Changing Corolla Brake Discs / Pads

[nrgizerbunny]

Hi all,

Changed my corolla discs and pads today and thought it might be useful to make into a DIY guide for all those budding mechanics out there.

Stuff you will need:

1. 21mm socket (for wheel nuts), the wheel brace will do

2. 17mm socket for hub carrier bolts

3. 12mm socket for caliper guide pin bolts

4. M8 bolts, length unimportant or a rubber mallet

5. Copper Grease

6. Brake cleaner, meths or something like that

7. Trolley jack, you could use the one with the car also

8. Wire string or an assistant

1. First things first put the car on a level surface. Where I live, the place is competely flat but it also helps that I have a double garage :D

2. Next step is to admire what you are about to install on your car! First up the brake pads

and next the discs, look at those puppies! :D

I like staring at my FACOM so thought i might get a picture of that in too

3. Right first proper step is to loosen the wheel bolts, use a 21mm socket or your wheel brace to do it. I obviously am a tool snob and use my 0.6m long Britool breaker bar!

4. with the wheel bolts loose its time to jack the car up. Jacking a car up places more stress on the chassis than any normal road manoeuveure so its best to support it in as many places as possible. You could just use a wheel changing point. I ended up placing my mother****** jack under the centre jacking point. see the second picture down and put an axle stand under the passenger side and another jack (a crappy Halfords one!) under the drivers side, the car is supported in 3 places and is pretty safe.

5. Now undo the wheel nuts and take the wheel off. You should see the disc looking like this. Note this is a picture of the passenger side (on a right hand drive car!)

6. Need to undo the caliper guide pin bolts, these aren't particularly tight so a 12mm spanner or socket will do. I personally use 6pt sockets as they are less likely to round.

the use of my 2ft long breaker bar was probably a bit excessive!

there is another bolt on the bottom that looks like the one on the top, undo this one as well!

7. Right get a piece of wire and tie it to the spring. Tie the other end through the gap in the caliper. The aim of this step is to prevent unnecessary stain on the brake hose. If you have an assistant get them to hold it.

8. Now with draw the caliper away from the carrier and let it dangle on the wire you tied in step 7 Or your assistant

9. Next time to loosen the carrier bolts, these are tight! so wheel out a 17mm socket and the longest implement you have to loosen them. there are two! the photograph shows the lower one, photograph in step 11 shows the top one.

10. Time to remove the pads, fairly straight forward, if the wheels are straight pull them forward in the direction of the front of the car.

same for the one on the inside, note the one on the inside has a squeal plate! its basically a bent piece of metal.

Here's a photograph showing the black diamond pads and the OE pagid pads (which are **** I might add).

11. undo the caliper bolts, you don't need to withdraw them completely and pull the caliper off.

here's a picture of me withdrawing the caliper

12. Next step is to remove the disc, invariably these things usually rust to the hubs so there are two methods of getting it off. a few rubber mallet blows to the engine side of the disc or the more elegant method of driving a couple of M8 bolts into the provided holes

and another piccy

13. Time to clean the brakes, I used meths but any brake cleaner will do. Also note that these discs are designed to go on a particular side of the vehicle.

14. Wheel out the copper grease, this pot is about 20 years old, still good stuff though! and give the hub a coating.

15. put the disc onto the hub

16. Reinstall the upper and lower carrier bolts

17. At this point I thought it was a good idea to put copper grease on the back of the pads, this prevents brake squeal, you can do this at a later stage if need be

18. After that detour I torqued up the carrier bolts to 107Nm, haven't a clue what that is in imperial.

19. Now its time to push the piston back into the caliper. You'll need a G Clamp or some blocks of wood and a screwdriver. Firstly remove the piston shield, looks like a thin piece of metal thats circular

next put the g clamp in and tighten it up, you'll see the piston move back. If you have old discs and pads and are replacing them, you'll need to push them in more.

20. Time to put the guide pin bolts back in. Make sure the flats of the nut (near my index finger in the second picture) are the correct orientation otherwise it won't fit on. Once lined up its dead easy!

torque them up to 34Nm

21. Almost done, time to put the wheel back on. put the nuts in then hand tighten the nuts. When the car is lowered (probably when you've done the otherside) torque them up to 103Nm.

stand back and admire!

Thats it!! Hope someone found that useful.

Sanj

[ae111sr]

Nicely done - very comprehensive too.

[nrgizerbunny]

maybe worthwhile making it a sticky?

[iLLestJT]

this must of saved you quite abit from your pocket!

[nrgizerbunny]

pads and discs £220.

probably £150 in labour i saved!

[Jones~32]

Very good guide

Should defo be a sticky ;)

[K19NE G]

LOL! You must've had to clean your hands between photos for fear of getting your camera all oily! Excellent write-up! Might I add, the T Sport looks great in silver!?

[Bero]

Very nice guide, how are the brakes now? Much better feel/stopping power?

Bero

[nrgizerbunny]

bit too soon to tell as I have only driven 25 miles and I'm waiting for the coating to come off the discs. At the moment the brakes are worse than before but I expect it to get better.

[GRD008]

please do keep us updated....

plus, does it interfere with the ABS stuff and other electronics?

also i think this post should be made a sticky as it's very helpful indeed.

thanks

[mr_miller]

Did the same to mine just before new year. Doesn't affect anything electronical.

I never thought of point 7 though, tieing up the brake caliper. Excellent tip.

When you pushed the caliper back in, how did you ensure no fluid spilled from the top of the brake fluid resevior? Did you drain the fluid first?

[nrgizerbunny]

in reply to the questions

1. nothing electrical is effected, abs, tcs, vcs and all that stuff works. I have tested it :)

2. the car only had 2k on it, so when i pushed the piston back the chances are no fluid was going to escape out of the top of it so it wasn't a problem. If your pads are severely worn then i'd suggest getting a syringe and sucking a little out.

3. pads are now bedded in and the brakes are LOADS better than the previous ones. i've had a few pads in my time and I'm not comfortable (or used to) the feel of black diamond pads. they tend to go soft initially on the pedal and then all of a sudden the car slows down tremendously. the initial bite is not so good. EBC pads I had on another car were much more of a firm pedal feel so much less movement. either way they are a definite improvement on the OE ones.

4. Can a mod make this a sticky?!?

sanj

[GRD008]

what are the gains by simple changing the brake pads whilst keeping the original disk? how do the original pads compare to some after market ones such as Brembo? i'm considering buying a set but don't know if i should wait till the standard ones wear out. however if the stopping power is greatly improved i'd swap them by next month when my next service is due.

any comments would be appreciated.

thanks

[nrgizerbunny]

change it without a doubt. Had my black diamonds for a while and they are far superior to the OE spec ones.