Brake pads, rotors and fluid which?

[ahmad89]

Google is your friend

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...7/article.html
http://www.partsource.ca/doityourself/TIPS_brakes.asp
http://www.howtodothings.com/automot...rake-pads.html
http://www.thepartsbin.com/change-brake-pads.html
http://www.cockeyed.com/lessons/brak...eshoes01.shtml

Follow ANY of these guides, use a little common sense and you should be good to go. If you can get the pads out, it will be OBVIOUS how to do the rotors...

Thank you very much for the info man i was going to go to that howtodothings site but i didnt have a chance last night i was busy.

[86AccordLxi]

If the philips screws are still in the rotors (rusted in..... ) they'll be a little time consuming. Just make sure you don't round out the heads, or at least try your best not to. An impact driver makes those come out easier.

Alex

[ahmad89]

If the philips screws are still in the rotors (rusted in..... ) they'll be a little time consuming. Just make sure you don't round out the heads, or at least try your best not to. An impact driver makes those come out easier.

Alex

Thx i'll start looking for an impact driver when i get home.

[mkymonkey]

ok im going to help the kid guys...


1. jack your car up and put it on jack stands.

2. take your wheels off and set them under the car, just in case the car falls...they wont fall on your legs, they'll fall on the wheels.

3. start with the passenger side. turn your steering wheel all the way to the left. this will make it easier on you to take the bolts off the caliper.

4. get a (i believe) 12mm socket and wrench and start removing the bolts, the order of which does not matter. once you have removed the bolts, the caliper should slide right on out and the pads will either stay on the disc or stay on the caliper. Pretty much all you have to do is remember which goes on which side.

5. You will need to push the piston back with either a c-clamp or channel locks (seems easier for me to do it with channel locks). Now some people say that taking the cap off the reservoir makes pushing the piston in a lot easier....for me it doesnt matter, but you could try it if youre having a hard time, because it DOES take a bit of strength. Push the piston all the way back to allow the new THICK pads to go on easier

6. The pads you buy should come with the little bracket thing (sorry i dont know the tech term for it) that goes behind the pad itself. also they should come with some brake lube if not get some when you buy the pads, its like 50c a packet. apply a little lube to the back of the pad and put the bracket on top. do this for both pads and slide them into place on the caliper, they might need a bit of tapping to get them in there.

7. to put them back on just slide the whole assembly back onto the disc and tighten the bolts.

8. turn your wheel all the way to the right and do the same for the driver's side

9. dont forget to bleed your breaks, there's a step by step around here so im not going to write one (search cuz i remember reading it).

10. put your wheels back on, jack your car up take the stands out and drop the car back down. make sure youre easy on the brakes for at least 4 days of regular commuting to break them in propertly. oh and wash your hands

[MessyHonda]

ok im going to help the kid guys...


1. jack your car up and put it on jack stands.

2. take your wheels off and set them under the car, just in case the car falls...they wont fall on your legs, they'll fall on the wheels.

3. start with the passenger side. turn your steering wheel all the way to the left. this will make it easier on you to take the bolts off the caliper.

4. get a (i believe) 12mm socket and wrench and start removing the bolts, the order of which does not matter. once you have removed the bolts, the caliper should slide right on out and the pads will either stay on the disc or stay on the caliper. Pretty much all you have to do is remember which goes on which side.

5. You will need to push the piston back with either a c-clamp or channel locks (seems easier for me to do it with channel locks). Now some people say that taking the cap off the reservoir makes pushing the piston in a lot easier....for me it doesnt matter, but you could try it if youre having a hard time, because it DOES take a bit of strength. Push the piston all the way back to allow the new THICK pads to go on easier

6. The pads you buy should come with the little bracket thing (sorry i dont know the tech term for it) that goes behind the pad itself. also they should come with some brake lube if not get some when you buy the pads, its like 50c a packet. apply a little lube to the back of the pad and put the bracket on top. do this for both pads and slide them into place on the caliper, they might need a bit of tapping to get them in there.

7. to put them back on just slide the whole assembly back onto the disc and tighten the bolts.

8. turn your wheel all the way to the right and do the same for the driver's side

9. dont forget to bleed your breaks, there's a step by step around here so im not going to write one (search cuz i remember reading it).

10. put your wheels back on, jack your car up take the stands out and drop the car back down. make sure youre easy on the brakes for at least 4 days of regular commuting to break them in propertly. oh and wash your hands

that is for the lx-i maing.....but they are kinda the same.

[2oodoor]

wienermobile dude

[mkymonkey]

like it matters, almost all honda calipers are the same

[ahmad89]

lol thx monkey but i got it, read the manual like 3 time and its only 2 bolts but my problem is my jack wont raise the car high enough to put my stands on. Im trying to figure out some way to get it high enough.

[mkymonkey]

are you using the jack that came with the car? damn, i hope your legs arent under the car when it falls.

[Estimated Prophet]

Yeah I wouldn't recommend using the spare tire jack, that is made to lift one corner up while the rest of the weight is on the other three tires. Rent a decent jack from Advance or Autozone if you have to.

[ahmad89]

lol no im using a 2 ton jack that my bro bought awhile back and i just went to check to see how high it would go and i put the stand next to it to see if it would jack it up high enough and it jacks up plenty. So i have a jack and two stands all i need to do now is get the pads and rotors.

[ahmad89]

Now to drain or bleed the fluid from what i read in the manual theres a screw on each wheel and i need someone to pump and then keep a steady pressure on the brakes then i loosen the screw to let bubbles out but how do i drain the fluid so i can put new fluid instead of topping off 16 year old fluid. Please list what i need to for the job and how to do it. Thank you again.

[DBMaster]

This string sure is getting messy! I bought a brake bleeder kit a long time ago, but you can use some clear vinyl hose from Home Depot if you want. It just needs to fit snugly on the end of the bleeder screw. The kits have rubber fittings which are nice because the front bleeder screws are bigger than the back ones on the disc/drum setups.

Honda recommends changing the fluid every 30K miles because it absorbs water and gets really dirty. Keep it clean and your calipers and cylinders should last the life of the car.

1. Feel free to mix DOT 3 and DOT 4 fluid. DOT 4 will stay a little cleaner over time because its boiling point is higher and it is slightly less hydroscopic than DOT 3.

2. When bleeding the brakes go in this order RR, LR, RF, LF. If you don't have a brake bleeder pump ($25 at a parts store), have someone sit in the driver's seat. Crack open the bleeder screw and tell them "down," meaning to push the pedal to the floor - slowly. Tighten the screw and then tell them "up," meaning let the pedal come back up. Repeat until the fluid running through the clear hose is clean. It shouldn't take much more than a pint of fluid to do the job. My favorite is the Valvoline Synthetic DOT 4. I have been using it on the car for 14 years.

[86AccordLxi]

Aren't you supposed to pump the pedal, build pressure, then crack the bleeder?

Alex

[ahmad89]

well my dad wants me to get someone else to do it but when he feels comfortable with me doing the brakes i will. Thank you all for your help and advice i really apreciate it.

[2ndGenGuy]

Aren't you supposed to pump the pedal, build pressure, then crack the bleeder?

Alex

^^^ Ding ding ding! Correct! You should even close the valve before the brake pedal hits the floor so that there's no chance of lifting the pedal and sucking crap back in.

[ahmad89]

well looks like me and my bro are doing it this friday.

[86AccordLxi]

^^^ Ding ding ding! Correct! You should even close the valve before the brake pedal hits the floor so that there's no chance of lifting the pedal and sucking crap back in.

Yeah, exactly. Just make sure the person pumping doesn't lift at all until the person closing the bleeder valve says it's ok.

Alex

[russiankid]

Yeah, exactly. Just make sure the person pumping doesn't lift at all until the person closing the bleeder valve says it's ok.
Alex

That is exactly what my brother and i did the other day. Took about an hour and the brake pedal is not mushy anymore.

[DBMaster]

Aren't you supposed to pump the pedal, build pressure, then crack the bleeder?

I have read that numerous times, but I have never had to pump the pedal to build pressure. Maybe you only need to do that if you are starting with air in your lines, such as when you replace the M/C or rebuild a caliper. A $25 manual vacuum pump kit allows this to be a one-man operation, but I have found it to go faster utilizing my daughter to push the brake pedal!

[ahmad89]

My bro and I are going to do the brakes tomorrow, were gonna buy the parts and a torque wrench too i think and im gonna start looking for the impact driver today cause yesterday i was too busy to look for one. I will copy and paste your instructions and send it to my bro's laptop so we can follow it. Thank you all very much, very helpful and awsome people!

[86AccordLxi]

I have read that numerous times, but I have never had to pump the pedal to build pressure. Maybe you only need to do that if you are starting with air in your lines, such as when you replace the M/C or rebuild a caliper. A $25 manual vacuum pump kit allows this to be a one-man operation, but I have found it to go faster utilizing my daughter to push the brake pedal!

Ah, ok. Yeah, every time I've replaced calipers or anything that's the way to do it. You can actually get away with replacing an m/c without bleeding the brakes-- at least I've done it twice with no loss in pedal at all. Just gotta bench bleed the master.

Alex

[ahmad89]

Also i just remembered that im also going to check for oil leaking on the filter and change the oil friday. I dont know why but im kinda excited lol.

[Estimated Prophet]

It's not unusual to feel excited, let it out.

[ahmad89]

It's not unusual to feel excited, let it out.

lol ok WOOHOOOOO!!!!
Oh will i need an impact driver?