Brake Job

I replaced the rear rotors and brake pads on my Mustang today.  I even rented the brake caliper tool set from O'Reilly's Auto Parts, which is supposed to make this job a breeze.

I could have taken it in to have it done but the place that did my oil change and pointed out the need for new rear brakes suggested a Brembo kit.  Expensive and flashy, and I am not about the looks and I am sure Brembo brakes perfom just fine, so long as they aren't more prone to warping because of the slotting and drilling, but I'm very happy with my plain rotors.  And the ceramic pads.

When I look for brake parts for my 08 Bullitt on Tire Rack they suggest Brembo kits.  No pad repacements, no rotor replacements.  When I ask them for brake stuff for a 08 Mustang GT, they offer me plain rotors and ceramic pads.  So I ordered them.  I thought I could get the shop to put them in and then I decided, no, I am going to do it.  I watched some YouTube videos and read some forum posts.  It didn't seem that bad.

So I got the car out, expecting this all to take an hour, maybe two, tops.  I put it in first gear, put a brick behind one of the front wheels, and went to work.

The calipers aren't that bad to take off.  But the 15 mm bolts holding the caliper bracket on were a bitch to get off.  I ended up breaking them open by banging on the wrench with a rubber mallet.  Taking the old rotors off is a breeze and putting new ones on is no big deal.  The retaining clip had already been removed per the instructions that came with my Kazera wheels I use for autocross.

Now to depress the piston in the caliper.  This is necessary because new pads are much thicker than old ones, which is why they are worn out.  I didn't think they looks all than worn out, but what do I know?  They looked about 5 mm thick and the one YouTube guy said 3 mm is when they should be replaced.

That guy also made using the caliper tool look easy.  He just did it with his hands, twirling one part back and then cranking the screw down to push the piston in.

Well, I was a little baffled as to how to assemble the tool, since there is a plate with a hole in it that sits against one side of the calipers while a round thing with two pegs fits into the piston head and a screw pushed the piston in.  Everything is on YouTube and I did find a video which showed a guy flipping the T handle to one side and putting the plate on over that end.

It was hellishly hard to turn the piston.  The man in that video must have had super human strength, which I do not.  I did manage to find leverage against the hub as I rested the caliper on top of a jack stand and slowly get the piston to turn in.  If you don't turn it in far enough, you can't get it over the new brake pads.  It has to be lined up just so, to fit over a notch on the pad.  It really hurt my hand to push on that T handle.

I pumped the brakes back up after getting everything back together and put away.   I went for a ride.  The car moved, the brakes worked, first at slow speeds and then stopping from 30 and then 40 mph.  There was a high pitched noise that seemed to go away after pulling away from a stop sign, so I guess I'll have to watch for that.

So I did a very butch thing of working on my car.  It took five hours.  Mechanics earn every cent they get and they also have nice power tools to make taking bolts off a lot easier.  I am exhausted and my hands hurt.  I'm still a little worried about whether the job will hold up and should at least have the torque on the bolts checked.  I want to get the OEM rotors machined and get some OEM pads to put back on with them.

And I'll have a shop change them back.