i've never installed brakes on a car before but figured i'd give it a try. that apparently was a bad decison. i'm in the middle of chaning all the pads/rotors on my 02 camaro ss but ran into problems. for the install im using my chilton book for 93-02 camaros and this website http://www.installuniversity.com/ins...ds_mwarren.htm the issues are that the book and site have slightly different methods for the install. here are my problems thus far

1) the book says to use a c clamp to squeeze the pad/caliper in order to reposition the caliper piston. it says to do this to the old stuff before its removed from the car. supposidly this will cause the brake fluid in the container under the hood to rise and i'll then have to syphoon it off? the website says to take all the old stuff off, put the new stuff on, then use the clamp on the pistons directly and reattach the caliper, which will also cause the brake fluid to go up. my questions are which method is the best and how do i know when i've clamped enough and prevent myself from over squeezing it? also, what should i do to get rid of the brake fluid, suck it out with a turkey baster or something?

2) the website says to put loctite on the caliper bolts but the book doesnt mention that, what should i do?

3) the book says to put anti-squeal stuff on the pads before installing them but the website doesnt. i have ceramic pads which supposidly dont make any noise, so i dunno what is best.

4) this may seem a little stupid but for the life of me i cant get the damn rotors off the car! i took off the calipers and the brackets and just assumed the rotors would slide right off but it's like they're welded on or something. is this just rust? should i spray some wd40 around the center and bang on it with a hammer till it pops off, or is there something i'm not doing right? (oh yeah, neither the book or website mentioned it but i found that each wheel has 3 washers which are like locked to the lug screws in order to prevent the rotors from coming off. they were a bitch and a half to remove, but i got them off, but STILL cant budge the rotors at all).

thanks in advance for the help guys!

 

I just used the c clamp to push the piston back in when I did my rear brakes, just do it slowly, it'll rise a little, my brake fluids levels were a bit low already so i didnt even need to remove the cap.

I had to also remove those 3 washers, just bang it with a big rubber hammer to knock it loose.

It was also my first time, the rears seem to be working perfectly fine.

 

I just used the c-clamp to push the piston back in. Don't worry about having to siphon brake fluid out of the reservoir. It really doesn't change the level that much at all. I don't even remove the cap when I do my brakes. I didn't use loctite on the calipers bolts although it certainly wouldn't hurt but I did use the free packets of anti-squeal from autozone. Just put that stuff on the back of the brake pads though (where the piston contacts the pad itself). And as for getting the rotors off, I used a rubber mallet to loosen the rotors the first time because there was rust, dirt, etc. that had plastered the rotor on good.

 

1) the book says to use a c clamp to squeeze the pad/caliper in order to reposition the caliper piston. it says to do this to the old stuff before its removed from the car. supposidly this will cause the brake fluid in the container under the hood to rise and i'll then have to syphoon it off? the website says to take all the old stuff off, put the new stuff on, then use the clamp on the pistons directly and reattach the caliper, which will also cause the brake fluid to go up. my questions are which method is the best and how do i know when i've clamped enough and prevent myself from over squeezing it? also, what should i do to get rid of the brake fluid, suck it out with a turkey baster or something?

Do it right and open the bleed screw when you push in the piston. All the crap in your brake fluid settles to the lowest point (caliper) and when you push the piston in it will push all that crap back towards your ABS unit and other costly components unless you squeeze it out the bleed screw. You just need to push the piston in far enough to get the caliper back over the new rotor with new pads. If you leave the old pads on the piston(s) while you squeeze it will only go so far anyway.


2) the website says to put loctite on the caliper bolts but the book doesnt mention that, what should i do?

Use locktite. Anything that had locktite from the factory (remanents should be on the threads) should have locktite when you reassemble. Use blue, not red.


3) the book says to put anti-squeal stuff on the pads before installing them but the website doesnt. i have ceramic pads which supposidly dont make any noise, so i dunno what is best.

Put hi-temp brake grease on the back of the pads where the piston contacts them. Also make sure to pull the floating pins out of the caliper, clean, and cover them with grease. Don't get it on the pad or the rotor!


4) this may seem a little stupid but for the life of me i cant get the damn rotors off the car! i took off the calipers and the brackets and just assumed the rotors would slide right off but it's like they're welded on or something. is this just rust? should i spray some wd40 around the center and bang on it with a hammer till it pops off, or is there something i'm not doing right? (oh yeah, neither the book or website mentioned it but i found that each wheel has 3 washers which are like locked to the lug screws in order to prevent the rotors from coming off. they were a bitch and a half to remove, but i got them off, but STILL cant budge the rotors at all).


Use side cutters to cut off those retaining rings, then tap on the rotor with a hammer...should break it lose. Using some penetrating oil wouldn't hurt I suppose. Before putting on the new rotor clean all the rust off the hub and then put a light layer of antiseize on the hub face where the rotor mounts up...the rotor will come off much easier next time.

 

thanks for the input guys, once i got some pb blaster to get the rotors off things went pretty smooth

 

You can get stuff to go on the backs of the pads specifically meant to keep them quiet. Comes in a little package that looks like a convenience store mustard packet. I wouldn't use grease.
I always get a really big pair of channel locks to push the pistons back in. The goal is to have the pistons flush with the caliper, anything other than that and you won't be able to get the caliper back over the rotor with the new pads installed.

Make sure you use a torque wrench to reinstall all the bolts!!!

 

yeah i got a spray can of permatex brake quiet. sprayed it on the backs of the pads and so far no squeaking.

 

Yeah, don't use high temp brake grease anywhere on your brakes. It's totally not meant for that

 

remeber before you go on your first test drive to press the pedal a few times to build pressure and then take it slow around the block pressing the pedal about 15 times to alow the pads to 'settle in'

if brake fluid spill out the resevior thats ok. the level will go back down once its all back together and the piston pushed back out. just use plain water to clean it off.

 

Also once you are comfortable with the brakes operating normally find some loose gravel or an empty parking lot and do a couple hard panic stops to get the wheels to lock up which will cause the abs to cycle and totally purge the brake system. You will notice the brake pedal will get very firm.