Noob DIY for pads and rotors
#1
07-15-2012, 11:59 AM
Noob DIY for pads and rotors
I wanted to leave some info as to how I changed front pads and rotors on 2009 Honda Fit Sport.
Tools you will need:
See the helpful videos first.
Brake Job
Stuck rotor screws
Stuck rotor
The cars mentioned in the videos are NOT Honda Fit, but the brake mechanism is similar on the Fit. I also copied a lot of the information below from the Jazz/Fit online manual as I did not take picture during the job. The same process described here, with a small modification, can be used in any cars with disc brake.
Check the pads and rotor condition
1. Break the front lug nuts using a breaker bar or other easy means.
2. Raise the front of the car using a floor jack and support with jack stands. You may work on one wheel at a time using standard Honda scissor stand, but be safe and be careful !
3. Remove the wheel. (19mm nuts. I usually put the wheels under the center frame) and check the pads and rotor condition on both the driver and the passenger side. If okay then you don’t need to replace.
Pads only
If you are only going to replace the pads, at least turning the rotor is recommended, but sometime you can get away with NOT turning the rotor and still get decent braking. The steps here are for just replacing the pads. The rotor removal comes afterwards.
1. If the area around the wheel hub is dusty, you may want to spray brake cleaner to get rid of brake dust. It’s helpful to use a large aluminum pan under the wheel to catch any dirt or fluid you may drip.
2. Remove the brake hose mounting bolt. It frees up the brake line a bit, so you can move the caliper around, once it’s removed. It’s the “A” bolt and the size is I think either 10mm or 12 mm. Sorry, but I did not take any pictures as my hands were dirty to hold a camera.
3. Remove the lower flange bolt (“B”. 12mm ?) while having a wrench hold the “C” bolt (17mm). The flange bolt may come off without holding the “C” bolt, but it’s a good insurance to hold on to the C bolt. Once removed, flip the caliper up and it should hold that position. If not, use the wire hanger to hold it in position with one end hooked on the suspension.
4. If the caliper doesn’t flip ( probably because the piston is pushing hard on the pads ), using a flat driver, put in into the small opening used to check the inner pad and push on the pads to make the piston move a bit and then flip open the caliper.
5. Remove the single return spring (the wishbone like spring) and then the pads. Remove the pad retainers using the flat tip of the driver.
6. Spray brake cleaner on the caliper, bracket, and retainer to get rid of dusts and old grease. Using wire brush (or old plastic tooth brush ), clean off the dirt and rust on the retainers ( if you plan to reuse them) and anywhere there will be metal to metal contact on the caliper and bracket
7. Get your pads and assemble the shims to the pads. Make sure to put brake lube ( Honda says Molykote M77 grease which comes with Genuine Honda Brake Pads) on the shims that touch the pad and second shim too. Wipe off excess grease. If you get grease on the front of the pad, wipe it off, spray brake cleaner, and wipe off. A trick I learned is to wipe off the grease with a clean rag soaked in 90% rubbing alcohol. Make sure the alcohol doesn’t touch rubber or seals as it will destroy rubber seals. The pad with wear indicator is the inner pad and the wear indicator should go to the top.
8. Assemble the pad retainer into the bracket (with lubed), and then put the pads into the bracket. If the pads come with return springs ( the A shaped wire), put them into the pads for now (The pads will expand out due to the spring pushing them apart. That’s okay for now).
9. You will need to press the caliper piston in. First, open the hood and check the brake fluid level. If it’s at max, use a turkey baster and empty water bottle to suck out existing fluid so you are at about the middle. Make sure to put some rags around the brake fluid reservoir to catch any drips. You may need to remove the strainer sitting inside the reservoir to suck out more. Second, using a C-clamp and old pad resting against the piston (or using special tool Honda sells) push in the caliper piston until flush.
10. Clean and lube the front of the piston and other areas inside the caliper which may touch the pads and metals.
11. While holding the pads with one hand ( so the return spring won’t push them out), and caliper with another, push in the caliper over the pad and push caliper into place. Put the flange nut back on and tighten per spec. Do the same for other front. Close off the brake reservoir. Close the hood.
12. If you happen to put grease on to the rotor, use the method above to get the lube/contaminants off the rotor.
13. If you have both wheels off the ground, put the car in neutral and turn the rotor to confirm that the pads are not aggressively holding on the rotors. Put the wheels back on and drop the car on the ground, torque the lug nuts.
14. You should test drive the car to confirm that the brakes work. Before starting up the car, pump the brake a bit, and after starting the car, pump the brake few times, before leaving the drive way. During test drive, you may feel that the brakes are sliding a bit. If yes, read how to break in new pads/rotors in the forum and Google search to seat the pads to the rotor properly.
If you plan to remove the rotor
1. Remove the caliper completely (and pads and retainers too) and using the wire hanger (or other cords), hang it off the front suspension.
2. Remove the caliper bracket mounting bolts (“B” 17mm). Using a breaker bar helps a lot.
3. Clean the bracket of dust,rust,etc using wire brush or old tooth brush and generous amounts of brake cleaner.
4. Remove the sliding caliper bolt (see video. I had to use a flat driver to release the bolt from rubber boot as my thumb did not have enough nails). Clean, lube, and reinsert the bolt back into the boot.
5. Remove the rotor screws from the rotor. Refer to the video on how to remove… At least for me, I had to use the “double hammer method” first, and then use the impact driver ( the one you hit with hammer, not the air operated tool) to remove.
6. If the screw is useable again, put a dab of brake lube on the end of the thread so it doesn’t rust up, the next time. I bought new sets (4x) of screws though, but still did put a dab of lube on the screws for the ease of future repair.
7. Remove the rotors. The manual says to use 2 8x1.25 mm bolt and screw them into the rotor to push out the rotor. For me, tapping on the rotor with rubber mallet did the job easily. However on other brand cars, I did use the method describe in the video in this thread.
8. Prepare new rotor by cleaning off the grease (brake cleaner, rubbing alcohol, etc)
9. Put on new rotor. Following one of the videos, I actually put some “purple” brake lube on the hub that will make contact with the rotor. Screw in the rotor screws.
10. Put back the bracket, retainer , pads and caliper. Put back on the wheel, drop the car, torque the lug nuts and test drive.
Tools you will need:
- Floor Jack and two jack stands (or Honda scissor jack will do )
- 1 wire coat hanger and fashion them into a long hook. ( will be used to hold a caliper to the front spring)
- 19mm socket + wrench/ratchet/breaker bar to break the lug nuts
- 10mm, 12mm, 17mm sockets/wrenches
- Flat screw driver to initially release the pads and brake hardware
- Impact driver ($7 from Harbour Freight, $10 from Autozone) to release rotor screws
- C-Clamp or other tools to push in the caliper piston
- Brake cleaner
- Brake lube ( I used extreme ceramic brake lube from Permutex which is good for both metal to metal and for rubbers too)
- Brake pads (I used Honda pads)
- Brake rotors (I used Brembo rotors, about $41 each shipped)
- Gloves ( vinal / nitril / or leather gloves ) to protect your hands during the job
See the helpful videos first.
Brake Job
Stuck rotor screws
Stuck rotor
The cars mentioned in the videos are NOT Honda Fit, but the brake mechanism is similar on the Fit. I also copied a lot of the information below from the Jazz/Fit online manual as I did not take picture during the job. The same process described here, with a small modification, can be used in any cars with disc brake.
Check the pads and rotor condition
1. Break the front lug nuts using a breaker bar or other easy means.
2. Raise the front of the car using a floor jack and support with jack stands. You may work on one wheel at a time using standard Honda scissor stand, but be safe and be careful !
3. Remove the wheel. (19mm nuts. I usually put the wheels under the center frame) and check the pads and rotor condition on both the driver and the passenger side. If okay then you don’t need to replace.
Pads only
If you are only going to replace the pads, at least turning the rotor is recommended, but sometime you can get away with NOT turning the rotor and still get decent braking. The steps here are for just replacing the pads. The rotor removal comes afterwards.
1. If the area around the wheel hub is dusty, you may want to spray brake cleaner to get rid of brake dust. It’s helpful to use a large aluminum pan under the wheel to catch any dirt or fluid you may drip.
2. Remove the brake hose mounting bolt. It frees up the brake line a bit, so you can move the caliper around, once it’s removed. It’s the “A” bolt and the size is I think either 10mm or 12 mm. Sorry, but I did not take any pictures as my hands were dirty to hold a camera.
3. Remove the lower flange bolt (“B”. 12mm ?) while having a wrench hold the “C” bolt (17mm). The flange bolt may come off without holding the “C” bolt, but it’s a good insurance to hold on to the C bolt. Once removed, flip the caliper up and it should hold that position. If not, use the wire hanger to hold it in position with one end hooked on the suspension.
4. If the caliper doesn’t flip ( probably because the piston is pushing hard on the pads ), using a flat driver, put in into the small opening used to check the inner pad and push on the pads to make the piston move a bit and then flip open the caliper.
5. Remove the single return spring (the wishbone like spring) and then the pads. Remove the pad retainers using the flat tip of the driver.
6. Spray brake cleaner on the caliper, bracket, and retainer to get rid of dusts and old grease. Using wire brush (or old plastic tooth brush ), clean off the dirt and rust on the retainers ( if you plan to reuse them) and anywhere there will be metal to metal contact on the caliper and bracket
7. Get your pads and assemble the shims to the pads. Make sure to put brake lube ( Honda says Molykote M77 grease which comes with Genuine Honda Brake Pads) on the shims that touch the pad and second shim too. Wipe off excess grease. If you get grease on the front of the pad, wipe it off, spray brake cleaner, and wipe off. A trick I learned is to wipe off the grease with a clean rag soaked in 90% rubbing alcohol. Make sure the alcohol doesn’t touch rubber or seals as it will destroy rubber seals. The pad with wear indicator is the inner pad and the wear indicator should go to the top.
8. Assemble the pad retainer into the bracket (with lubed), and then put the pads into the bracket. If the pads come with return springs ( the A shaped wire), put them into the pads for now (The pads will expand out due to the spring pushing them apart. That’s okay for now).
9. You will need to press the caliper piston in. First, open the hood and check the brake fluid level. If it’s at max, use a turkey baster and empty water bottle to suck out existing fluid so you are at about the middle. Make sure to put some rags around the brake fluid reservoir to catch any drips. You may need to remove the strainer sitting inside the reservoir to suck out more. Second, using a C-clamp and old pad resting against the piston (or using special tool Honda sells) push in the caliper piston until flush.
10. Clean and lube the front of the piston and other areas inside the caliper which may touch the pads and metals.
11. While holding the pads with one hand ( so the return spring won’t push them out), and caliper with another, push in the caliper over the pad and push caliper into place. Put the flange nut back on and tighten per spec. Do the same for other front. Close off the brake reservoir. Close the hood.
12. If you happen to put grease on to the rotor, use the method above to get the lube/contaminants off the rotor.
13. If you have both wheels off the ground, put the car in neutral and turn the rotor to confirm that the pads are not aggressively holding on the rotors. Put the wheels back on and drop the car on the ground, torque the lug nuts.
14. You should test drive the car to confirm that the brakes work. Before starting up the car, pump the brake a bit, and after starting the car, pump the brake few times, before leaving the drive way. During test drive, you may feel that the brakes are sliding a bit. If yes, read how to break in new pads/rotors in the forum and Google search to seat the pads to the rotor properly.
If you plan to remove the rotor
1. Remove the caliper completely (and pads and retainers too) and using the wire hanger (or other cords), hang it off the front suspension.
2. Remove the caliper bracket mounting bolts (“B” 17mm). Using a breaker bar helps a lot.
3. Clean the bracket of dust,rust,etc using wire brush or old tooth brush and generous amounts of brake cleaner.
4. Remove the sliding caliper bolt (see video. I had to use a flat driver to release the bolt from rubber boot as my thumb did not have enough nails). Clean, lube, and reinsert the bolt back into the boot.
5. Remove the rotor screws from the rotor. Refer to the video on how to remove… At least for me, I had to use the “double hammer method” first, and then use the impact driver ( the one you hit with hammer, not the air operated tool) to remove.
6. If the screw is useable again, put a dab of brake lube on the end of the thread so it doesn’t rust up, the next time. I bought new sets (4x) of screws though, but still did put a dab of lube on the screws for the ease of future repair.
7. Remove the rotors. The manual says to use 2 8x1.25 mm bolt and screw them into the rotor to push out the rotor. For me, tapping on the rotor with rubber mallet did the job easily. However on other brand cars, I did use the method describe in the video in this thread.
8. Prepare new rotor by cleaning off the grease (brake cleaner, rubbing alcohol, etc)
9. Put on new rotor. Following one of the videos, I actually put some “purple” brake lube on the hub that will make contact with the rotor. Screw in the rotor screws.
10. Put back the bracket, retainer , pads and caliper. Put back on the wheel, drop the car, torque the lug nuts and test drive.
Last edited by CasualFitOwner; 07-15-2012 at 12:35 PM.
#2
07-19-2012, 06:51 PM
How come, when I look through that little window on the rotor (see first illustration above), I can only see the rotor and one pad? How am I supposed to check the other pad on each caliper, short of removing the caliper from the rotor?
Very frustrating.
Very frustrating.
#3
07-19-2012, 07:48 PM
What you are seeing is the thickness of the "inner pad", the pad toward the engine. The outer pad can be checked by looking at the edge of the rotor from the other side of that little window. In fact, sometimes you can check the pad width even with the tire on through the gap in the wheel spoke.
#4
07-19-2012, 08:00 PM
What you are seeing is the thickness of the "inner pad", the pad toward the engine. The outer pad can be checked by looking at the edge of the rotor from the other side of that little window. In fact, sometimes you can check the pad width even with the tire on through the gap in the wheel spoke.
Yeah. I should have looked there. I guess I was rushing to be done with it. If I have to go in there again, I'm just going to take the whole d**n caliper off.
Miserable day I'm having. Should have stayed in bed.
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