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Doin brakes, anything I need to know?


PCGUY112887

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96 Grand Prix, sedan. I gotta do rotors and pads, so I figure I can follow the basics of this and just ignore the larger rotor and bracket parts.

http://www.grandprix.net/upgrades/powerslot.html

 

Someone told me something about "don't forget to thread the back", something about how I just can't compress the back pistons like I will for the front. Anyone care to explain? Any other hints/help? This is my first time and I didn't plan on tryin this till the spring but a wear indicator started rubbing yesterday so it's time.

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Doing brakes on these cars is very easy to do. I think the biggest problems you may run into are that the caliper to caliper bracket bolts can sometimes be really tight, but thats nothing some PB Blaster and a breaker bar can't fix.

 

As for the rear calipers, correct. You have to compress AND turn the little thing(i really forget what it is called :oops: ) at the same time to get the pistons to compress into the calipers. Can be a pain, but once you figure it out, it's cake.

 

Oh, and although nobody does it, it's always a good idea to bleed the brakes as well. Even though your not taking your calipers off, it is still a good idea. Your actually supposed to bleed your brakes more often that what people really realize, as the brake fluid does heat up enough that gas does form in the lines.

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Those caliper bolts are always a bitch. I usually end up getting a breaker bar with a pipe on the end to make it fairly easy to get off and get em tight without too much effort.

 

Every time you do brakes, you should bleed them. Even if you didnt touch the bleeder screw. Having air in the system is not good at all, and the extra what 10 minutes and few drops of brake fluid can be worth it

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Make sure you use a proper TORX socket on those caliper bracket bolts! On my old 96 Lumina, the schmuck who had the car before me stripped out the heads of the bolts on the passenger side bracket, most likely from using a hex-head socket. I had to cut the bracket and the heads of the bolts off with a cut-off wheel in order to remove everything.

 

Be sure you put anti-sieze on the caliper bracket bolts so you can easily remove them the next time you replace your rotors :wink: ...

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Thanks for the help. Anyone have any pics of what I need to twist for the rears? And I already planned on bleeding the brakes to clean fluid just didn't mention it.

 

Thanks again.

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The pistons on the rear calipers have an "X" (best wat to describe it) shape where they contact the pads. You have to press in and turn the piston by placing a needle-nose pliers in the grooves of the X (IIRC, they thread in clockwise.)

 

A Haynes manual will point you in the right direction :wink: . Just be sure you follow the directions for the 94-96 rear brakes, as that section is considerably shorter than the section on the 88-93 rears...

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you can retna caliper spreading tool from autozone designed for rear brakes, it rotates and compresses.

 

and the 94-96 style brake piston has to be oriented a certain way once compressed, it has two detents/notches (where you grab them with the compressor or a pair ofe needle nose pliers) and they need the be oriented so an line thru them is perpendicular to the line through the caliper bolts.

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Like they said, rent the rear caliper tool from auto zone.

It looks like this:

NM5311-L.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

DO NOT TRY TO USE THIS:

pistontoolrear.jpg[/img]

You will end up breaking your hand trying to compress the piston and turn it at the same time.

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  • 3 months later...

Crap, I haven't even not had a W-body for a month, and I forget the torx bolt size for the front brake calipers. :redface: Gotta do the gf's 94 Regal sedan next weekend. Anyone know offhand?

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Hows about T60, and whats with doin this in a 5 month old post.

 

x2 and x2.

 

Seemed to be the appropriate thread to ask in, since this thread was full of tips on changing the brakes anyways.

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It's 60, found that out after 3 trips to the hardware store.

 

You'd think the package that says "TORX BITS FOR FRONT CALIPER BRACKET BOLTS, GM" would be it, but it's not :P

It had T45, 50, and 55 in it.

 

I guess since this is kicked up i'll update. Brakes went fine, took a while the bolts were fairly stuck but once I got the hang of usin a big ass breaker bar it went quicker. My slotted/drilled and full ceramic pads are still kickin ass. I did F up the ebrake cable though and it took me a while to get the spring fixed... hard to explain but it all makes since once you get in there.

 

Just make sure there is an extra car around or a friend to take you to the store if needed since I had to go a few times.

 

I also used the box tool to compress the back pistons, and yes I did just about break my hand but it worked (didn't feel like goin to autozone to get it since the box tool was right next to the Torx bit at the hardware store).

 

All in all, it was a great learning experience and totally worth it vs. payin a place to.

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Good to hear it all worked out for ya.

 

I don't plan on putting anything nice on the gf's car, as she doesn't do anything that would need the nicer brakes.

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