DIY Brake Service (Part One) 56k don't bother.

[92Accord EX-R]

Ok. So, browsing around, I'm seeing a few requests for DIY brake... stuff. Since I'm in the process of tackling this now, and I DEFINITELY qualify as DIY... here goes. Oh and if you came to flame, piss off. This is amateur work, on a monday night with NO BEER. It's got various attempted jokes thrown in. It's not funny though, I already know that. I'm hoping by learning from my ... discoveries, I can save everyone else a little trouble.

Subject is a 1992 Accord EX-R, approx 180k KMS on it, with a brake rebuild completed by a local shop less then a year ago. I'm doing it again to get a feel for it, to enjoy working on the car, and to have fun. Plus better to do it before shit seizes on you, right?

So. to begin... lets look at the required tools. I've got a hammer (you'll see...) 14mm box wrench, 17mm socket, lubricant (brake specific is best), ReleaseAll, brake cleaner (find ABS sensor safe, if at all possible), tire iron and of course various adapters for tuner lugs and lock nuts. Not pictured: bandaids, 2x500w floodlights, hand cleaner, latex gloves, jack.

http://www.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes.jpg

Next... a look at the subject:

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes1.JPG

1st REAL step... take the wheel off. If you've got after market rims, keep an eye on your centering ring..., you don't want to end up without it come re-assembly... Check to see that the rotor spins relatively freely with the car in neutral (WITHOUT TOUCHING THE BRAKE), because if it's warped to any significant degree, stop here. You're going to waste 40 minutes and you need new rotor.
http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes2.JPG

Next, loosen but don't completely remove the two 14mm retaining bolts on the sliders. Make them loose enough that you can undo them the rest of the way by hand, but you don't want the whole assembly coming apart just yet.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes3.JPG

At this point, if you're half as dumb as me, while trying to remove the two 17mm bolts from the back of the caliper, you'll stab yourself in the finger with a screwdriver. You had to use the screwdriver because the nut got stuck in the socket... Brilliant idea, wasn't it. Fortunately this post retains it's PG-13 rating, as the camera whitebalanced most ot the blood out :( I'm victorioius though, notice the bolt separated from the socket!!! Find a small screwdriver, tap the nut out. Wish I'd thought of that beFORE I was bleeding inside a latex glove :(

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes4.JPG

Back to business. With the 2x14mm bolts loosened, and now the two $#*&king 17mm bolts off, you'll probably need to bring the hammer into play. Remembering that if you break anything you're out of luck and a lot of money. tap the top and bottom inner edges of the caliper towards the bumper. This will break the caliper free, but be warned. It's heavy. You should get a jackstand ready to support it, as you don't want to risk breaking the flex line to the caliper...

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes5.JPG

Looking at the date stamps, I only lost 10 minutes to noticing I was bleeding, patching the hole in my finger, changing my gloves, and taking pictures. Not too shabby. Anywho... next, we loosen those 14mm bolts that we still have in the back of the sliders. Be prepared for the WHOLE THING TO FALL APART.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes7.JPG

[92Accord EX-R]

Ease the boots off the sliders, and be warned. They're greasy... hopefully. You want them RIGHT out, being careful not to damage the boot. Pads can come out too. Slide them towards the inside of the pad. At this point, I'll mention DO NOT under ANY circumstances step on the brake pedal. You'll make the piston extend and you will NOT get it back without bleeding the lines.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes8.JPG

So... now you should have it ALL apart. Kinda scary, huh? bet you thought there was more holding all this crap together.... You can see my pads are in relatively good shape... so I'm not replacing them. If yours aren't in good shape... replace them! The last thing you ever want to skimp on is brakes.


http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes9.JPG

So this is where you clean the pads. Blast them with the brake cleaners, making sure you don't get ANY on the car, or in your eyes like I did. MAN that stings... Chamfer the edges of the pads if you have easy access to a grinder (put a slight angle on the edge of the pads, maybe 45 degrees). Notice the difference in the 2 pad pictures. Yuck.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes10.JPG

Now, spray off the rotors. Again, avoid getting any on the car or ANYTHING rubber. Including the shoes. No joke. It melts rubber pretty quick... Mask stuff off if you're worried about it. Note the lines in my rotors... I'll need new ones soon. But thats a whole nother DIY :P

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes11.JPG

[92Accord EX-R]

OK so now we're on our way BACK. Lube up the slider pin and pump in in the hole. Pull it out. If the grease comes out way darker then it went in, clean off the piston, re-grease, and do it again. Repeat this until you're able to maintain a reasonable consistency with the grease... means it's clean, which means it's lubricating better and that much further away from seizing and needing this PITA job again!!! Be carefull of the boots. You DON'T want to break them...

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes12.JPG

With the grease in good shape, you're ready to permanently put the sliders in, and reinstall the brake pads. Make sure you don't have air in the holes the sliders sit in... pull the boot away from the edge, and push the slider down. If you hear clicking, air is escaping. Air isn't good, in brakes. It leads to unpredictable braking and or failure... If you have to, take the slider out, pack it EVENLY with grease, and re-insert. Notice how the one on the right in my picture is pushed out further, on it's own. This is air. Air compresses. Grease doesn't. ELIMINATE the air before installation. This is very very very important.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes13.JPG

Next stop on the road to reassembly, re-attach the 14mm bolts into the sliders, making sure you don't lean on a pad, and spend the next 15 minutes trying to put it back in properly. Again, probably best not to tighten these down all the way, it'll be easier to mount the whole thing on the disc.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes14.JPG

Take a brief moment to relax. The worst is pretty much over. Admire your suspension setup.

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes16.JPG

OK. Almost there, I promise. From here, go crosseyed examining the EXTREME closeup of the 17MM bolt that caused me so much grief the first time. Tighten this. If yours is as equal to 17.2mm as mine was, you'll have the same problem getting the socket off. It's a tight fit, especially a 1/2" drive socket. Maybe learn from this mistake, and use a 3/8"... If it does get stuck on there, FYI... you CAN chisel it off!! Doesn't even mark the socket (if you have expensive sockets like I do, and feel like risking it. beats the alternative...)
http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes17.JPG

From this point, we're pretty much done. This is DIY, so torque it all down to "almost as tight as you can, ensuring you COULD remove it if you had to at some point in the future" ft/lbs. With the car out of gear, (but WITHOUT touching the brake pedal) try spining the rotor... should turn relatively uniformly. If not, hopefully you're reading this before you started, and you'll check this FIRST. (runs back to the top to note that in step one). Put the rim back on, of course tightening the lugs in a cross pattern. Spec is 80ft/lbs I think. so again... really lean on them to get them tight.

IMPORTANT! SETTING THE BRAKES:

Initially the car will probably not brake at ALL from this corner. If you've done more then one corner at a time, hopefully you're not doing this on the top of a hill. If so, start the car and push the brake pedal in a few times, to build pressure. Setting the whole thing up is very important. I did various 30-0, 60-0, 80-0, 100-0 stops with gradually increasing pressure, first up and then going downhill, to put more strain on the brakes. At the end don't be surprised to see a little bit of smoke coming off the assembly... You're really testing the components and they're all heated up to above normal operating temperatures. Not to mention you would've HAD to get a LITTLE grease on something that's burning off now..

Congratulations. You've just ensured your CB7 will be healthily brakeing for months to come! Any questions, or compliments... post away. This took me about 40 minutes to do, and 3 hours to write the DIY for... so be gentle..

http://members.accesswave.ca/~ckennedy/Brakes19.JPG

[SoySauceCb7]

Great write up bro, next time do one on removing your pressed on rotors, and keep allot of band-aids around slide hammers are no fun.:cry: :cry: :cry:

[92Accord EX-R]

The rotors post will come!! Notice the part one... I want to replace all 4 rotors though, so ... be a while before I have the extra cash to swing that purchse :P

[NutBucket]

I don't follow why you pulled the caliper brackets. I've done the job (as I'm sure many others have) by just pulling the caliper off.

[92Accord EX-R]

to be honest with you, i have more then one car, and the caliper on the accord is different then the subaru. *shrugs* you could do it without maybe. I'm not sure it would be worth working from the back for so much of it...

How would you get the brake pads out if you didn't remove the main piston housing?

[Weezo182]

good wright up...

[GrayCar]

Nicely done!

:bang:

[HondaFan81]

crap, I've put reman. calipers, new pads and rotors all around in what...4 of our cars already and 3 were Hondas....I coulda wrote a DIY by now :shocked:

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by 92Accord EX-R
to be honest with you, i have more then one car, and the caliper on the accord is different then the subaru. *shrugs* you could do it without maybe. I'm not sure it would be worth working from the back for so much of it...

How would you get the brake pads out if you didn't remove the main piston housing?

You can just unbolt the acutal caliper and pop the pads out of the bracket. I mean, it isn't like its terribly hard to pull off the brackets so it really doesn't make much difference.

[92Accord EX-R]

No, it's not. So what was the point of your first post again?????

Man, go jack someone elses DIY. lol you can only take brake service so seriously...

[FishyMan]

quick question on the spinning rotar thing...

i have a 90 accord ex auto, so ur saying, i can spin it freely after i jack it up, tire out w/ car off right?

thanks..

[wed3k]

quick question on the spinning rotar thing...

i have a 90 accord ex auto, so ur saying, i can spin it freely after i jack it up, tire out w/ car off right?

thanks..
with the gear in neutral...

[starchland]

nice diy man if your ever in t.o drop by haha

[FishyMan]

what kind of lube or compound should i get for the back of new pads?

[Masamune]

First and foremost, awesome DIY and excellent pics.

Secondly, shouldn't this be in the DIY section of the site? Not to be a dick or anything, just food for thought.

[Maple50175]

Nice writeup :)

[Accrdkid]

Gotta love the humor involved in the DIY writeup :lol:

'Take a brief moment to relax. The worst is pretty much over. Admire your suspension setup.'~ classic lol

[FishyMan]

i just got my pads, they seem a bit rough edged and what not..

should i sand or file it?? they are NEW..

anyhow thanks..

[460sx]

I laughed at the jokes...

[92Accord EX-R]

I laughed at the jokes...


If you can't have fun working on your car, what's the point??

I did my rear calipers last week and almost wrote up the same sorta thing... may still as I'll end up working on them again VERY shortly. Any interest in a DIY or writeup on changing rotors?

[FishyMan]

yes a rotar change would be nice.. thanks..

[93accordexcoupe]

yea i got new rotors and i wanna know if i can do it myself or if i have to get them put on

[wed3k]

if he doesnt do it, ill probably change my brakes soon and DIY it. ill also get a vid on how to remove the lower ball joint arm w/o any speciality tools.

[FishyMan]

thank you all who contribute and helping people who are learning and trying out. nothing beats having pictures, and explanations even in the fullest details.. we all come from different backgrounds and those who have the knowledge lead the way and make it for what it is.

thanks..

[92Accord EX-R]

For me, that's why I joined this board.... between us, we know everything there is to know about the car :)

The next DIY I do will likely be a shared DIY, me and my mechanic... I'm putting in magnum drilled rotors, magnum braided lines, and PBR metalmaster pads... this will mean a brake bleed too.

[Final 204]

is doing the Rear Disc breaks basically the exact same?

[Maple50175]

yes.....

[Accordlx]

awsome Brake write up..i could use this