Tekknikal
07-05-2007, 08:34 PM
At first this was going to be a little more formal :rofl:
but instead i decided to just throw up some pics and break down what was taking place.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4480.jpg
The morning started with a drive out east. It was actually a really pretty day, so I brought along the camera to hopefully snap some pics.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4481.jpg
I knew based on pedal feel that my brake pads were starting to get low. I looked at them one night with a flashlight and confirmed it. That was a week or so ago. Today when driving I started to hear the indicator very faintly. Then I knew this would be my last drive until I swapped pads.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4482.jpg
But in the mean time, all was good so I jumped back in to go back to driving and enjoying the scenery.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4486.jpg
If you enjoy driving I encourage you to at least once, take a drive out east on a pretty morning. It's so beautiful- especially when visibility is very good.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4487.jpg
This picture is strange because it feels lifeless. No matter how hard I could try to take this shot, it really doesnt matter because it's about an experience. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it feels so good to be out there. Maybe its the seclusion, where its just me, my car, the road, and nature. Sometimes when I think about this I can hear my car as I'm rounding out this curve to south shore. It's always good...probably one of those things I'll look back on when I'm older and miss :hs:
BTW sometimes, if you go early enough and its clear enough, boats going into Hovensa will appear to float on the water. You can't live on St Croix, enjoy driving, and not see it. I heard bikers ride out here a lot. I can see why.
...
Anyawy, after driving most of St Croix and taking a break I decided I'd change my rear brake pads. My personal favorites are Axxis Ultimates. Others like Hawk HPS pads. I don't care for Hawk because although they are very light on the dust they don't feel very good. The pads don't seem to have very good initial bite and the overall feeling just seems a little lacking. To be sure, Axxis Ultimate pads dust more, but I wash my car fairly often and to me a little dust is a cheap price to pay for the feel, bite, and consistency of the Axxis pads.
So here's how you'd change pads on a Brembo equipped G35. This also applies to the 350Z with Brembos as well as the STi, Evo, and a bunch of other cars. Even if you don't have Brembos this probably applies to most fixed caliper cars, with some differences from model to model.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4491.jpg
So the first step was to jack up the car and take off the lug nuts.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4512.jpg
Then I took of my wheels, inspected them, washed them and other parts that became accessible. Please excuse soap/dirt/etc in these shots!
...
OK now we need to get the pads out. To do this, we remove the cotter pins, retaining pins, and the metal retaining clip. The only tools you'd need are a needle nose pliers, a flathead screwdriver, and a rag.
Would you believe me if I told you it's almost toolless and you can do it by hand? It's true. The tools I listed above will save your fingers though :)
I guess this is one of the benefits of a brake caliper designed for track use?
Anyway, lets take it apart.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4517.jpg
taking out pins
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4497.jpg
taking out more pins
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4499.jpg
pushing the pads away from the rotor, making it easy to pull them out.
believe it or not, this can be done by hand too. if using a tool be very gentle and slow- almost no force is needed. you just have to wait because the pistons go back real slow like lol.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4504.jpg
Here you can see the old pad vs new. You can see the pad wore to the point where the indicator starting...er...indicating. Actually it was pretty faint but I don't like driving a car on low pads because the feel just isnt the same, even though I could have gotten a little more life out of them. Although the difference is small, with a well built and setup braking system, it's noticeable.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4506.jpg
this is what the inside of the caliper looks like. its a fixed 2 piston caliper at rear, so you get this on both sides. there's nothing retaining the outer (right) pad because I've already removed the pins, so after taking this pic i just pulled it out with my hand.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4511.jpg
new pads
and that's pretty much all there was to it. its very easy and quick.
when everythings back together YOU ARENT DONE :rofl:
well i guess most people would be done, but drivers/enthusiast are not. once everything is back together, you will have no brakes at first. so you have to drive carefully. then you have to bed them in..it involves driving and braking, an important process to do correctly because it deposits a layer of pad on the rotors. do it wrong and you will mess up the distribution of pad on the rotor! maybe ill talk more about it sometime but for now that's pretty much all i'll say - if you have any questions ask :)
well i will also it's very funny to see a car bedding in brakes. everyone who sees you is like :ugh: :rofl: BUT the results are worth it, the rotors turn light blue (which is normal) and sometimes smoke ...and you know you're good to go.
on the highway, the feel was back to 100%. the power is sick, and like engine power, addictive... knowing you can lean on them at 120+mph over and over... :sick:
anyway that was my morning :rofl:
if anyone has questions feel free to ask!
that afternoon I went driving and made the mistake of hitting up the beaches out west :ugh: not sure what was going on but it felt like the whole island was out there :confused: i had to get out of there with a quickness- i hate driving around too many people :o
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4483.jpg
my favorite pic from the day :)
but instead i decided to just throw up some pics and break down what was taking place.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4480.jpg
The morning started with a drive out east. It was actually a really pretty day, so I brought along the camera to hopefully snap some pics.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4481.jpg
I knew based on pedal feel that my brake pads were starting to get low. I looked at them one night with a flashlight and confirmed it. That was a week or so ago. Today when driving I started to hear the indicator very faintly. Then I knew this would be my last drive until I swapped pads.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4482.jpg
But in the mean time, all was good so I jumped back in to go back to driving and enjoying the scenery.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4486.jpg
If you enjoy driving I encourage you to at least once, take a drive out east on a pretty morning. It's so beautiful- especially when visibility is very good.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4487.jpg
This picture is strange because it feels lifeless. No matter how hard I could try to take this shot, it really doesnt matter because it's about an experience. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it feels so good to be out there. Maybe its the seclusion, where its just me, my car, the road, and nature. Sometimes when I think about this I can hear my car as I'm rounding out this curve to south shore. It's always good...probably one of those things I'll look back on when I'm older and miss :hs:
BTW sometimes, if you go early enough and its clear enough, boats going into Hovensa will appear to float on the water. You can't live on St Croix, enjoy driving, and not see it. I heard bikers ride out here a lot. I can see why.
...
Anyawy, after driving most of St Croix and taking a break I decided I'd change my rear brake pads. My personal favorites are Axxis Ultimates. Others like Hawk HPS pads. I don't care for Hawk because although they are very light on the dust they don't feel very good. The pads don't seem to have very good initial bite and the overall feeling just seems a little lacking. To be sure, Axxis Ultimate pads dust more, but I wash my car fairly often and to me a little dust is a cheap price to pay for the feel, bite, and consistency of the Axxis pads.
So here's how you'd change pads on a Brembo equipped G35. This also applies to the 350Z with Brembos as well as the STi, Evo, and a bunch of other cars. Even if you don't have Brembos this probably applies to most fixed caliper cars, with some differences from model to model.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4491.jpg
So the first step was to jack up the car and take off the lug nuts.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4512.jpg
Then I took of my wheels, inspected them, washed them and other parts that became accessible. Please excuse soap/dirt/etc in these shots!
...
OK now we need to get the pads out. To do this, we remove the cotter pins, retaining pins, and the metal retaining clip. The only tools you'd need are a needle nose pliers, a flathead screwdriver, and a rag.
Would you believe me if I told you it's almost toolless and you can do it by hand? It's true. The tools I listed above will save your fingers though :)
I guess this is one of the benefits of a brake caliper designed for track use?
Anyway, lets take it apart.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4517.jpg
taking out pins
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4497.jpg
taking out more pins
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4499.jpg
pushing the pads away from the rotor, making it easy to pull them out.
believe it or not, this can be done by hand too. if using a tool be very gentle and slow- almost no force is needed. you just have to wait because the pistons go back real slow like lol.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4504.jpg
Here you can see the old pad vs new. You can see the pad wore to the point where the indicator starting...er...indicating. Actually it was pretty faint but I don't like driving a car on low pads because the feel just isnt the same, even though I could have gotten a little more life out of them. Although the difference is small, with a well built and setup braking system, it's noticeable.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4506.jpg
this is what the inside of the caliper looks like. its a fixed 2 piston caliper at rear, so you get this on both sides. there's nothing retaining the outer (right) pad because I've already removed the pins, so after taking this pic i just pulled it out with my hand.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4511.jpg
new pads
and that's pretty much all there was to it. its very easy and quick.
when everythings back together YOU ARENT DONE :rofl:
well i guess most people would be done, but drivers/enthusiast are not. once everything is back together, you will have no brakes at first. so you have to drive carefully. then you have to bed them in..it involves driving and braking, an important process to do correctly because it deposits a layer of pad on the rotors. do it wrong and you will mess up the distribution of pad on the rotor! maybe ill talk more about it sometime but for now that's pretty much all i'll say - if you have any questions ask :)
well i will also it's very funny to see a car bedding in brakes. everyone who sees you is like :ugh: :rofl: BUT the results are worth it, the rotors turn light blue (which is normal) and sometimes smoke ...and you know you're good to go.
on the highway, the feel was back to 100%. the power is sick, and like engine power, addictive... knowing you can lean on them at 120+mph over and over... :sick:
anyway that was my morning :rofl:
if anyone has questions feel free to ask!
that afternoon I went driving and made the mistake of hitting up the beaches out west :ugh: not sure what was going on but it felt like the whole island was out there :confused: i had to get out of there with a quickness- i hate driving around too many people :o
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/tekknikal/brakework2/IMG_4483.jpg
my favorite pic from the day :)