Marshy
04-03-2005, 04:29 PM
Took my car to a friend's yesterday to fit new pads all round, rear discs, and check out a sticky rear caliper. He's an E30 racer, so has plenty of tools, jacks, axle stands, yada yada yada, as well as the expertise to help me to the job. He was also changing the springs on his racer.
Management summary: 11 hours of mostly plain sailing, peppered with the odd bit of misery and post 10pm hammering. Of course, some of that 11 hours was spent helping with friend's spring job, getting a few bits and pieces from a local motor factor, eating sarnies, etc. It was by no means 11 hours just to do my brakes!
I really wish I'd got someone to show me the ropes for changing pads years ago - I could have saved so much money given how damn easy it is, and how cheap Pagid pads are. That said: I've read countless times the procedure for doing it, but nothing, NOTHING, compares to having someone show you the ropes on your own car. Bentley/Haynes diagrams are all very well, but nowhere near as good.
Front pads were easy. Rear discs and pads were easy, at least in threory.
The binding caliper was a beyatch. I was going to replace the whole thing, but I couldn't seem to find one in the UK. This particular caliper seems only to be used on the 540 and M5, and hence is a touch hard to find... Anyway, the main problem was that the dust seal had come away from the caliper housing, so the piston was a bit cruddy on the outside edge visible due to worn brake pads. The bore was lovely though, which was a relief. I'd had the presence of mind to get a new seal kit, so a bit of cleaning up of the piston was all that was needed.
I must admit, ATE's instructions for getting the outer dust seal fitted are hilarious. They throw away, in one sentence, what felt like a major saga at the time. 12 year old cleaned-up-but-still-cruddy caliper in one hand, piston in the other, complete with a seal stretched over it that's ready to ping off across the driveway like a rubber band at the slightest provocation. I lost count of how many goes it took to get it all together, with numerous "magic" words used along the way, and numerous pauses to clean something that got cruddy along the way... Anyway, eventually got it back together properly and all was well.
What was more irritating, and is something that I'll have to address before too long, was the splash sheild/protection plate on the other rear wheel. Part 13 here (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HE62&mospid=47384&prod=19930300&btnr=34_0395&hg=34&fg=10). The one on my car has rusted, causing the ring of metal that corresponds to the diameter of the handbrake drum part of the disc to expand slightly. It and the old disc has obviously formed an "accomodation" over the years. However, putting the new disc on meant that it was fouling quite badly, making quite a lot of heat and noise. Had to resort to hammering it back a little to get the car drivable. Question here is how hard is it to replace this very cheap part? Wheel, caliper and disc off, clearly, then what?
Anyway, that nasty surprise apart, everything's looking good. With the brakes bled and pads bedded in, I'm rather pleased with the first impressions of the Pagid fast road pads I used. I also saved a whole bag of cash over the quote from a local tyre/brake/exhaust outlet. However, I think *I* need new discs now: I hope the resulting backache clears up soon...
Management summary: 11 hours of mostly plain sailing, peppered with the odd bit of misery and post 10pm hammering. Of course, some of that 11 hours was spent helping with friend's spring job, getting a few bits and pieces from a local motor factor, eating sarnies, etc. It was by no means 11 hours just to do my brakes!
I really wish I'd got someone to show me the ropes for changing pads years ago - I could have saved so much money given how damn easy it is, and how cheap Pagid pads are. That said: I've read countless times the procedure for doing it, but nothing, NOTHING, compares to having someone show you the ropes on your own car. Bentley/Haynes diagrams are all very well, but nowhere near as good.
Front pads were easy. Rear discs and pads were easy, at least in threory.
The binding caliper was a beyatch. I was going to replace the whole thing, but I couldn't seem to find one in the UK. This particular caliper seems only to be used on the 540 and M5, and hence is a touch hard to find... Anyway, the main problem was that the dust seal had come away from the caliper housing, so the piston was a bit cruddy on the outside edge visible due to worn brake pads. The bore was lovely though, which was a relief. I'd had the presence of mind to get a new seal kit, so a bit of cleaning up of the piston was all that was needed.
I must admit, ATE's instructions for getting the outer dust seal fitted are hilarious. They throw away, in one sentence, what felt like a major saga at the time. 12 year old cleaned-up-but-still-cruddy caliper in one hand, piston in the other, complete with a seal stretched over it that's ready to ping off across the driveway like a rubber band at the slightest provocation. I lost count of how many goes it took to get it all together, with numerous "magic" words used along the way, and numerous pauses to clean something that got cruddy along the way... Anyway, eventually got it back together properly and all was well.
What was more irritating, and is something that I'll have to address before too long, was the splash sheild/protection plate on the other rear wheel. Part 13 here (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HE62&mospid=47384&prod=19930300&btnr=34_0395&hg=34&fg=10). The one on my car has rusted, causing the ring of metal that corresponds to the diameter of the handbrake drum part of the disc to expand slightly. It and the old disc has obviously formed an "accomodation" over the years. However, putting the new disc on meant that it was fouling quite badly, making quite a lot of heat and noise. Had to resort to hammering it back a little to get the car drivable. Question here is how hard is it to replace this very cheap part? Wheel, caliper and disc off, clearly, then what?
Anyway, that nasty surprise apart, everything's looking good. With the brakes bled and pads bedded in, I'm rather pleased with the first impressions of the Pagid fast road pads I used. I also saved a whole bag of cash over the quote from a local tyre/brake/exhaust outlet. However, I think *I* need new discs now: I hope the resulting backache clears up soon...