Interesting. I recall having more trouble with the front end than the rear when I replaced my brake pads and rotors on all four corners. I had such a problem removing a front caliper mounting bolt that the bolt is nearly rounded. I have since acquired a cordless impact wrench for tough bolts like that.golftango wrote:Changed my rear pads and rotors last night, what a job.
I expected an easy task (like most brake jobs) but the rears were no walk in a park. First, the caliper bracket bolts are tucked away tightly behind the hub. There is not much room due to the independent suspension control arms and hardware. Thus an extension bar is necessary which reduces your leverage. And those bolts are sung. I suggest a swivel ratchet, something I didn't have. Better yet, an impact drill with an extension and swivel will be your best friend. I'm investing in both now.
Secondly the top caliper bolt is restricted by the brake line fitting. Again a swivel ratchet or open ended wrench is needed here. When I got to the other side, I didn't even remove the caliper from the caliper bracket. I just removed the entire caliper and worked the new pads into the caliper bracket.
Once the caliper is off, you can opt to disconnect the parking brake cable. I didn't which really limits how far you can move/position the caliper to install the new hardware. And the piston has to be retracted with a tool which I had a tool set to do. You could use a wide screwdriver or blade to back it down.
Finally the rotors did not knock off for me with a few wacks with a mallet. I found two threaded holes on the rotor hat for a bolt to be used to pop the rotor off. I'm sure replacing the rotors was overkill, I just happen to replace them while I'm there.
In the end I'm glad I did it. My rear pads were shot at 32K.
Edit: I see there is a topic here which was discussed awhile back. Good reference material here:
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2268
On that topic, make sure to get the correct tools. Impact drills, impact drivers, and impact wrenches are all different. Drills are intended for making holes and while they can hold adapters in the chuck for sockets, they don't have the power of drivers and wrenches. Impact drills are basically hammered drills that can hammer a drill bit into things like masonry while drilling. Impact drivers, on the other hand, look similar to drills but the front end is different as they are dedicated to sockets and feature a quick-release mount for adapters. Their motors also have significantly higher torque ratings than drills even from the same set. In fact, my impact driver has 3x the torque of its matching drill. Lastly, impact wrenches. These are the big boys that are made for bolts and nuts while impact drivers are made for screws and small bolts. When you want to take off things like wheel lug nuts and bolts with torque ratings of over 50 ft/lbs, you really should opt for an impact wrench. It's what the pros use to remove lug nuts at tire shops (theirs are often pneumatic) but some good electric ones are available that run on the same batteries as the brand's line-up of drills and drivers. I have a Makita drill, impact driver, and impact wrench and they all share the same battery. An impact wrench will have many times the torque of an impact driver and is the tool to get the largest and toughest bolts and nuts off. The difference is so great, they don't even measure torque the same way. Impact drivers are often measured in inch-pounds while impact wrenches are measured in foot-pounds.
The rotors indeed don't come off by whacking as I also learned. In fact, it's the case with quite a few Japanese cars, it seems. As you discovered, there is a threaded hole to wrench in a bolt and it pops the rotor off very easily. This process is actually in the service manual as the correct procedure for removing the rotors.
What kind of brake pads and rotors did you get to replace the old ones?
professionals....asshats...
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