I have photos of this, but I'm not very bright and can't add them. So, in a could of easy steps, what you need to replace your front dsics and pads on a 2.4 Stilo Abarth (most others will be the same I assume)
Stuff you'll need.
12mm spanner or deep socket,
13mm spanner,
19mm socket and breaker bar
a tube of blue thread lock,
a tube of copper grease,
a big can of brake cleaner spray
a couple of clean rags that you'll be happy to throw away at the end of this.
a good jack, the one that comes with the car will do, and if you have any sense(which I don't) a set of axle stands
a digital camera
a set of new pads,
a set of new discs,
a glass of fruit squash/ cup of tea and biscuit (optional)
1) Jack up the car on one side at least. Make sure its stable. Remove the wheel. (I use a trolley jack to get it air bourne, then stick the wheel under the chassis in case the jack fails) Unscrew the top of the brake fluid reservoir so the cap is loose, put some rags around the top of the reservior incase some fluid comes out as the caliper pistons get driven back.
2) Take a good look at the layout, and ideally a digital photo in case you forget something.
3) Use a 13mm spanner or 13mm socket to remove the 2 bolts that hold the caliper to the caliper carrier. Put them somewhere safe so they can't roll away.
4) Waggel the caliper around a bit to give enough play to remove the caliper from the caliper carrier. (On the passenger side, unclip the wear indicator from the old pad where it clips to the cars wiring (behind the caliper)
5) Use some zip ties to secure the caliper to the suspension spring so the zip ties take the weight. Remove the old pads from the caliper carrier. They clip in. Bin the old pads.
6) Use a large G-Clamp and gently and slowly use it to push back the caliper piston until it is about level with the inside face of the caliper. No need to drive it right back. (Make sure the ignition key is out of the ignition so the car electronics won't be cross with you when you do this - There are some bods who say the ABS sensors will break and the world will end if you wind calipers back this way - I've been doing it this way for years on all types of cars with all types of ABS sensors and never got an error yet!)
7) Now use a long breaker bar and a 19mm socket to remove the two bolts holding the caliper carrier to the hub (behind the hub flange - these will be mega tight.) Put them somewhere safe too, you'll need them later. The caliper carrier will (should) come away easily.
8) Now remove the 2x 12mm pointy topped bolts that hold the disc on. They should be fairly tight, a deep socket or spanner is best. Be gently, they are made of Mickey Mouse Metal and will round off easily.
9) Remove the disc and bin it.
10) Clean everything near the disc mounting face, use brake cleaner and an old rag. This surface should be ultra clean.
11) Clean the caliper carefully. Get rid of any old grot (wear a mask for this.) I use a brass wire brush and lots of grot comes off (should wear safety glasses too, but I did have any to hand)
12) Carefully clean any grease or preservative oil off of the new brake disc. Pop it in place and secure using the two 12mm pointy headed bolts. Give ir another clean when its on to get rid of any grotty finger prints.
13) Bolt the caliper carrier back in place. Pop a drop of thread lock on the threads (I used blue) of the bolts before they go in. (Strictly you should replace these, but the only reason you are asked to replace them is that new ones have thread lock pre-applied) Bolt them up really tight. Try to go for as tight as you can reasonably go and have a chance of unbolting them in future.
14) Smear a little copper grease on the spring clips in the caliper carrier (its where the pads move in and out and needs a little lube to help, don't overdo it though!)
15) Pop the new pads in the caliper carrier, they should sit up against the disc nice and tight.
16) Smear a good dollop of copper grease on the back of the new pads, and on the ring of the caliper piston. You need enough to cover the mating surface between caliper and pad. It stops the pads moving about and squealing.
17) Slip the caliper back onto the caliper carrier over the new pads.
18) Pop a dollop of copper grease on the threads of the caliper to caliper carrier bolts and screw them back in. No thread lock needed here. They should be nice and tight, but spanner tight will be fine.
19) Press the brake pedal in the car gently as far as it'll go a few times to drive the piston onto the pads. USe some brake claener spray to remove any copper grease that isn't between the pads and the caliper. This just tidiest it up. Have a quick look around to make sure all is well. (On the passenger side, connect up the electrical wire to the car again and re-mount the cables on the clips provided (a good time to look at the picture on your digital camera if you've forgotten how it should go!)
20) Put the wheel back on, have a quick sit down and then repeat on the other side.
21) When both sides are done, and the wheels are on, sit in the car and stand on the brake pedal very very very hard until the vacuum from the servo if there is any left is totally exhausted.
22) Check the fluid level in the brake fluid reservoir. It may be a little higher than the max mark. If it is remove a little, a turkey baster works well for this, but it must be clean.
23) Bedding in. 2 schools of thought, first drive it gently for the first 100 or so miles, secondly find a bit of deserted road and brake moderately hard without locking the wheels up from 30 to near a halt lets call it 2mph, then 40-2, then 50-2, then 60-2, then 70-2 and then your top normal speed to 2. The drive about normally for a bit to let them cool down. They should be good to go.
24) Go back into your house, boast of your manly/womanly prowess to your partner, mummy, dog etc. Share how much money you have saved in doing it yourself, and then hop on the net to buy something of a similar value to the amount you've saved in garage labour rates as a reward/ drink beer and watch sports?!
25) remeber you didn't wash the brake grime off of your hands and you have just ruined your sofa, chair, wallpaper, duvert!
Enjoy!
PS - For those bods who are almost certainly going to now add a post about how wrong I am, how bad my method is etc etc etc, this is how I do this job. I have been doing it this way or thereabouts for 13 years and I have not as yet crashed due to something falling off, dropped a car on myself, died to death or anything else!
PPS - If you don;t think you can do this job yourself and you aren't confident, it is easy to do as long as you take your time, work in a methodical manner and especially important at this time of year give yourself enough time to do it. The full job, with tea break took me about an hour to do. I took a long time cleaning parts and looking at bushes and gaiters while I was there.
First time, assume at least 2 hours with time to stop, look and check everything and ideally do it with a friend, if you don't see the cock up coming, they should!
Thanks for reading this far
Stuff you'll need.
12mm spanner or deep socket,
13mm spanner,
19mm socket and breaker bar
a tube of blue thread lock,
a tube of copper grease,
a big can of brake cleaner spray
a couple of clean rags that you'll be happy to throw away at the end of this.
a good jack, the one that comes with the car will do, and if you have any sense(which I don't) a set of axle stands
a digital camera
a set of new pads,
a set of new discs,
a glass of fruit squash/ cup of tea and biscuit (optional)
1) Jack up the car on one side at least. Make sure its stable. Remove the wheel. (I use a trolley jack to get it air bourne, then stick the wheel under the chassis in case the jack fails) Unscrew the top of the brake fluid reservoir so the cap is loose, put some rags around the top of the reservior incase some fluid comes out as the caliper pistons get driven back.
2) Take a good look at the layout, and ideally a digital photo in case you forget something.
3) Use a 13mm spanner or 13mm socket to remove the 2 bolts that hold the caliper to the caliper carrier. Put them somewhere safe so they can't roll away.
4) Waggel the caliper around a bit to give enough play to remove the caliper from the caliper carrier. (On the passenger side, unclip the wear indicator from the old pad where it clips to the cars wiring (behind the caliper)
5) Use some zip ties to secure the caliper to the suspension spring so the zip ties take the weight. Remove the old pads from the caliper carrier. They clip in. Bin the old pads.
6) Use a large G-Clamp and gently and slowly use it to push back the caliper piston until it is about level with the inside face of the caliper. No need to drive it right back. (Make sure the ignition key is out of the ignition so the car electronics won't be cross with you when you do this - There are some bods who say the ABS sensors will break and the world will end if you wind calipers back this way - I've been doing it this way for years on all types of cars with all types of ABS sensors and never got an error yet!)
7) Now use a long breaker bar and a 19mm socket to remove the two bolts holding the caliper carrier to the hub (behind the hub flange - these will be mega tight.) Put them somewhere safe too, you'll need them later. The caliper carrier will (should) come away easily.
8) Now remove the 2x 12mm pointy topped bolts that hold the disc on. They should be fairly tight, a deep socket or spanner is best. Be gently, they are made of Mickey Mouse Metal and will round off easily.
9) Remove the disc and bin it.
10) Clean everything near the disc mounting face, use brake cleaner and an old rag. This surface should be ultra clean.
11) Clean the caliper carefully. Get rid of any old grot (wear a mask for this.) I use a brass wire brush and lots of grot comes off (should wear safety glasses too, but I did have any to hand)
12) Carefully clean any grease or preservative oil off of the new brake disc. Pop it in place and secure using the two 12mm pointy headed bolts. Give ir another clean when its on to get rid of any grotty finger prints.
13) Bolt the caliper carrier back in place. Pop a drop of thread lock on the threads (I used blue) of the bolts before they go in. (Strictly you should replace these, but the only reason you are asked to replace them is that new ones have thread lock pre-applied) Bolt them up really tight. Try to go for as tight as you can reasonably go and have a chance of unbolting them in future.
14) Smear a little copper grease on the spring clips in the caliper carrier (its where the pads move in and out and needs a little lube to help, don't overdo it though!)
15) Pop the new pads in the caliper carrier, they should sit up against the disc nice and tight.
16) Smear a good dollop of copper grease on the back of the new pads, and on the ring of the caliper piston. You need enough to cover the mating surface between caliper and pad. It stops the pads moving about and squealing.
17) Slip the caliper back onto the caliper carrier over the new pads.
18) Pop a dollop of copper grease on the threads of the caliper to caliper carrier bolts and screw them back in. No thread lock needed here. They should be nice and tight, but spanner tight will be fine.
19) Press the brake pedal in the car gently as far as it'll go a few times to drive the piston onto the pads. USe some brake claener spray to remove any copper grease that isn't between the pads and the caliper. This just tidiest it up. Have a quick look around to make sure all is well. (On the passenger side, connect up the electrical wire to the car again and re-mount the cables on the clips provided (a good time to look at the picture on your digital camera if you've forgotten how it should go!)
20) Put the wheel back on, have a quick sit down and then repeat on the other side.
21) When both sides are done, and the wheels are on, sit in the car and stand on the brake pedal very very very hard until the vacuum from the servo if there is any left is totally exhausted.
22) Check the fluid level in the brake fluid reservoir. It may be a little higher than the max mark. If it is remove a little, a turkey baster works well for this, but it must be clean.
23) Bedding in. 2 schools of thought, first drive it gently for the first 100 or so miles, secondly find a bit of deserted road and brake moderately hard without locking the wheels up from 30 to near a halt lets call it 2mph, then 40-2, then 50-2, then 60-2, then 70-2 and then your top normal speed to 2. The drive about normally for a bit to let them cool down. They should be good to go.
24) Go back into your house, boast of your manly/womanly prowess to your partner, mummy, dog etc. Share how much money you have saved in doing it yourself, and then hop on the net to buy something of a similar value to the amount you've saved in garage labour rates as a reward/ drink beer and watch sports?!
25) remeber you didn't wash the brake grime off of your hands and you have just ruined your sofa, chair, wallpaper, duvert!
Enjoy!
PS - For those bods who are almost certainly going to now add a post about how wrong I am, how bad my method is etc etc etc, this is how I do this job. I have been doing it this way or thereabouts for 13 years and I have not as yet crashed due to something falling off, dropped a car on myself, died to death or anything else!
PPS - If you don;t think you can do this job yourself and you aren't confident, it is easy to do as long as you take your time, work in a methodical manner and especially important at this time of year give yourself enough time to do it. The full job, with tea break took me about an hour to do. I took a long time cleaning parts and looking at bushes and gaiters while I was there.
First time, assume at least 2 hours with time to stop, look and check everything and ideally do it with a friend, if you don't see the cock up coming, they should!
Thanks for reading this far
