Hello all,

I'm going to attempt to change the brakes on my fiat stilo. I thought I'd attempt the front ones before the rear ones. Is there anything unusual/special to look out for?

Is it as simple as:

1 Remove wheel

2 Turn wheel to the direction of where your working

3 Remove the two 13mm bolts behind the calliper

4 Remove calliper

5 Unscrew the two bolts holding on brake disc, remove disc and put on new

6 Pop out brake pads

7 Push piston back with c-clamp and put in new pads with brake fluid cap off

8 Put calliper back on disc and attach bolt.

Are the rears as easy/similar?


Any tips on getting the rusty bolts off? I sprayed them with wd40 and gonna leave them a few days.

Thanks in advance.

To remove the discs you need to remove the caliper carrier which is secured by two large (17mm?) bolts so you'll need a breaker bar to crack them loose. Some people will say these are one time use only and the dealers charge a fiver each for new ones. I just apply blue thread lock when reinstalling.

Also, pushing the fluid back isn't the "correct" way of doing things; you're supposed to loosen the bleed nipple and drain off the old fluid but you'll probably find the bleed screw is seized up so pushing back may be the only option. The other bolts should undo fairly easily.

Edit: Before installing the new pads, clean up the metal shims between the carriers and pads, and apply copper grease. Also, pull out the caliper carrier guide pins, clean any old grease off them and apply silicone paste. You should then have completely silent brakes!

Thanks for the reply.

Is there any difference with the rear ones?

I ask because I've heard rear brakes take longer and are slightly more bothersome to change.

yes the rears are more involved you have to loosen the handbrake cable from inside the car and have a windback tool for the caliper pistons although a good set of long nose pliers to twist the piston back in whilst applying pressure is not an unheard of way of doing it

you wil then have to set the calipers up before adjusting the handbrake so it does take some time and a lot of diving in and out of the car unless you have a buddy to help you

One can get the necessary windback tools off ebay.

As pointed out , you will need to "clamp" your brake hose then unscrew the bleed nipple , as if you push the piston back to fast you could damage the seals in the master cylinder ...

Rears are a little harder but richey has covered that pritty well

Don't forget to clean up underneath the spring clips on the rear caliper hangers. The metal at these points get rusty and stop the clips opening far enough to allow retraction of the pads from the disc. You will need to scrape with a small file or large flat blade screwdriver. Not doing this will cause the pads to stick on the discs and create quite a lot of heat and wear.

Maigretnz said:

One can get the necessary windback tools off ebay.

Click to expand...

you can but you need two different threads,

Puregadgets© Universal Brake Caliper Piston Rewind Wind Back Tool Kit 22 34 Piece set: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

that is the cheapest ive ever seen - i payed about £80 for my drapers that look very similar to that set.
one side is clock wise and the other is anticlockwise - way to remember is from the top of the piston it winds towards the front of the car, so n/s would be anticlockwise and o/s would be clockwise.

this looks like same set as mine, there are a few different style sets and layouts on there for around £16 delivered.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL...562?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e93e22e12