Brake Change

[blown_volvo850r]

I'm changing my front pads/rotors and rear pads tomorrow, as well as flushing the brake lines and repainting the calipers. I would normally do a search but I'm doing the whole deal, and I need some help on how to go about everything.

I only have two jack stands currently and I'm wondering if I should get another set so I can have all four wheels off. I have the duplicolor wheel paint spray cans, so I'll need to pull the calibers completely off to sand and paint them. Should I pull them off one at a time and just let the brake fluid drain into a catch can, then after painting replace them and start the process?

I'm kinda confused on compressing the caliper pistons versus bleeding the lines. As far as I know, the best way to go about it would be:

1. Put car on four jack stands and remove all four wheels.

2. Remove rotors/pads and remove calibers from brake lines one at a time, draining fluid into a catch can.

3. Sand/paint calipers.

4. Compress caliper pistons while off the car, then reattach to brake lines.

5. Install new pads and rotors.

6. Add brake fluid and bleed air out RR, LR, RF, and LF in that order.

7. Put wheels back on and be done.

I have a caliper compressor clamp, one-man brake bleeder, two quarts of brake fluid, four pads of grease, a can of brakleen, two cans of caliper paint, and someone to help me. So, do I need anything else?

If anyone's got some good advice to give me, I'd more than appreciate it. I know how to do regular pad/rotor changes and bleed the lines, but this time around I'm doing it all at once, and also removing the calipers and flushing the entire brake system. So, I'm a little lost. I've got Hawk ceramics for the front, PBR deluxes for the rear, and 302mm drilled rotors for the front.

[7 VII 7]

calipers

11

[DonutsDemise]

sounds good to me. before you start bleeding after you've put everything back on I would siphon out the old fluid from the reservoir (not too much but as much as you can without letting air into the master cylinder obviously) if it's dirty to avoid pushing more dirty fluid through the system. fill the reservoir with fresh fluid then start the bleeding process. since you have a helper it might just be easier to bleed the system the old fashioned way.

when you take the brake lines off of the calipers not to much will leak out because it will kind of be like having your thumb on the top of a straw while water is in it, only a little will drip out so just leave some drip pans or pieces of cardboard under them to catch anything that leaks out.

also, when you are flushing you might want to use the powerbleeder to flush fluid while the lines are disconnected (one at a time) to avoid pushing dirty fluid through the calipers. i'd only worry about that if the fluid is pretty dirty though.

don't get the fluid on your car's paint! i'm not sure if it will eat through the paint you use on your calipers but i'd be careful about that too.

[blown_volvo850r]

Okay, so when I take the calipers off, leave the cap on the resevoir tank to keep vacuum on the lines to keep them from leaking out too much? That makes sense. I was planning on draining all of the brake fluid from the system, then reattaching the calipers with no brake fluid. Add fluid and bleed air out from the RR (furthest from the master cylinder) until there's no air, then move to the LR, then RF, then LF. So I'd have all fresh brake fluid throughout the system. But if that's not necessary, there's no reason to bother with it. I guess a more practical thing to do would be just to remove the calipers, paint them, then install everything back in. Bleed the lines until I have clean brake fluid out of each caliper. I'll probably pick up some blue food coloring like I did last time so I know when I'm getting clean brake fluid.

[Pops Racer]

May want to replace brake lines also. if not already done. Good luck, I'm doing the same thing very soon. :D

[blown_volvo850r]

I've got SS lines on the front, and they looked like they were in very good shape.

Change went fine. The only issue I had was getting the front right caliper collapsed. I ran over a plastic bag about a month ago and it didn't come out from under the car (it melted on the brakes). A minute later my caliper was sticking, only I didn't know it was sticking at the time. Next thing I know, there's no brake pad left on the pads, it was down to the plate. It made the most awful grinding sound when I came to a stop. I ordered stuff from EST and had to wait a week or so for everything because I had my rotors cadmium plated. Getting the piston back in was not easy. I had to separate it from the bracket and pound it with a wrench to get it to break loose from being fully extended. But in all, everything went fine. The Hawk pads are so thick that on the front, they're touching the rotors even when the caliper is completely collapsed. They should wear down in a few days so they're not making contact.