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How To: Brembo Brake Pad change

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158K views 253 replies 113 participants last post by  TheNEWB 
#1 ·
How To: Brembo Brake Pad change.

Parts Required:
- new brake pads, we decided to go with HAWK HP+ for DD and occasional track events.

- PN Front: HB453N.585 Disc Brake Pad; HP Plus w/0.585
- PN Rear: HB615N.535 Disc Brake Pad; HP Plus w/0.535


or something a touch more streetable,

- PN Front: HB453F.585 Disc Brake Pad; HPS Performance Street w/0.585
-PN Rear: HB615F.535 Disc Brake Pad; HPS Performance Street w/0.535


can be obtained via forum sponsors like FREDBEANSPARTS :+1:

Tools Required:
- 800 grit sand paper (not required if you will bed the pads slowly)
- shop rag
- brake cleaner
- brake lube
- center punch
- hammer
- vice grips or pliers
- jack stands and car jack

Recommended Number of People:
- 1 person

Difficulty
- 1.5, hard part is getting the metal pins out of the caliper without scratching it. I taped off the end of the center punch with electrical tape to facilitate an extra safety measure.

Time to complete
- 15 minutes per wheel taking your time.

Step by Step Instructions

1) Jack up the car, and remove the wheel your going to be working on and open up the brake fluid reservoir.



2) VERY Lightly hammer the retainer pins until they hide into the caliper body.



3) Using a set of vice grips or pliers pull on the retainer pins while pushing on the spring loaded clip, start with the top one first.



4) Once the top pin is out, slide out the spring loaded retention clip and remove the lower retainer pin.




5) Slide out the outboard side pad first and remove the metal backing, you will reuse the backing once you clean it, also clean the spring loaded retention clip and pins.




5) Slightly burnish the new pads with 800 grit sand paper (NOT REQUIRED if you will bed the pads in slowly)



6) Place the backing on your new pad and apply brake caliper grease to the round circle areas, to the top and bottom of pad edge and to the front small indent.



7) Push back the outboard pistons with pliers if you don't have a fancy caliper spreader. Also slightly grease your retention pins.



8) Repeat the above procedure for the inboard side pad, then replace the lower retainer pin and spring loaded retention clip.



9) Putting pressure on the spring loaded retention clip slide in the upper retention pin back in.



10) Hammer the retention spring into place until the back is flush with the caliper body. I used a piece of plastic to prevent the hammer from scratching the caliper paint.



11) Thats it you are done...........one wheel :D LOL



12) Repeat for the other three wheels, close the fluid reservoir and then tidy up your work space.





13) Slowly test your brakes and follow manufacturers bedding in procedure and ENJOY your new stopping power :godance:

PHOTO BY PHOTO SLIDE SHOW
 
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#130 ·
I used the back end of a drill bit that was a little smaller than the pin and it worked perfectly. I can't believe how easy these brakes are to change. All brakes should be this easy. I just did the rear brakes on my wife's car and man what a pain in the ass, not to mention the pistons were frozen.
 
#131 ·
Oh and on a side note, if you are having the infamous "Brembo Squeak," just remove the pads, use brakleen to clean all of the parts including the calipers, grease the hell out of the back of the pads, and put everything back. I did this over a few weeks ago and I haven't heard a squeak since, and it used to do it all of the time when braking at a normal rate. Annoying and embarrassing. People think you don't change your brakes or something.
 
#132 ·
Wash the car at least weekly, with power sprayer, and hammer on the rotors//pads -- it helps. I never had problems in 08 til the fall when it got dry and I went maybe 10 days. The dust builds up fast. Oh well, the price you pay for rotors and awesome stopping power.

EDIT: And for the record, she's a road biatch aspiring to be a track dog/biatch, so I don't really keep up that much like I should. I kinda like sounding like a Freightliner or other large truck :D
 
#135 ·
Went to change my brakes today for the first time; figured it was about that time. I have roughly 32k miles on the stock pads. This is what I saw:

I must downshift more than I thought lol.
 
#138 ·
My stock pads lasted to about 7kms with 2 track days. Track is however very easy on breaks.
 
#139 ·
I had a glance @ this How-to for my pad change :+1::rock:.......
good how-to:excellent: ....... shitty gloves ;)
 
#140 ·
I'm a proctologist, i save money by reusing old work gloves.
 
#143 ·
Other than "must do" emergency situations, you shouldn't have the need to add fluid. Yes, it does go lower, as pads wear down causing more fluid to have to be in the calipers to get the pads to make contact with the rotors. But having said that, the right way to maintain these very expensive calipers by BREMBO is to flush the fluid, not "add" to it. Flushing makes sure you get the little brown dark burnt nasties out of the system, so they don't cause problems with ABS nor caliper lockups (don't get me started on caliper woes from cars that didn't have fluids changed routinely!). Additionally, adding two different fluids together might cause chemical reactions to take place between those two. Not good.

Power Motive bleeder at Ebay with the 3 tab cap design is in the budget of anyone buying this kind of car.
 
#147 ·
i am curious as to why the top of the brake fluid container needs to be opened before doing the brake pads themselves?

also when you replace brake pads do you need to replace the brake fluids?
 
#148 ·
because when you push the brake calipers out to relieve the pressure on the pads, it will push the brake fluid back through the lines - causing it to overflow at your reservoir. be sure to put the cloth there as instructed so it doesn't gunk everything else in your engine bay up.

i think the general agreement is you should do a fluid swap when you do the pads - but it's not necessarily required.
 
#149 ·
because when you push the brake calipers out to relieve the pressure on the pads, it will push the brake fluid back through the lines - causing it to overflow at your reservoir. be sure to put the cloth there as instructed so it doesn't gunk everything else in your engine bay up.

i think the general agreement is you should do a fluid swap when you do the pads - but it's not necessarily required.
You should do the fluid swap (replacement) BEFORE changing pads. The only place the fluid gets hot is at the calipers - and that fluid should NEVER be pushed back upstream.

When you push back the caliper pistons the fluid travels upstream through the ABS valves and up to the MC. Depending on how bad the fluid is - moisture and dirt content, how many times it's been HOT & How HOT, etc.... - pushing the old fluid upstream is really bad for the MC seals and the ABS valves.

More better is to change fluid BEFORE changing pads and/or leave that side caliper bleeder valve open when retracting the pistons - so the fluid does not travel upstream. Close that bleeder then move to the other side of the caliper. If you have a tube on the bleeder into a bottle, no air will be added and bleeding the system will not be required. Then after all pads are swapped, push some clean fluid through to help remove any dirt that was dislodged in the caliper piston bores.
 
#150 ·
hey my brakes have been making noise while braking at low speeds like pulling up to a red light slowly or pulling in my driveway. car has less than 6k miles. any ideas?
 
#155 · (Edited)
#160 ·
7) Push back the outboard pistons with pliers if you don't have a fancy caliper spreader. Also slightly grease your retention pins.

Can anyone comment in more detail on step 7?

How hard is it to push back the pistons without a specialized tool? Am I going to have to fuss with them for a half hour to get the pad back in?

Looking to do this in the near future and I'd prefer no surprises.

Also, are there pistons on the "inboard" side (opposite of outboard) of the caliper that need pushing back? Sorry for the noob question.

Thanks guys!
 
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