UberVier
03-28-2005, 08:15 PM
I followed the tech section guidelines pretty much, and as all instructions anywhere, were easier to figure out when I got done, hah!
First, the rears. Started here b/c I wanted to make sure the caliper tool I rented would work. I got it from Auto Zone for $35. It was technically a rental but he said if I never wanted to return it, fine. Sweet! If I do take it back I get 100% of what I paid. HTF is this a money making idea?
Anyway, the tool makes the job 6000 times easier. I would really not even waste your time using one of those 8 dollar cube tools, this is just soo much easier.
Getting the calipers off required some serious jiggling. The pads came right out, I hooked up my bleeder line, set the caliper tool up, loosened the bleed screw, and started cranking. I figured I could get a mini-bleed while changing pads. Worked like a charm. New pads went in easy, I used plenty of 99 cent anti-spueal, bolted everything up, fired up the car, pumped the pedal a few times (not to the floor) and it was good to go. No surprises or work-arounds.
Just one note about the rears:
The spring mechanism that keeps the pad down near the rotor is a little aggressive out of the box for these Hawk HPS. When trying to Swing the caliper back down adn bolt it up, I bent two of the spring ends. I compared them to the old pads, and the angle was much narrower on the new ones. So using my needle nose pliers I flattened out the ends of the springs a bit, to where they would be easier to get in, but still give soem force. This worked like a charm, and unless I lubed the contact points like mad, I don't think it would have worked out well.
The fronts were where I ran into more issues. The tech article says use a 7mm hex to get the caliper bolts out, then take the caliper off the carrier. Well, I had a 7mm, it was too small. I also had an 8mm, it was too big. I must have looked like an idiot trying each wrench like 10 times. Finally figured out (through AW search) you don't *have to* take the caliper off.
I undid the retaining spring, hooked up my bleeder line, undid the bleeder screw (MUCH easier to do than the rear), and simply pushed on the piston until it retracted all the way. You kind of have to coordinate how you push, but I found that pushing the lowest one all the way in quickly, then doing the upper one very slowly, does not make the lower one push back out. After tightening the bleed screw, there was tons of room to slip the old pads out and new ones back in. Plenty of anti-squeal on the pads, and they went in fine.
Two notes at this point.
1-Hawk HPS with D-shaped wear sensors are incorrectly made. The box of fronts I got had 4 sensor leads, one for each inside pad. This is incorrect. So after limited thought and some study of the pad backing to make sure I wasn't f'ing something up, I simply yanked 2 of the sensors out and threw them back in the box. #1 issue solved.
2-The outer pads are hard to maneuver if you don't know about the guides. Each outer pad is anchored by a little button that sticks out of the backing plate. It goes in a little hole hear the inside of the caliper. You can see these two holes just by looking on your car at any time. Here's the trick: there are also grooves cut into the caliper on the inside, that will guide that button right down to the hole, and line up the pad perfectly. You kind of have to look closely to see the notch, but get the button started in there, and it slide right down, so easy!
After buttoning everything up, I was very happy. Almost as easy as my E30, definitely not as bad as an 850 T5R, just to compare.
Bedding in Hawk HPS goes like this: 6-10 stops from 30-35mph, moderate pedal effort. Followed by 3-5 stops from 40-45 with more firm effort. My first few stops were scary. The pad would bite, grind, then at about 15mph it would get to temp and just snap the car to 0. If they are like this after bedding in, I'll be happy. For good measure I notched up the speed after the procedure on the box, doing a few 60-0 and a couple 80-0. I also did an ABS stop, wow. I like these pads so far, but it's very early in the game.
Lastly, my old pads. They were the stockers, had been on there for 49k miles. They were right to the wear sensor, I was surprised it hadn't come on yet. Any day now. They were chunked, smooth, and looked like a dried up mud hole (with all the cracks everywhere). Looked horrible and kind of unsafe. Maybe I'll take a pic or two sometime, but I'm beat right now.
First, the rears. Started here b/c I wanted to make sure the caliper tool I rented would work. I got it from Auto Zone for $35. It was technically a rental but he said if I never wanted to return it, fine. Sweet! If I do take it back I get 100% of what I paid. HTF is this a money making idea?
Anyway, the tool makes the job 6000 times easier. I would really not even waste your time using one of those 8 dollar cube tools, this is just soo much easier.
Getting the calipers off required some serious jiggling. The pads came right out, I hooked up my bleeder line, set the caliper tool up, loosened the bleed screw, and started cranking. I figured I could get a mini-bleed while changing pads. Worked like a charm. New pads went in easy, I used plenty of 99 cent anti-spueal, bolted everything up, fired up the car, pumped the pedal a few times (not to the floor) and it was good to go. No surprises or work-arounds.
Just one note about the rears:
The spring mechanism that keeps the pad down near the rotor is a little aggressive out of the box for these Hawk HPS. When trying to Swing the caliper back down adn bolt it up, I bent two of the spring ends. I compared them to the old pads, and the angle was much narrower on the new ones. So using my needle nose pliers I flattened out the ends of the springs a bit, to where they would be easier to get in, but still give soem force. This worked like a charm, and unless I lubed the contact points like mad, I don't think it would have worked out well.
The fronts were where I ran into more issues. The tech article says use a 7mm hex to get the caliper bolts out, then take the caliper off the carrier. Well, I had a 7mm, it was too small. I also had an 8mm, it was too big. I must have looked like an idiot trying each wrench like 10 times. Finally figured out (through AW search) you don't *have to* take the caliper off.
I undid the retaining spring, hooked up my bleeder line, undid the bleeder screw (MUCH easier to do than the rear), and simply pushed on the piston until it retracted all the way. You kind of have to coordinate how you push, but I found that pushing the lowest one all the way in quickly, then doing the upper one very slowly, does not make the lower one push back out. After tightening the bleed screw, there was tons of room to slip the old pads out and new ones back in. Plenty of anti-squeal on the pads, and they went in fine.
Two notes at this point.
1-Hawk HPS with D-shaped wear sensors are incorrectly made. The box of fronts I got had 4 sensor leads, one for each inside pad. This is incorrect. So after limited thought and some study of the pad backing to make sure I wasn't f'ing something up, I simply yanked 2 of the sensors out and threw them back in the box. #1 issue solved.
2-The outer pads are hard to maneuver if you don't know about the guides. Each outer pad is anchored by a little button that sticks out of the backing plate. It goes in a little hole hear the inside of the caliper. You can see these two holes just by looking on your car at any time. Here's the trick: there are also grooves cut into the caliper on the inside, that will guide that button right down to the hole, and line up the pad perfectly. You kind of have to look closely to see the notch, but get the button started in there, and it slide right down, so easy!
After buttoning everything up, I was very happy. Almost as easy as my E30, definitely not as bad as an 850 T5R, just to compare.
Bedding in Hawk HPS goes like this: 6-10 stops from 30-35mph, moderate pedal effort. Followed by 3-5 stops from 40-45 with more firm effort. My first few stops were scary. The pad would bite, grind, then at about 15mph it would get to temp and just snap the car to 0. If they are like this after bedding in, I'll be happy. For good measure I notched up the speed after the procedure on the box, doing a few 60-0 and a couple 80-0. I also did an ABS stop, wow. I like these pads so far, but it's very early in the game.
Lastly, my old pads. They were the stockers, had been on there for 49k miles. They were right to the wear sensor, I was surprised it hadn't come on yet. Any day now. They were chunked, smooth, and looked like a dried up mud hole (with all the cracks everywhere). Looked horrible and kind of unsafe. Maybe I'll take a pic or two sometime, but I'm beat right now.