i was told at my last state inspection that i need new pads, they have 10-15% life left. i wanted to upgrade them here is my first question. whats the minimum i can upgrade and still stay in a relatively amateur class if i decide to try an autocross? its been hanging over my shoulder for some time and now that the warranty is out i want to give it a n00by shot. ive talked to several people and they tell me that my short shifter already puts me in a class above stock. i was thinking of Ken's budget big brake kit at protege garage, but im afraid it'll put me with more experienced drivers. but how about his front upgrade kit w/ EBC rotors, EBC pads, ss brake lines?

also 2nd part of this question, i literally only have a hammer and a screwdriver to my name...is this something i can do myself? i looked at the work manual on protege5.ugly.net and i can see its a lot of steps, and im prone to making mistakes.

 

With just a hammer and screwdriver, nope. Changing pads is cake, though, you literally need just to remove a single 14mm (or is it 12? nah I'm pretty sure it's 14) bolt and the caliper hinges open. old pads out, new pads in, find the springs that shot out and landed somewhere in the garage, etc. The only other thing you gotta do is compress the caliper piston, for which you need a caliper spreader (proper tool) or a very large c-clamp and the old pad (it works.. ). Pull the cap on the brake fluid reservoir when you are attempting to compress the piston.

edit: wait no.. something is missing there.. you need a 'brake caliper' socket, it's kinda a star bit like a torx. I think it is all you need to hinge the caliper open. Any auto parts store like an Advance Auto, Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc. should have it.

The rear brakes are another story though. to retract the piston you have to remove a 12mm nut on the back of the caliper and have a metric allen wrench set handy, I can't remember the specific size (5mm?), you use the allen wrench to retract the piston instead of the c-lamp or piston retracting tool.

As for upgrading the pads putting you into a different class, I really doubt it since you said you're already bumped up a class by having a short shifter. I never autocrossed in anything other than Street Modified class so I don't know about all these restrictions and such :P

 

Changing out the pads is a piece of cake as Kansei said, but the rotors a little more difficult since you have to take off the whole caliper in order to remove the rotor. You don't need to disconnect the brake lines all the way or anything, but you will need some more tools to disassemble it all. As for the pads, the front are super easy (I don't remember needing the torx Kansei...) as you remove one bolt that allows you to slide the caliper open, swap the pads, and I used a C-clamp to compress the piston. The rear are just as easy, but instead of using a C-clamp for the piston, you'll need an allen wrench as Kansei mentioned.

So if you're doing just the pads you can do it no problem. If you plan on putting on new rotors, you'll need just a little more equipment to do it but it's still not hard. It's really just a couple extra bolts and it all comes off pretty nicely.

 

I needed that brake caliper bolt tool set for something, that's all I remember right now. I'll go feel up my calipers after work today :P

 

just got front pads and rotors today! wow quick for free shipping. yay to protege garage. anyway, upon initial inspection i found the left rotor had couple of scratches on the inside. check these huge pics out. they arent too deep, you can barely feel them with your fingers, it looks as though someone's pocket knife scratched it or something. my question is it still good or should i return for an exchange?

 

I got a set of hawk pads from protegegarage that were all scuffed up as well, although still usable

ftl

 

not too concerned about looks, just premature brake life, dirt/performance issues. if its still good than i dont mind putting 'em on. i just got done reading all the "WARNING: YOU WILL DIE IF YOU SCREW UP YOUR BRAKES" mumbo jumbo on the packaging and just wanted to play it safe.

 

brake lines came in, i think im gonna put install these on saturday. if you dont hear from me after saturday i've probably crashed and died and made this world a better place by having 1 less idiot in it. im gonna get some brake fluid and some silicone grease. should i pick anything else up? if i remove the existing brake line, is brake fluid going to be spilling all over? thanks again.
-meGrimlock

 

Yeah, discs are okay. Good luck and report back on the improvement in performance!

 

Another trick to get the pistons to retract (if you have reasonable grip strength) is to open the bleed screw and then push the psiton back into the caliper using the old pad. This also gets some of the old brake fluid out of the caliper. Since you are changing out the lines it will be easy. Before you remove the lines it helps to get as much of the fluid out of the reservoir as you can.

Oh, you will need a set of flare nut wrenches to change those brake lines. I tried with a normal open-end wrench and almost bunged up the first one. I got mine from Sears (my favorite tool place). If you aren't putting the new lines on immediately you can put some small plastic caps (available at any auto parts store) over the hard brake lines to keep them from leaking.

Also, it wasn't mentioned and you might know this, but take care not to get any grease etc on either the pads or discs. Use some brake cleaner on the discs just to make sure they are clean.

 

A set of speed bleeders is a great investment, too. They make bleeding the brakes alone a snap. I can't believe that I used to bleed my brakes without them!

http://www.crossoverauto.com/mp3-7.htm

 

a power bleeder makes it much easier than with speed bleeders.. and no chance at all of them leaking (it does happen for some people)

 

i tried lookin up flare nut wrenches but couldnt tell the difference between that and a wrench?

i thought it was ok to grease the back of the pad?

also, i was planning on doing this saturday and didnt think of a speed bleeder. i dont think i'll have time to pick one up, is it that much of a pain to bleed the brakes without one?

thanks again for all your comments
-meGrimlock

 

i did this upgrade (w/ help) - so if i can do it, anyone can

 

that works great until the pressure blows the seal between the reservoir (sp?) and the master cylinder....