I have a 93, gotta replace front brake pads, hard to do?

[unpredictable1]

I have a 93 EB and I need to replace the front brake pads. I've done this type of job on my trans am, the gtp i had, cavaliers, etc.

I hauled my front tires off last night and the pads are getting low. Anyone have a procedure online with pictures or can tell me what i need and what to do?

thanks,

leo

 

[ajevenson]

Easiest job possible on the Ex. Take a hammer and a socket extension (3/8 about 8" long) and hammer the slide pins out towards the center of the vehicle. The caliper can be lifted off, the pads fall out. Position new pads on the rotors (or in the caliper but they dont stay very well) and put the caliper on top of them. Shake and shimmy the caliper until it slides all the way down and the slide pin holes line up. Take the old slide pins and polish all the rust and junk off of them with a wire wheel or something else. Put some brake grease on them and hammer them in. Feel free to drink a beer at any time during the above process.

To make it easier to compress the caliper when putting in the new pads, take the lid off the master cylinder and gently press the piston back.

 

[unpredictable1]

i would assumme you have to unscrew the slide pins back *somehwhat*

brakes i've done before usually required to unscrew the slide pins till they reached the end of their thread and then just slide em back out from the caliper.

probably will have to drive the piston back somewhat, but what do you mean about taking the lid off the master cylinder and driving the piston back though? i got a bit lost there....

 

[Dannyboy]

slide pins are there to hold the calipers on instead of bolts. It's an odd setup but hammering a screwdriver or a socket extension will get them out. To get the new pads to fit over the rotor you will need to take a c clamp and compress the pads back a little.

 

[unpredictable1]

you mean a C clamp to drive the piston back, right?

 

[ajevenson]

WHat I meant by compressing the piston is that you know how hard it is to compress the piston while its still attached to the brake line right? It's really easy to compress when you remove the caliper from the line and press down on it. Brake fluid squirts everywhere but its easy to get the pads to fit inside the caliper and over the rotor. The downside to that is that you have to spend time bleeding the air out of the system. When you remove the top off the master cylinder it allows the fluid inside to expand up when you press down on the piston, making it just as easy to force the piston down, but you dont have to bleed your brake lines . . To seat the new pads all you have to do is just pump the brakes a little bit to force the fluid back into them.

 

[ajevenson]

That is assuming that you dont have any air in your lines and that the brakes feel rock solid. If they feel a bit mushy then you should bleed them just in case.

 

[ajevenson]

Hahahaha. Dannyboy I just looked at the bottom of your signature, very funny!

 

[Ryan1]

It is recommended that you compress the caliper back down every time you do your brakes do it just the way dannyboy said just put one of the old pad over the caliper and put the C clap on there and crank it down

also make sure you spray the roter down with brake cleaner to get all the finger prints and plain old junk off the roter.

Ryan

 

[unpredictable1]

thanks guys!

i should be doing these this weekend