E0 front/rear brakes - DIY R&R tips?

[blake]

6 months after posting another thread here, I finally ordered the BAT 4-wheel brake "kit" for $245 (lockeed/EBC rotors, mintex pads). I debated on whether to have a shop do the work since my available time for wrenching is a bit slim these days, but comparing a $600 "pro" job with NAPA budget parts vs. $250 for (theoretically) better parts done at home sealed the deal in favor of DIY.

With that said, it's been many, many years since I even assisted on a Contour brake job - and that was on a '95 SE. Historically I haven't kept cars long enough to even need new brakes :crazy: , so I'm sailing into nearly uncharted waters here.

Any tips and tricks from those of you who've done it before? It shouldn't be that hard, especially w/ the FSM available, but taking a crack at something "new" always makes me a little nervous. I've perused the FAQ's, searched the forums, and looked at the DIY write-ups....but any additional specific insight you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated.

The car has been an Alabama car its whole 103k-mile life, so hopefully I won't run into seized hardware....but are there any particular bolts/etc. I should prep w/ PB blaster before getting too far into it?

 

[Dyoel182]

If you have the time I'd go ahead and spray everything just to make sure it comes off cleanly. Remember that the back calipers use a torx head and that the pistons screw into the calipers rather than press in like the fronts.

 

[ScottyDsntKnow]

Fronts are all hex bolts and should not be a problem if you soak everything in PB overnight. Have a torch handy as heat is your friend if anything does get stuck. Do NOT strip anything lol. Rear is a bit more of a pain in the ass and you very well might find shot parking brake cables back there. I found out that I only had one working cable.

Yes the back calipers are held on by a pin in the front and a slide bolt in the rear that is a T50 torx. The caliper bracket bolts are also torx and SO easy to strip out. These you will really want to soak in PB for a bit before trying them. I suggest you also heat the •••• out of them with a torch before you try to remove them. Reason being is that they are grade 10.9 hardware (metric version of grade 8). I stripped one out and after I finally got it out with an acetylene torch/vise grips I could not find anything that grade at local hardware stores/lowes/home cheapo, just the grade 8.8 variety (metric version of grade 5 and you do NOT use this on brakes). I had to order my hardware and wait 4 days for it to come in lol...

As was said, rear caliper pistons do NOT compress in by pressing, they spin in. There is a "magic cube tool thinger" that you can buy at any chain store for compressing the rear calipers. It goes on the end of a 3/8" extension and locks into the tabs on the rear piston allowing you to turn it in.

Um what else... I did the NPG upgrade to mine so I ran into alot more issues haha. One thing... you honestly would have been better off just getting all the parts from a local chain store for the stock braking system. Only issue you might run into is finding E0 pads as they aren't usually stocked. You probably could have saved close to $100 going through Autozone using the Duralast rotors. About $100 for all 4 rotors and then about $50 for front and back pads. Just saying.

 

[alien_yet_familiar]

The only problem I ran into with my install was removing the old hardware. My rear caliper bolts were so seized that even with PB Blaster and LOTS of torch application I was only able to remove the lower bolt by hand, and then had to use a jack to rotate the caliper up and away from the rotor to break the top bolt free. I planned on taking a day or maybe two to do the job, and ended up taking almost a week before I was done. You also might have to adjust your parking brake cables - mine are quite a bit looser, and don't engage until the handle is all the way to the top of travel. The e-brake still works, but not like it did before - I just have to tighten them up and they'll be fine, though.

 

[ScottyDsntKnow]

The e-brake handle is self adjusting, it SHOULD have taken up the slack. Maybe your equalizer cable is goobered up somehow? My NPG upgrade took two weeks and that SUCKED.

 

[blake]

thanks for the tips so far - much appreciated; keep 'em coming! (though i'm getting a little more and more worried about stripping something....LOL)

As was said, rear caliper pistons do NOT compress in by pressing, they spin in. There is a "magic cube tool thinger" that you can buy at any chain store for compressing the rear calipers. It goes on the end of a 3/8" extension and locks into the tabs on the rear piston allowing you to turn it in.

i think i've seen a picture of this just recently - is this an inexpensive "tool" to purchase, or something that has to be rented? my memory is definitely foggy at this poing, but it seems like i remember using needle-nose pliers with each tip inserted into the hole in the piston on the SE i helped with. is that a viable option, in the absence of the special tool?

One thing... you honestly would have been better off just getting all the parts from a local chain store for the stock braking system. Only issue you might run into is finding E0 pads as they aren't usually stocked. You probably could have saved close to $100 going through Autozone using the Duralast rotors. About $100 for all 4 rotors and then about $50 for front and back pads. Just saying.

eh, too late for that now. besides, i looked at all the chain stores and their offerings, researched the brands online, and could never get a good feeling about any of 'em. i'm sure they're fine, and as you say probably just as good as what i bought from BAT, but c'est la vie. not gonna worry about it at this point.

 

[Dyoel182]

i think i've seen a picture of this just recently - is this an inexpensive "tool" to purchase, or something that has to be rented? my memory is definitely foggy at this poing, but it seems like i remember using needle-nose pliers with each tip inserted into the hole in the piston on the SE i helped with. is that a viable option, in the absence of the special tool?

They should have both available. Do yourself a favor and rent their brake caliper kit because it makes doing the fronts and rears of any car a breeze. If for some reason they are out of stock then the silver square is a good second option and should only cost you about $5.

 

[alien_yet_familiar]

The e-brake handle is self adjusting, it SHOULD have taken up the slack. Maybe your equalizer cable is goobered up somehow? My NPG upgrade took two weeks and that SUCKED.

Yeah, I know it should work better than it does. I really had to wrench on the cables to get them free when I replaced the calipers, so maybe with all the twisting I screwed something up. It works well enough to park, just not well enough to do e-brake drifts. :laugh:

 

[ScottyDsntKnow]

Doing the fronts in any car is a breeze with a big honkin pair of vise grips. I've NEVER seen anyone use the caliper compressor for front brakes. The magic cube of caliper death is like $5 and works just fine as you should not be putting much if any pressure on the rear caliper pistons as they just screw in. You CAN rent the caliper compressor if you want, won't hurt anything, just not necessary.

 

[Dyoel182]

I love doing the fronts with the kit if you have it handy. Its like using a c-clamp but better and smoother but of course you can do it with just about anything.

 

[blake]

Finished this up this weekend - all went pretty well, I'd say. Fronts were easy - both sides + R&R'ing the roll restrictor while i had the car jacked up took maybe 2 hours tops. Rotors still look to have some pretty good thickness to them, and the pads had between 1/16" and 1/8" worth of pad material left before getting into the backing plates. Certainly in need of replacement but not as "dire" as I was expecting them to be for being original to the car w/ 100k miles on 'em.

The backs were not quite as straightforward - those two caliper bracket bolts were difficult to loosen and reinstall, but only because of the angle + adjacent hardware - everything broke loose without heating or soaking in PB, so it was just the physical access that was a pain in my neck (literally). I used the Rubik's cube tool on the driver's side to spin the caliper piston back into the housing but ended up using a large set of needle nose pliers on the passenger side, and that actually worked better than the "special" tool. Each side of the rear took closer to an hour and a half - so for all 4 corners I invested maybe 6 hours with cleanup included. Not too bad for saving $400 over having a shop do the work.

Got it all back together last night and made it to work with no grinding, squealing, loss of pressure, or catastrophic failure leading to a fiery wreck, so I consider it a successful endeavor.