DIY: G35 / 350Z PAD/ROTOR replacement (non-brembo)
08-02-2004, 10:06 PM
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DIY: G35 / 350Z PAD/ROTOR replacement (non-brembo)
Hey guys,
I have a G35 coupe with 5AT. As some of you know, brakes on this car... give out very fast. Mine did at 12k. So i opted to go with non oem set up.
I went with HAWK HPS pads and STOPTECH cross-drilled rotors all around. I decided to put this DIY guide for others who might want to tackle this project on their own like i did.
This is a pretty easy job. Takes about few hours (3 hrs tops based on how fast you work)
List of tools needed:
- Breaker Bar
- Torque wrench ( something that can be set to over 100 ft. lbs 114 to be exact)
- Socket sets 12, 14, 19, 22 (deep sockets and extensions could help as well)
- PB buster (helps to loosen bolts) WD40 is ok but PB is better
- Brake Cleaner
- Wire Brush
- Anti Seeze
- Jack stands, Jack
- Rubber mallot
- OEM piston compressor kit (you can obtain it at AUTO ZONE with tool loaner program, make sure you get the Set that come in RED PLASTIC CASE)
HOW TO ON FRONTS:
**The best way i found to do this is to jack up both sides of the car at the same time.
- Loosen the lug nuts on both wheels.
- If you have a 6spd make sure to set your parking brake ON. 5AT guys is not needed.
- Jack up the car and place the stands at the jack points.
- Take off both wheels
- In order to make it easy on you, turn the wheel to the side you going to be working on, this will make it easy for you to get the the bolts on the back of the caliper bracket.
- PICTURE 1 shows what you should be looking at
- You will notice that the front wheel has 5 Studs for mounting wheel plus a 6th that a bolt. Reason that one is there is to make sure that You or anyone else doesnt rotate the tires and put the rears on the front Since they are different size.
- You can go ahead and remove the BOLT ( StopTech Front Rotors didnt come with a hole to mount the bolt to so i didnt not use it )
- Now is a good time to use PB BLASTER to soak the bolts so they can be easily removed. My car is garage kept so its a bit easier to work without PB, but for all other this is a good thing.
- If you look on the back of the caliper you will see the 2 bolts. One should be on top and one on the bottom. They are both 14mm. These bolts hold the caliper in place by screwing into caliper bracket.
- Remove the bolts and pull the caliper off the rotor/pads. You should try and hand the caliper so that it will not put any strain on the brake line. If you need more slack on the brake line, you can remove the BLACK bracket thats right above the rotor. It has 2 bolts that are both 12mm
- Remove the old pads by pulling them away from the rotor. DO NOT throw them away, you will need to take of OEM shims of each pad to put them on your new pads.
-PICTURE 2 shows the next step
- If you turned the wheel as noted in the above step, you will see that the caliper bracket is mounted with two 22mm bolts to the spindle. You should EXTRA soak them with PB blaster. These bolts are tightened to 114 ft. lbs so any extra help on loosening them up would be great.
- I found it easier to use a good size breaker bar with to take of these bolts. Figure out which way to UNSCREW them.
**remember..... Righty tighty... lefty loosey LOOKING at the bolt**
- once you have remove the 2 bolts, pull of the bracket and set it aside. There are 2 matal clips that are used to hold the brake pads in place. DO NOT take throw them away You will need them later for installing new pads.
- Spray some PB BLASTER on the rotor itself around wheel studs and the center of the rotor, this will loosen any rust/corosion thats holding the rotor from coming out.
- Rotor is not held in with anything... so you can use a RUBBER mallot to bang it from the back to loosen it.
- Once the rotor is off, you will need to take your Wire brush and clean of the area under the rotor hat from any old rust, dirt or corosion. Use brake cleaner as well after you have scrubbed it. It is important that the rotor will ount flush against the axle.
- Mount your new rotor ...**tip** take 1 lug nut and tigten it on any wheel stud, this will prevent the rotor from moving, while you remount all the parts back.
- Before Mounting the caliper bracket back on, take some ANTI Seeze and put it on the threads. This will prevent any rust or corosion setting in. Just in case you will need to do this in the future again.
- Mount the caliper bracket with two 22mm bolts. Use a Torque wrench to tighten them to 114 ft lbs
- take the SHIMS from the old brake pads off and put them on the new pads. Make sure you pu them in order and according to which side they came off.
- You should use a wire brush to clean the shims off from any rust or brake dust they might have on
- mount the new pads into the caliper bracket
- Using the PISTON COMPRESSOR from AutoZone, you will need to push the piston back in. **IMPORTANT** You will need to do 2 things. First You must open the hood and unscrew the BRAKE FLUID CAP and set it aside. When you push the piston back in, the fluid from the line will flow back. Since the cap is on, this will not allow fluid to leak back in since air is creating pressure inside the tank. DOnt worry it will not leak over the top. Step 2 AutoZone kit should come with variety of hats that corespond to the size of the piston, make sure your set has them all. You will need the biggest one.
- Once the piston is pushed back in Mount the caliper back on. YOu might need to push it back into place just in case you didnt push the piston all the way back in.
- Use ANti Seeze on the bolts that mount the caliper as well.
- Tighten the bolts. You dont need to use a torque wrench on these. As long as they are on they will not come out.
- Now you can get in the car and turn the wheel to the opposit side and start working on the other side.
DOING THE REAR:
- As before, jack up the car and place it on stands.
- DO NOT set the parking brake. Otherwise you will not be bale to take of the calipers/rotors
- Use block to put it under the front wheels. I was doing this on a flat surface, so nothing was needed and the car didnt roll.
- Take off the wheel
- You will notice similar set up on the rear as you just did on the front.
- You will see that the rear rotor has a RUBBER plug on it. Take it out and put them on your new rotors. My stoptech rotors came with a hole for this rubber plug.
- Loosen the caliper bolt that hold it in place 14 mm one at the top one at the bottom
- You will notice that the bottom bolt is blocked and can not be removed. You will need to remove the caliper bracket to take out the bolt.
- Remove pads and set them aside. Dont forget to remove Shims from the old pads and put them on the new pads. Rember to mount the correct shims on the proper pard and in proper order. Inside pads and outside pads on the rear Brakes are different.
- Use PB blaster to spray around the center of the rotor to remove rust and corosion. Then use rubber mallot to force the rotor out.
- Clean the surface with the wire brush and brake cleaner
- mount the new rotor in place and use one lug nut to hold it in place.
- mount the top bolt of the caliper bracker back on. Do not put the rear one in. You will need to insert the long bolt throught the caliper into the caliper bracket so it can clear the control arm on the bottom. Otherwise you will not be able to insert it once the caliper bracket is back on.
- once the long bolt is in, tighten the caliper bracket bolts 19mm to 114 ft lbs
- insert new pads with old shims on.
- Use the piston compressor to push the piston back in. You should still have the Brake Fluid cap off. Additional fluid will need room to come out.
- put the caliper back on and tighten the bolts. once again... tigher them finger tight. no torque wrench is needed.
YOu should now be done.
---THINGS TO RECHECK.....
Make sure all the bolts are tightened and brake lines are not twisted.
Put the cap on the Brake Fluid back on.
Get in the car and pump brakes with the car on. You should pump it about 10 times to make sure all the fluid is back in lines.
DO NOT DRIVE until you do that.
-- You will need to brake in your pads and rotors. As carefully as you can... drive to a small stretch of road and perform the steps as given to you by the pad manufacturer. Hawk lists the brake in period as noted in the picture. HOWEVER... i noticed that it may take a few more days to fully get the pads to sit in properly
--Another note.... HAWK HPS pads love to be warm. Sometimes when they are cold... they tend to slip... so before driving hard... make sure you warm them up. Do a few stops under hard braking.
I hope i help out a few people out there. Sorry for such a long post. I tried to make this DIY guide as easy as possible for newbies. Pictures are bellow to help you understand things better.
I have a G35 coupe with 5AT. As some of you know, brakes on this car... give out very fast. Mine did at 12k. So i opted to go with non oem set up.
I went with HAWK HPS pads and STOPTECH cross-drilled rotors all around. I decided to put this DIY guide for others who might want to tackle this project on their own like i did.
This is a pretty easy job. Takes about few hours (3 hrs tops based on how fast you work)
List of tools needed:
- Breaker Bar
- Torque wrench ( something that can be set to over 100 ft. lbs 114 to be exact)
- Socket sets 12, 14, 19, 22 (deep sockets and extensions could help as well)
- PB buster (helps to loosen bolts) WD40 is ok but PB is better
- Brake Cleaner
- Wire Brush
- Anti Seeze
- Jack stands, Jack
- Rubber mallot
- OEM piston compressor kit (you can obtain it at AUTO ZONE with tool loaner program, make sure you get the Set that come in RED PLASTIC CASE)
HOW TO ON FRONTS:
**The best way i found to do this is to jack up both sides of the car at the same time.
- Loosen the lug nuts on both wheels.
- If you have a 6spd make sure to set your parking brake ON. 5AT guys is not needed.
- Jack up the car and place the stands at the jack points.
- Take off both wheels
- In order to make it easy on you, turn the wheel to the side you going to be working on, this will make it easy for you to get the the bolts on the back of the caliper bracket.
- PICTURE 1 shows what you should be looking at
- You will notice that the front wheel has 5 Studs for mounting wheel plus a 6th that a bolt. Reason that one is there is to make sure that You or anyone else doesnt rotate the tires and put the rears on the front Since they are different size.
- You can go ahead and remove the BOLT ( StopTech Front Rotors didnt come with a hole to mount the bolt to so i didnt not use it )
- Now is a good time to use PB BLASTER to soak the bolts so they can be easily removed. My car is garage kept so its a bit easier to work without PB, but for all other this is a good thing.
- If you look on the back of the caliper you will see the 2 bolts. One should be on top and one on the bottom. They are both 14mm. These bolts hold the caliper in place by screwing into caliper bracket.
- Remove the bolts and pull the caliper off the rotor/pads. You should try and hand the caliper so that it will not put any strain on the brake line. If you need more slack on the brake line, you can remove the BLACK bracket thats right above the rotor. It has 2 bolts that are both 12mm
- Remove the old pads by pulling them away from the rotor. DO NOT throw them away, you will need to take of OEM shims of each pad to put them on your new pads.
-PICTURE 2 shows the next step
- If you turned the wheel as noted in the above step, you will see that the caliper bracket is mounted with two 22mm bolts to the spindle. You should EXTRA soak them with PB blaster. These bolts are tightened to 114 ft. lbs so any extra help on loosening them up would be great.
- I found it easier to use a good size breaker bar with to take of these bolts. Figure out which way to UNSCREW them.
**remember..... Righty tighty... lefty loosey LOOKING at the bolt**
- once you have remove the 2 bolts, pull of the bracket and set it aside. There are 2 matal clips that are used to hold the brake pads in place. DO NOT take throw them away You will need them later for installing new pads.
- Spray some PB BLASTER on the rotor itself around wheel studs and the center of the rotor, this will loosen any rust/corosion thats holding the rotor from coming out.
- Rotor is not held in with anything... so you can use a RUBBER mallot to bang it from the back to loosen it.
- Once the rotor is off, you will need to take your Wire brush and clean of the area under the rotor hat from any old rust, dirt or corosion. Use brake cleaner as well after you have scrubbed it. It is important that the rotor will ount flush against the axle.
- Mount your new rotor ...**tip** take 1 lug nut and tigten it on any wheel stud, this will prevent the rotor from moving, while you remount all the parts back.
- Before Mounting the caliper bracket back on, take some ANTI Seeze and put it on the threads. This will prevent any rust or corosion setting in. Just in case you will need to do this in the future again.
- Mount the caliper bracket with two 22mm bolts. Use a Torque wrench to tighten them to 114 ft lbs
- take the SHIMS from the old brake pads off and put them on the new pads. Make sure you pu them in order and according to which side they came off.
- You should use a wire brush to clean the shims off from any rust or brake dust they might have on
- mount the new pads into the caliper bracket
- Using the PISTON COMPRESSOR from AutoZone, you will need to push the piston back in. **IMPORTANT** You will need to do 2 things. First You must open the hood and unscrew the BRAKE FLUID CAP and set it aside. When you push the piston back in, the fluid from the line will flow back. Since the cap is on, this will not allow fluid to leak back in since air is creating pressure inside the tank. DOnt worry it will not leak over the top. Step 2 AutoZone kit should come with variety of hats that corespond to the size of the piston, make sure your set has them all. You will need the biggest one.
- Once the piston is pushed back in Mount the caliper back on. YOu might need to push it back into place just in case you didnt push the piston all the way back in.
- Use ANti Seeze on the bolts that mount the caliper as well.
- Tighten the bolts. You dont need to use a torque wrench on these. As long as they are on they will not come out.
- Now you can get in the car and turn the wheel to the opposit side and start working on the other side.
DOING THE REAR:
- As before, jack up the car and place it on stands.
- DO NOT set the parking brake. Otherwise you will not be bale to take of the calipers/rotors
- Use block to put it under the front wheels. I was doing this on a flat surface, so nothing was needed and the car didnt roll.
- Take off the wheel
- You will notice similar set up on the rear as you just did on the front.
- You will see that the rear rotor has a RUBBER plug on it. Take it out and put them on your new rotors. My stoptech rotors came with a hole for this rubber plug.
- Loosen the caliper bolt that hold it in place 14 mm one at the top one at the bottom
- You will notice that the bottom bolt is blocked and can not be removed. You will need to remove the caliper bracket to take out the bolt.
- Remove pads and set them aside. Dont forget to remove Shims from the old pads and put them on the new pads. Rember to mount the correct shims on the proper pard and in proper order. Inside pads and outside pads on the rear Brakes are different.
- Use PB blaster to spray around the center of the rotor to remove rust and corosion. Then use rubber mallot to force the rotor out.
- Clean the surface with the wire brush and brake cleaner
- mount the new rotor in place and use one lug nut to hold it in place.
- mount the top bolt of the caliper bracker back on. Do not put the rear one in. You will need to insert the long bolt throught the caliper into the caliper bracket so it can clear the control arm on the bottom. Otherwise you will not be able to insert it once the caliper bracket is back on.
- once the long bolt is in, tighten the caliper bracket bolts 19mm to 114 ft lbs
- insert new pads with old shims on.
- Use the piston compressor to push the piston back in. You should still have the Brake Fluid cap off. Additional fluid will need room to come out.
- put the caliper back on and tighten the bolts. once again... tigher them finger tight. no torque wrench is needed.
YOu should now be done.
---THINGS TO RECHECK.....
Make sure all the bolts are tightened and brake lines are not twisted.
Put the cap on the Brake Fluid back on.
Get in the car and pump brakes with the car on. You should pump it about 10 times to make sure all the fluid is back in lines.
DO NOT DRIVE until you do that.
-- You will need to brake in your pads and rotors. As carefully as you can... drive to a small stretch of road and perform the steps as given to you by the pad manufacturer. Hawk lists the brake in period as noted in the picture. HOWEVER... i noticed that it may take a few more days to fully get the pads to sit in properly
--Another note.... HAWK HPS pads love to be warm. Sometimes when they are cold... they tend to slip... so before driving hard... make sure you warm them up. Do a few stops under hard braking.
I hope i help out a few people out there. Sorry for such a long post. I tried to make this DIY guide as easy as possible for newbies. Pictures are bellow to help you understand things better.
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08-03-2004, 09:28 AM
#12
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K-
I'm glad you got your brakes ok... Man I did not think I could get them to you when I did. All I can say is they look pimp.
Let me know if you need anything else.
-J
I'm glad you got your brakes ok... Man I did not think I could get them to you when I did. All I can say is they look pimp.
Let me know if you need anything else.
-J
08-03-2004, 04:34 PM
#14
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Hey Jeff thanks for the help.
To others... i spoke to Jeff through PMs and AIM, he's nice guy and defenetly followed through with what he said he was going to do.
Price varies on where you live due to shipping. Ask him.
To others... i spoke to Jeff through PMs and AIM, he's nice guy and defenetly followed through with what he said he was going to do.
Price varies on where you live due to shipping. Ask him.
