Rotor Swap

[liquidracing]

o.k. i thought i'd throw this down here 'cause i can....maybe this can turn into a sticky substance?

i am going to show exactly how to do a rotor and pad swap, in detail.

Disclaimer:LiquidRacing shall not be held responsible in any way, for anybody's negligence in following correct protocol, or any harm of any magnitude to any entity, living or otherwise, for any reason whatsoever. this is soley for purpose of helping out you all, my brothers on SL-i.net...basically, in essence, if your car ends you 'cause it falls off the jackstand and squishes your legs...whoops! that sucks, should've secured it correctly. there is no excuse for complacency! take your time, do it within your scope of ability and knowledge. if it becomes a nightmare, stop. have a beer ar a bud and call a friend to help!

ON WITH THE SHOW!

the victim is Lizzie, my '96 Lsi-ej25d-awd with 277mm rotors(i understand that this year came with three different rotor size possibilities, state-side anyway). btw, she is the eighth subie i've owned. i have this brake thing down to a science and can do a total 4 wheel change out in just under thirty minutes. so, here goes...

1)get yourself one of these, they're 10 bucks from checker/schucks/kragen. a good chilton's, haynes, or bently is also an absolute must!
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0063.jpg

2)this stuff helps, alot...LiquidRacing loves air!
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0052.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0051.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0054.jpg

3)this is the stack of fun.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0053.jpg

4)if you're smart, jack the entire car off the ground, for ease of access and speed purposes. you can do this one wheel at a time, but, to each his own!

5)wheel on.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0050.jpg

6)take the wheel off. can you guess what will be next?
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0057.jpg

7)there are two bolts that hold the caliper assembly on. they are on the backside(red circles). i suggest removing the entire assembly and hanging to the spring with safety wire or such.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0059.jpg

8)remove "old" rotor
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0062.jpg

9)pull off the "old" pads from the caliper assembly, then reinstall the caliper assembly without pads! torque to spec (60ft-lbs front, 20ft-lbs rear)

10)remove the lower slide bolt, (aka-lower lock pin) on the caliper itself. (blue arrow)
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

11)use your "tool" to compress the caliper, SLOWLY! btw, if your brake reservoir is full, use a syringe or something to pull out roughly half of the brake fluid, or it WILL spill into your doghouse! then, re-hang just the caliper.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0064.jpg

12)liberally coat all parts of the "new" pad backing, and any other part that comes in contact with "stationary" parts of caliper assembly with "brake quiet", save the rotor side of the pad!

13)install "new" pads, being careful not to smudge the "brake quiet".

14)SLOWLY, lower the caliper into place, again, being carefull not to smudge "brake quiet" all over the place, that stuff sucks to get on your clothing also, doesn't exactly "wash off" too easily.

15)reinstall slide bolt, torque to spec.(30ft-lbs front, 175*in-lbs* rear)
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/legacylsi/rotor%20swap/PICT0066.jpg

16)reinstall wheel. torque to spec.(70-75ft-lbs)

17)do the other three using this same formula and after more brake jobs than you have fingers and toes, you too can do all four in under thirty minutes!

18)Enjoy the smooth as glass stopping power you have bestowed upon your beast!

[Huffer]

This is a DIY brake pad/rotor install... not bad!

I just use a C-clamp on the caliper piston.

[liquidracing]

true, true....i do like the twisty compressor though...i ummmm actually have like seven of these, i don't know why.

[Colorado_Outback]

Thanks for the write up, this helped a lot this afternoon when I swapped out a warped rotor on the front.

[ivwarrior]

Not bad for a cheapie "pad slap" job. There's more involved to do it right, though. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to tear into one to illustrate. If it's supposed to move, it should be cleaned/lubed, though for one thing.

[liquidracing]

Not bad for a cheapie "pad slap" job. There's more involved to do it right, though. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to tear into one to illustrate. If it's supposed to move, it should be cleaned/lubed, though for one thing.

D.I.Y. with the thought that some of us don't have massive amounts of time or money. If i have the time and money to do a full 4 wheel endless or rotera upgrade, i'll make sure to pull out professor's book on all the little devilish details on how backing up abs can harm, or fluid replacement complete with flush, etc. :wink:

[deadlydave]

This is a DIY brake pad/rotor install... not bad!

I just use a C-clamp on the caliper piston.

I agree, excellent writup! I just use my hands and a fat wrench. I should do a DIY for the pad replacement on a non-floating caliper, it's a bit more PITA, especially on the brembos.

[rougeben83]

This is a DIY brake pad/rotor install... not bad!

I just use a C-clamp on the caliper piston.

I agree, excellent writup! I just use my hands and a fat wrench. I should do a DIY for the pad replacement on a non-floating caliper, it's a bit more PITA, especially on the brembos.

Really? I thought it was easier, not having to remove the caliper or unbolt anything besides the wheel and all...Just unclip the slider pins and pull the pads from the top...

The only thing that's a little more complicated is compressing the pistons since there's 4 of them...

[deadlydave]

The only thing that's a little more complicated is compressing the pistons since there's 4 of them...

Yea, that was a PITA.

The last STi I did brakes on...was down INTO the backing plates on the front. It took almost an hour for the brakes to cool to an acceptable level to work on. :evil:

[liquidracing]

This is a DIY brake pad/rotor install... not bad!

I just use a C-clamp on the caliper piston.

I agree, excellent writup! I just use my hands and a fat wrench. I should do a DIY for the pad replacement on a non-floating caliper, it's a bit more PITA, especially on the brembos.

Really? I thought it was easier, not having to remove the caliper or unbolt anything besides the wheel and all...Just unclip the slider pins and pull the pads from the top...

The only thing that's a little more complicated is compressing the pistons since there's 4 of them...

rouge, keep in mind, i had to pull the calipers, because i was doing pads AND rotors. if it were just the pads, then the only thing i would have to do is pull the bottom slide pin and the pad bracket rotates up to allow the pads to basically fall out. afaik, almost ALL disk setups are engineered so closely alike that you can use this writeup for about 95% of vehicles on the road, save hybrids and other "alternative" braking vehicles.