Well ... here's the writeup. I guess I probably should have done it last December when I did the brakes but I didn't have the time. Please, I invite anyone to add anything they deem necessary or make any corrections to errors I may have made.
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TOYOTA MR2 (SW20)
Do-It-Yourself Guide: Brakes
Required Tools: 10 mm wrench, 12 mm wrench, 14 mm wrench, 17 mm wrench, a G-clamp, ratchet handle, medium-length extension, piston rotation tool, an open container (to catch the brake fluid), 2 cans of brake cleaner.
The Rear Brakes:
If you are changing the brakes at all four corners, I prefer to start at the rears for two reasons:
1. It’s better for bleeding purposes. Start with the rear wheel on the passenger side of the car because it is furthest from the master cylinder and therefore has the longest brake line.
2. Generally, the rear brakes are more complicated than the fronts, and after you finish the rear brakes, Murphy’s Law aside, your task should be a downhill coast.
The procedure is the same for both rear brakes, right and left. I would strongly advise finishing one side before moving to the next.
Locate the brake caliper. On the lower, inner side of the caliper, you should find a 12 mm bolt. Loosen the bolt, but do not remove it completely. You will be able to tell that it is loose when you become able to move the caliper. At that point, just swing the caliper upward. It will get to a point where it props itself up, on a spring – similar to the spring-loaded hoods on some cars.
It’s probably a good idea to get the harder part out of the way as soon as possible, so with that said, get your ratchet handle, extension and piston rotation tool and connect them. Make sure that you have selected the right side of the rotation tool or you may damage, your piston, the tool, yourself or all three.
The method that was best for me was to find a good position that offered the most balance, so I could use one hand to hold the caliper, while using the other to turn the ratchet. You must use push the rotation tool/ratchet assembly while turning or you will be there all day just spinning the thing. To compress the piston, which is essentially what you are doing, you turn in a clockwise direction.
You will notice that there are notches on the brake pads. Pay attention to the way that the springs fit into these notches (they are not coil springs, they are more akin to the springs that hold the AA batteries in a remote control) because you will need to install the new pads in the same way the old ones were with respect to the springs.
Remove the inner and outer brake pads, along with their shims and shields. Be fairly mindful not to minimize your inhalation of brake dust if there is any. Also, if you happen to be doing this without taking the rotors to get cut/turned , which would be the best advised thing to do, then be careful not to touch surface of the rotor with you bare hands or greasy gloves.
At this point, you should be ready to put the new pads into their slots. Remember that placing the pads in their correct notch is important. If the pads are set in the springs, they will likely remain in place while you reattach the caliper.
Pull the caliper outwards (towards you) to make sure that it has not moved inward while you were compressing the piston. Swing it down, to go over the pads. If the caliper does not fit, then you may have to compress the piston some more. The number of turns may vary depending on how bad the brakes are worn and for that reason, I chose to refrain from giving a number of turns to sufficiently compress the piston.
When the caliper is seated over the new pads, align the 12 mm bolt with its hole and retighten it.
The next step is bleeding the line for the wheel on which you are working. It is very important that you include this step for each wheel before you try to drive the car. The results can be nerve-wracking at best, fatal at worst.
The final step is cleaning. To achieve that, apply copious amounts of brake cleaner to whole assembly, but especially the rotor. It is very important that no trace of oil or oil-based residues remain on the pads or any part of the rotor. Your skin produces sebum (its natural oil) so even if your car is spotless underneath, if you have touched the rotor with your clean, bare hand, then you have probably contaminated it. This is very important. However, don’t try to scrub the rotor and if you use a lot of the brake cleaner, then you probably don’t need to give yourself a nosebleed worrying about if there is oil left on it. Using about a half can of cleaner at each corner should be more than enough.
The Front Brakes:
The procedure is the same for both front brakes, right and left. I would strongly advise finishing one side before moving to the next.
Locate the brake caliper. There are two (2) 14 mm bolts that locate the caliper to the strut assembly. Use the 14 mm wrench to pull these bolts and remove them. Being VERY careful not to bend the brake lines in acute angles, remove the caliper by pulling it toward the rear of the car. Find something that is small, yet sturdy enough to support the weight of the caliper, but is tall enough to hold it at its normal height. (Note: The key is to minimize the amount of stress imposed on the brake lines because it is imperative that they are not broken, cut or otherwise damaged.)
You will notice that there are notches on the brake pads. Pay attention to the way that the springs fit into these notches because you will need to install the new pads in the same way the old ones were with respect to the springs.
Remove the inner and outer brake pads, along with their shims and shields. Be fairly mindful to minimize your inhalation of brake dust if there is any. Also, if you happen to be doing this without taking the rotors to get cut/turned, which would be the best advised thing to do, then be careful not to touch surface of the rotor with you bare hands or greasy gloves.
At this point, you should be ready to put the new pads into their slots. Remember that placing the pads in their correct notch is important. If the pads are set in the springs, they will likely remain in place while you prepare the caliper for reattachment.
Reattaching the caliper is a matter of using the G-clamp to compress the pistons – there are two (2) of them in each caliper. Compress them just enough to get them to clear the pads when you go to reinstall the caliper on the strut assembly. Over-compression will result in brake fluid spilling out of the master cylinder reservoir – although, fluid may spill over from there anyway.
Replace the two (2) 14 mm bolts and torque them down appropriately. If you don’t have a torque wrench, you can tighten them by hand. Just use common sense. They need to be tight, but there is not need to try to break the heads off. A quarter-turn after you have tightened it without the use of extra leverage should be just fine.
Bleed the line, and at this point, you move to the next wheel.
You should have brake fluid handy, just in case you need to add some to the system, but I wrote this with the assumption that you have been properly maintaining the braking system up to this point – in which case, you should not need to add fluid.
While bleeding your brakes, it is probably a good idea to inspect the lines for leaks, cracks or any other imperfections.
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Disclaimer
WARNING!
Understand that the brakes is the one system of your car you don’t need to learn by trial and error. It is important to get it right on your first try, so if you ever get confused or overwhelmed throughout any of this, my advice would be to:
1. Stop wherever you are
2. Have the car towed to your mechanic, or a reputable shop if you don’t have a personal mechanic, and have them complete the job for you. It’s not worth killing yourself or someone else!
3. Ask if you can watch while they work so you can learn for the next time.
This was written with the intent of primarily getting you more familiar with your car. Although you will save on labor costs, this was not the primary focus of this guide and it is important to realize that. It’s meant for the genuine car enthusiast that have little to no experience, but want to learn how to work on their cars – not people simply looking to save a buck or two.
I hope this guide is helpful. Please feel free to comment and add anything that you feel may be relevant or helpful to make it clearer for the novice enthusiast.
Forum for every generation Toyota MR2. Including the AW11 and SW20.
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