I just got new brake pads for my front Akebonos and will tackle this job myself. The pads I got are the Posi Quiet Ceramic pads. It came with some type of kit with backing plates. Should I use this? Also should I put grease on the back of the pads even though they are shimmed? Thanks in advance for your guys help!

 

Yes use a thin film of grease between the shim and backing plate and a slightly thicker film between the shim and piston contact area, also on the pins. Anywhere metal on metal moving contact occurs.
Those are one of the few pad kits that also come w/ the hardware kit, would be nice if they all came that way as it seems there's always at least one part that gets messed up during a brake job.
If you've never changed your fluid I'd do a complete fluid flush while you're at it, a quart of full synthetic dot 3-4 will work well. I've had good results w/ Valvoline full synth.
The bleeding sequence is
passenger rear, driver front, driver rear then lastly passenger front.

 

Stupid me thinking it was for the actual back of the pads and only found out after I took off the wheel lol.

Anyhoo ... thanks for the info blnewt. That helped. I changed the brakes and rotors today, but didn't change the brake fluid as I didn't feel too comfortable doing it. Is it absolutely necessary to change it and how difficult is it to bleed the brakes? I'm just worried that I wouldn't get the air out all the way and possibly ruin my brakes.

 

^^Get a motive power bleeder. Makes the process a simple one man job.

 

Thanks Jsolo...just was doing searches and found some videos. Looks simple enough and I might tackle this.

 

What are you guys using to push your caliper pistons back in?

 

I used this to spread the brake pistons:

Brake_Piston_Spreader

 

I tried to use this but noticed that it wouldn't fit in the Akebono since it's 4 piston, so I just pushed the pistons back by putting a cloth over the caliper to prevent damage and squeezing the old brake pads with a good size pliers. Had to do it a few times, because when I pushed one side of the brake pads, the other pistons would pop out a bit. If that didn't work, I would've used a C clamp.

Note: Actually now that I think about, it's the first time I used that tool so maybe I didn't know how to use it ... but pliers worked just as good lol.

 

Haven't done it on this car. On my old car that was single piston I used a C clamp or a cheap spreader tool from Harbor Freight that looks like this:

 

TakaBlackG35, did you run into any issues when changing your brakes? Any tips that would be helpful for a first timer doing Akebono brakes?

I was watching this video for the rear and at about 9:45 in, he is releasing the brakes through the hole on the rotor...is there a reason why he didn't just release the parking brakes inside the car?


Also as far as brake bleeding goes, has anyone used this method before (6:40 into the video)?


Would anything "bad" result from bleeding brakes this method?

Finally, the caliper piston tool that was used in the first video is in case anyone is interested.

Thanks!!

 

I imagine to get more clearance between the brake shoes and the rotor hat. It's quite possible a lip has developed inside. You won't be able to remove the rotor unless the shoes are retracted.

For bleeding, motive powerbleeder.

 

Slade...sorry I just did the fronts so couldn't really comment on the rears. It would make sense to just disengage the parking brake to me, but unsure if there is added pressure on the caliper even with it released.

I watched this video to possibly follow when I try to bleed my brakes

 

Would this brake fluid be ok?

 

This stuff has much better specifications - http://www.pentosin.net/specsheets/P...SuperDot_4.pdf .

Dry boiling point is that of new brake fluid, wet boiling point is after the fluid has absorbed 3.7% water content.

You're also going to need more than a 12oz bottle for a complete fluid refresh. Last time I did mine I bought 2 quarts. I think 1 1/2 would of been sufficient.

 

Thanks Jsolo. I just decided to get this instead since it was around the same price as the Pentosin