T5.1 Brake Rotor and Pad Replacement

[The_Hawk]

I should add, I went through LOTS of gloves and still look like I went elbow deep in a charcoal bucket.

[Sunny43.5]

I used a compressed air duster gun to clear away all the loose stuff first , make sure you wear a mask though .

[Transporter]

I use a spray water mixed with detergent or vacuum cleaner. Breathing any fibres is bad for you and your family, if you do it at home.
Just my 5c.

[LogicprObe]

Yeah, those discs look like they are still within spec.
Worth putting the mic on them and probably getting them machined.

[brad]

Ive also inhaled more brake dust than a human should. I think it would be worth putting the can on the grass, jacking up each wheel and taking to it with the gurney before starting this sort of job again.

This is pretty much what I do

[The_Hawk]

I do have a couple of questions for people.

1) Greasing the slide pins.
I'm realising today that I might need to go back again

a) The front pins come out completly so I did clean them down and re-grease using a high temp bearing grease. This is what a guy in AutoBarn provided when I explained what I was doing, although I'm now reading this might have been a poor choice and something which should be fixed up before it causes binding. Is this something I should go back and re-do. If so what is the recommended grease and where do I get it?


b) The rear meachnism came apart without (from what I could see) breaking any the rubber seals so I didn't tear them apart to re-grease. Is this something I should go back and do?

At least these fixes should be much simpler than the whole job, even if it's a pain to go back (after a good gurney for sure ).



2) When taking the front brakes apart the caliper was tight enough that I couldn't remove it from the pads/rotor, I'm sure the small lip didn't help either. This appears to be mostly because the pads had stuck to the capiler mechanism.

Is this just a matter of using a little more gentle persuasion? (ie a mallet) Or is there some trick to getting the pads to come away and/or to release the piston a little to pull it apart?

In the video in the first post at about 2 minutes you see the mechanic release the slider pins then pull the assembly up and away. For me that just didn't want to happen because the outside pad was stuck hard to the assembly. A little gentle hammering didn't help but undoing the last two bolts to release the other part of the caliper made it all come away (albeit with a little effort) and once free of the rotor it came apart pretty easily. Now something you would want to do when just changing the pads.

The rears came apart without any issues.

edit: To answer my own Q2, this video appears to show a little levering is the answer, I don't know if that would have been my answer... maybe I find out next time around.

YouTube

[Sunny43.5]

I will answer some of this 2/ just lever back against the rotor itself like he did or as you start to get the caliper up a bit lever against the piston side of the pad which will force the piston back , if you open either the bleeder valve or like I do just undo the filler cap in the engine bay this will allow the fluid to push back through the lines preventing any air bubbles in the lines . Just put some pressure and you will se the piston move back releasing the pads from the rotor
.1/
I don,t recall lubing the pins and had no issues at all after 6 disc rotor replecements on our two vans and a mates one as well over the last 15 years .The problem with most of these videos and also workshop manuals are they are written to replace parts which are brand new , in my work every workshop manual shows how to repair a sunroof BUT it does not show how to get the sucker apart when its jammed halfway open !!!!! . If you have already refitted the rears leave it alone unless you want to self flagelate your self by doing it all over again .

[Transporter]

You have to remove the cap from brake fluid reservoir to prevent the reservoir from popping out of the master cylinder or busting the seal in between and not to allow air from the fluid to escape. When you push the piston back in callipers the bubbles (trapped air) will not escape through the reservoir.
Definitely not these bubbles that are in the callipers.

The manuals are written for mechanics not for diy, that’s why they’re not as detailed as you would like it to be. It would be very frustrating, if they would write every detail or movement of the hand how to do this and that.

As for the YouTube diy videos, they usually come from places that are selling something and don’t have to be mechanics, hence some details aren’t there because their luck of knowledge and experience, like remove the reservoir cap, importance to use the right grease and where to apply it.

[Sunny43.5]

Good point Transporter , yes you have to hold your mouth right or contort yourself to get to some things . I think those of us who have survived from the early days achieve skills that the young ones of today could not handle .

[LogicprObe]

The high temp grease in the sliders will be OK until next time.
Don't waste your time pulling it apart again.
The worst that can happen is that it deteriorates the rubber dust covers.
(takes a long time)
It's the only reason you are supposed to use 'rubber grease'.