Rotors & Pads

[BB]

It's time for a brake job! '03 Turbo. 76K miles. Gonna do front and back with new rotors and pads all around.

I'm not driving autocross or anything like that so I figured I'd stay with something close to OEM rotors and upgrade to metalic pads. Maybe an upgrade one notch above OEM for the rotors would be nice. I just need good stopping power and cost is an issue.

What would you all suggest and where should I buy from?

Any special tools needed to do this job? Torque wrench? Press?
Thanks for any info!
Bill

[lakersfan1]

Plain rotors are fine. Even if you were doing autocross racing, I'd still suggest plain rotors.

You should just need a 3/8" socket set with sizes going all the way through the teens, plus something to compress the piston on the caliper back in. Alot of people use clamps, but I prefer 12" or 15" groove joint pliers like these: http://www.stanleytools.com/xhtml/li...ntPliers.pd f

For pads, metallic or semi-metallic are archaeic and crap. They chew up your rotors fastest of all pads, they're the noisiest pads, and they will throw up alot of dust onto your wheels. I'd suggest Satisfied Pro Ceramic in front and Satisfied GranSport 6 or Satisifed Pro Perform in the back. You can get them at Schucks Auto parts stores, or through TireRack.com

And why is someone named 'Bill' from Texas typing in pink??

[BB]

Thanks lakersfan1!
Okay...regular rotors...ceramic pads...a big pair of slip joint pliers. I can handle that. I'll check tirerack...if they have rotors and the pads, I can buy all from one place.

Hey...it's not pink...it's purple!

This is pink!

The Spurs play your Lakers this afternoon...we could use a win out there but Kobe might have something to say about that! He's looking like this year's MVP. The Spurs have been sputtering a little lately and now Manu is out for a while. It's gonna be tough for the Spurs today but they might surprise everyone. My fingers are crossed!
Bill

[Taggert_LOA]

make sure your socket set has an 18mm or your dead in the water. that the size needed to remove the larger caliper bolt.

[Cal Cruzer]

You can buy a caliper piston comperssor real cheap. If you use a pliers you will be pushing on one side or the other of the piston. Be sure you don't get it jammed in the bore. Make sure you have a couple cans of brake cleaner on hand. Have a torque wrench on hand and the torque specs. Have some wire on hand to hang the caliper once you get it off. You don't want to just let it hang on the brake line. When you compress the caliper, if you have added additional fluid at any time during the life of your brakes, you will have to suction that out of the master cylinder first or it will spill out.

If this is the first time you have done a brake job I would recommend that you at least have a shop manual on hand. I would try to find someone that has done it before to help for the first time. There are many small items that I can't even think of right now that are helpfull. A second set of hands too if you intend to bleed the brakes, which I recommend. Bleed the system completely with fresh fluid.

I don't mean to put you off of the job because it is a basic operation, it is just that you are messing with a system on the car that is directly related to your life expectancy.

[Taggert_LOA]

you don't need a caliper compressor, you use a c-clamp and one of the old brake pads.

[Taggert_LOA]

here is a how to write up for changing rotors and pads on the pt. PTCrew.com - Learn it or Burn it.