper bolts are the two fat 16mm bolts at the back of the caliper, you can't miss them. If the regular 16mm socket won't take them off, try soaking the bolts in PB Blaster and using a breaker bar on them. If that doesn't work, try an impact gun. If that STILL doesn't work (mine didn't) use a butane torch. Fire works beautifully because what's keeping the bolts in place is a substance known as Loctite and fire will burn that seal off making it much easier to get off. And as I said before, you have to be
extremely careful when doing this because if there's any brake fluid around, there's a good chance it might catch on fire so exercise extreme caution!
Once the calipers are off, you'll probably have these odd looking washers. You simply yank them out with some pliers.
When they're all off, simply remove the rotors, as there is nothing holding them in place any more. If they're still stuck on, pop the back with a hammer and that should jar it loose.
After that's off, you're be looking at this.
Don't worry, there's nothing to do here. If you want to and have time, try to clean up some gunk with a combination of brake cleaner and paper towels.
Now slide the new rotor on and attach the brake caliper (remember, the two 16mm bolts) and you should have something like this.
Now it's time to attach our new SS brake lines. Brake lines look like this. The side that will go into the caliper is at the bottom of the screen, the one with the hole through it. The other side is where it will be connected to the hard line.
Now it's time to attach the brake line to the caliper. Grab your banjo bolt, and two washers, and make sure there is a washer on each side when screwing it into the caliper. As you can see, there's a washer on both sides of the bolt. Make sure you have it like this or there's a strong chance leaks will occur.
Once the line is snug on the caliper, it's time to remove the old line from the hard line and attach our new SS line to it. What you will need is a 7/16 wrench to take the line off. Once it's off, slap on the new SS line and tighten it in.
Now, if for some reason your old line was welded to that metal plate like mine was, you have to remove it with a 10mm socket wrench. I have no clue why someone would do that but whatever. If you need a picture of it, here's what I'm talking about.
After the brake line is attached, congrats, you're done with one side. Just follow these exact same steps again for the other side as well and you'll be done with the brake swap...but not done entirely!
Now after the new brakes are on, you need to bleed the system. Why is that? Because the second you took off the brake line from the caliper, it was exposed to air and in brake systems, air is a bad thing. Ever experience spongy pedal feel? That's because there's air and since air compresses easier than brake fluid, your pedal will feel loose and exhibit that "popping" sound while braking. Not only is air bad for pedal feel, it's bad because it will eat up your brake lines over time. Now how to get them out? By bleeding the brakes of course! There's plenty of ways to go about doing this but since I was strapped for cash, I did it the old fashioned (and long) way.
Brake bleeding is pretty much like this. You start at the caliper furtherest away from the MC (master cylinder) which in our cars is the rear right one. The order is RR, RL, LR, LF. What happens is this. For the old fashioned way, you need two people. One to pump the brakes, one to unscrew the bleeder valve. For brake fluid, I really like Vavoline Syn Power. Not only does it perform excellent, it's super cheap. Snag 3 32oz bottles from AutoZone.
The person in the car pumps the brakes 3 or 4 times and HOLDS it. This is important. Then he signals to the other person that the brake pedal is held, so the guy at the caliper loosens the bleeder valve with either a 7/16 wrench, or a 10mm wrench, I can't remember which. Before doing this, make sure to have the clear plastic tubing attached on the bleeder valve so the brake fluid has a way to go and then be surprised at the filth you call brake fluid that's coming out of your lines. When the fluid stops coming out, that's when you tighten the bleeder screw back again and that's when the the driver starts pumping again. Remind whoever is in charge of pumping the brakes, NOT TO LET GO OF THE BRAKE PEDAL. The second the bleeder valve opens and the fluid gushes out, the brake pedal will drop and the guy pumping the brakes might let go. Remind him to NOT let go. If he does let go of the brake pedal while it's being bleed, air will get sucked right back in, forcing you to start bleeding from scratch all over again.
VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT: When bleeding, make ABSOLUTELY SURE the master cylinder doesn't run dry or you will hate yourself. Failure to follow this step will resort to having the ABS module bleed by a dealership. You CANNOT bleed the MC properly so you will have to go to a dealership to get this done. To save yourself an ulcer, simply keep refilling the MC to the top with brake fluid every 3rd or 4th bleed.
Now keep doing this until new brake fluid comes through the caliper. That's when you know the old crap is out, and the new fluid is arriving. If you used the Syn Power fluid, the fluid will be crystal clear, almost like water. Don't fret if you're still on the RR caliper and the fluid coming is still gunky. Since it's furtherest away from the MC, this will take the longest to bleed. The RL will finish quicker than the RR one, the LR will finish sooner than the RL one, and driver side one will practically be done in a few bleeds. Unfortunately I didn't snap any pictures of my set-up on bleeding them but you can find a ton of more information online regarding bleeding the brakes. Just do a google search for 'bleeding brakes'
After the fluid's all cleared out, you'll end up with this! Looks mouthwatering, huh?
Once you successfully finish bleeding the brakes, you are officially done!
The only thing you have to now is to brake in the brakes. I recommend you read these two sources.
http://www.baer.com/ and
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml for information on how to do.
In a nutshell, MFE, a well renown suspension/brake guru explains it quite nicely and simple.
"DON'T brake it hard right out of the gate. Go easy on the brakes for the first 10 miles or so so you can get the pads to seat to the rotors without creating any hot spots, and if the rotors are new, let them cool overnight. Then take it for an easy drive, then do a hard 20 mph down to about 5 mph (not a full stop), let it cool a bit, hard stop from 30-5, let it cool, hard stop from 40-5, let it cool down, then another from 50-5, by then you'll probably be able to smell the brakes and it's time to let them cool and then drive them normally from there on out.
The purpose of all this is to season the rotors, shocking them to high heat can cause them to crystallize in spots and that's what leads to what people commonly know as "warping", the other purpose is to cause pad material to transfer to the surface of the rotor without glazing the pads over, because it's the breaking of the bonds between the material on the pad and the material on the rotor surface that actually creates the braking friction once they're up to temp."
So after you do all these steps, you are officially DONE, congrats! (I mean it this time) Get out there and enjoy the way your car now stops with authority. You'll be extremely pleased at the night and day difference.
Here's mine completed.
