Ok Guys, Just some instructions about pad removal. Please feel free to correct me or comment if there are better ideas.

Can the modulator put his post to an appropriate section!?

Tools needed: tools to jack the car up,remove wheels,14mm & 17mm spanners, strings, screw driver(flat end), a piece of string

1. Jack the car up,remove wheel.

2.use 14mm and 17mm spanners to loosen up the bolt which hold the cover of the caliper. There are 2 sets of bolts, I would suggest to remove the upper bolt.

3. Once u remove the upper bolt(14mm),u can use the lower set of bolt/nut as a hinge point to open the cover.

4.Dont let the cover drop to the lowerest point as it will over stretch the brake fluid cable to its limit. So use the string to tigh the cover to the coil spring to support the weight of the cover.

Please see the picture, but in the pic, I had the cover opened upward rather than downward as I described above. I found out the hard way.

5.Remove the 2 wire springs from the top.

6. U can pull the pads out sideways, might need to use the screw driver to wedge them out

7.remove the metal clips . the 2 clips are slightly different. make sure u remember which one goes to where.
If u have a digital cam, I'd suggest u take pics as u go if u are not too sure . Also u can refer back if u forgot how to fit things back.

8. I gave all the components a good clean with degreaser. I cleaned the caliper with soapy water , the methylated spirit (as suggested by Stephen). it worked well for me.

9. Before I painted. I also removed the lower 14mm bolt so that the entire cover is disconnected from the caliper bracket.(the cover part is still tighed with the string to the coil spring). and place the cover on the lower wishbone of the suspension. Make sure the brake fluid cable is not over stretched.

The purpose of step 9 is that I can paint the caliper braket first with easier access.

10. masking tape, newpaper to cover everywhere except the caliper bracket.
paint the bracket ( there will be another write up for painting)

11.once the braket is dried, I then placed the cover back to Step 8 stage (with only lower 14mm nut in place.) masking tape and mask everything except the caliper cover. Paint the cover.

12 stickers, clear coat.

13. put metal clips back,pads back,wire springs back.

14 . may bave to puch the piston back a bit before u can close the cover back.

15 place the upper 14mm bolt back

16. Make sure u pump the brake pedal many times before u drive the car.

Let me know if u guys need some pics.
I will do a write up for rear pads removal and painting soon

hey SSML
can you post some pics or email them to me?? roger_ramjet79@hotmail.com

also (sydney guys) what paint do you recommend for the callipers and who stocks it???

Thanks y'all :)

Repco sell them,but i dont know are they any good,they are about $18.00 per can.

VHT Caliper Paint - I used it.....you've seen it.....it's still shines :P

I used VHT too, $18.99 at Autobarn, also available from Supercheap.

The picture below is at Step 10.
Please note the string. Also u can slide the newspaper under the bracket to mask the rotor. Take your time to do masking.

Nice work Brian.

We'll get Joe to 'pretty up' your guide, and it will go into the DIY section on the website.

nice work on the write up B)

Will come in handy in a bit when i get my trd pads from matt.

Anyone fancy a rear brake pad replacement write up?

SSML We could make it a sticky? What you think about that?

The rears are less work. No need to remove one bolt and use the other as a hinge. Pads are held in with clips and a steel rod. No bolts to undo except for wheel bolts.

LOL...that easy? well then forget i said anything :ph43r: :lol:

Anyone got a DIY tutorial of this by any chance :P .

I'll do one up this weekend.

Thanks Stephen :D

Here is many more pictures to help anyone else as I personally found it hard to follow without any pictures (and was too lazy to PM for more pics :P )

1) Buy your pads and I also recommend Brake Cleaners.


2) Jack car up and remove all bolts and then the wheel


3) Undo the TOP bolt from the back of the calliper.


4) You also can remove the BOTTOM bold from the back of the calliper too, I just found it easier to loosen it and to use the bottom bolt as a hinge.


5) After removing TOP bolt and loosening BOTTOM. (Do make sure something is supporting the calliper, dont want to stretch the lines, I used a bucket and a spanner :P )


6) Remove the "V" Springs, they just pull upwards.


7) the brake pads should just slide out now, change them with your new ones (here are mine :P )

8) Reverse the steps and give the pedal a few pumps before driving.

:woot: easy wasn't it

Nice guide!

Just my 2c if you want to add:

* If the pistons don't fit back over the brake pads (or you change to new pads), you may want to use a vice or a big screwdriver
* You can remove the two larger bolts further in to remove the entire caliper and thus the disc (use a wire or clip to hang the caliper somewhere while this is done so it doesn't stretch the brake line - hanging from the upper wishbone is convenient)
* There is usually a black and silver shim behind each pad, these are anti-squeal shims, and are not essential

as a side note, it is useful to use white-out to mark out where the bolt sits against the surface it bolts on to, so when you tighten it back up, you don't over-torque the screw. It wouldn't hurt to over-torque it too much, but its worth doing anyway... for piece of mind if anything

And another side note, if you cant get the caliper to fit back over after fitting new chunkier pads, just use a g-clamp to push the brake pistons back into place, but do remember to give the pedal a few pumps after starting the car when your all done

Awesome guide :)

Stephen did you ever knock up a DIY? (Nick has covered it extremely well though!)

I just clocked over 150k kays last week, and also noticed my brakes were losing the initial bite and response. Turns out my pads are goneski and I have done well to get 70k kays out of them (they havent been done since the 80k service!)

Not one specifically for pad replacement as there are some already in the forums. We have one for rotor removal though http://altezzaclub.org.au/diy/rotor_removal_painting.pdf