Write-Up: OEM Front Brakes Pad & Rotor Maintenance

I do not have my shop manual with me. Is there anything special I will need to have to replace the front brake pads on my car? I used to do GM brakes on pre 90's cars. Never done brakes on a car with antilock. From the past, I remember allen head bolts holding the caliper on, needing a C- clamp to compress the cylinder.
I would love to turn the rotors, but there is not enough cash right now, so I will be sticking with emory cloth.
Should I not use the C-clamp to compress the caliper to reinstall? Is this even feasible any longer?
It is a 95 Rivi, btw. Any info, tips I need to know coming from the past to this car is appreciated.

My caliper bolts are hex-head for the '98. Might be different for '95. It's pretty easy to do: remove the two bolts, pull off the caliper, use C-clamp to compress (watch fluid reservoir for overflow), install new pads, then put back together. Just like in the old days!

Rear calipers are different. They rotate in/out, no C-clamp.

SWEET! I was expecting to hear that I needed some alient technology to remove the calipers and reinstall.
Next step after this, replace the master cylinder. Damed thing is leaking out by the booster.
BTW, Rivi's are not made to slam into a curb at a 70 degree angle at 70MPH. Some guy decided to take the same off ramp I was already on. He came within two inches of hitting my door. At least he admitted it to the police. Insurance only covered the wheel, rim and fender skirt. Parts of the tire flew up and took out my brand new serpentine belt. I did get an alignment out of it. It was not bad before, but after, the steering wheel was about 20 degrees off center with the wheels straight ahead. They were not going to do it.

No car is made for that! I think the Riv probably faired pretty well compared to something smaller. Glad to hear you're getting her back together.

Make sure that you when you use the c-clamp to compress the piston, that you go slowly. Too fast and you could damage the ABS sensor.

Are the caliper bolts also slide pins ? Do you need to remove them with the bushings, clean and lubricate these before screwing them back on ?

The caliper bolts are separate. You do not need to remove the slide pins to change the pads.

Should you clean these up so the caliper does'nt ?

Wouldn't hurt to clean and repack the slide pins, but I never have. The caliper bolts usually aren't that dirty, but I spray them off with cleaner.

i would definately lube them generously...i had one stick..an it wore my pad down a bit on one side....

be sure to use a little Loctite on those caliper bolts. FOllow label directions.

You should be able to remove a bolt and pivot the caliper to replace the pads, once you have the pads clear of the ridge they wore into the rotor. However, it's important to use the c-clamp to press the puck back in flush to the clamp, otherwise getting the new pads on is "not in your cards."

And by the way - if it was me I would not do the 'pivot the caliper' thing. I would take it off and then use a Scotchbrite pad on a mandrel, witha drill, to get the rust off hte face of the hub and out from inside the rotor hat. So the parts will line up right when reassembling. And I would clean and re-lube. If you get Delco or Raybestos pads there is a diagram in the box shows you where to lube. Not just the pins but also the sliding surfaces.

Hope this helps.

Albertj

What is repacking the slide pins ?
How do I remove these?

I think they unscrew and then slide out the back. By repack, I meant replace the grease if you decide to remove and clean the slide pins.

last time I did brakes on Eleanor (my Riv) I 'shopped' the caliper pins. Here are some quick pointers.

One - the caliper pins, inside the bracket there are bushings. It was easier for me to get them out by taking the caliper off and disconnect/capping the brake hose. When I spilt the caliper from the bracket, the pins unscrew from the bracket and pull out of the caliper. Be sure to get the little bushings out. I had to split the caliper from the bracket then use a caliper pin to re-insert and wiggle around to tease the bushings out. Then I cleaned the inside of the holes where the bushings sit. re-assembled and re-lubed.

Two - as I mentioned before be sure to clean the hub face and inside of the rotor hat. If you are using new rotos be sure to wipe them out so ther is nothing on the inside of the hat. Tolerances in current brake systems, including the Riv's, are *really* close and in my experience a misalignment of a couple mils will eventually show up to bite you.

Three - be sure to pull and clean the rubber boots too. Don't worry, they are not supposed to be real easy to remove but they come out and go in just fine once you have cleaned the crud from around them.

Four - something you might *not* want to do but I'll mention it because I think it worked really well for me. Last time I did my brakes I replaced everything except the hard lines, the brake booster, and the ABS motor. Due to time and mileage. So when I did the brake job I thought I would save time and money by getting 'loaded' calipers. In hindsight, I suspect that loaded really meant the state of the tech that re-assembles them - the brackets were wrong and much of the hardware was lousy. By lousy I mean that the caliper pins are supposed to slide. The pins on the original brackets (not sure if they are stainless or chrome) were much nicer than the yellow chromated pins in the new calipers - the 'new' pins looked (snarky comment coming --> ) like Fred Flintstone's cousin forged them in a mud brick furnace and cut the threads with a nail file. Well, not really. (end snark) But when I held the caliper and bracket and slid them I could feel them catch - that is why I disassembled and shopped a set of what should have been perfectly good reman loaded calipers from NAPA. (let's snark again!) NAPA usually has top shelf parts, I guess I got the boxes from the Monday Morning Hangover shift. (end snark) Anyway, I chucked my old pins into a drill press and polished them using mild grinding compound, then a polishing compound - then I cleaned them thoroughly - brake cleaner to wash and dry gas to rinse. And Syl-glide to lube.

A coulple 'by the way ' items. One, about those caliper pins. Be sure not to reuse bent pins. If you chuck 'em up straight in a good drill and they look straight (don't wobble) in the spinning they most likely will be fine - you can 'see' it if they are say 5 microns or more warped - they will appear to wobble in the spinning. The other 'by the way' is when I get dry gas for parts cleaning, I get the cheap stuff with no additives - it's straight alcohol. Wood alcohol, I think. You can tell if there's additives in because when you do a final rinse on a part additives will leave a haze and the cheap stuff will not. Worst that happens is on a real hot humid day the cooling of the alcohol will chill the part leaving condensation - which you wipe off with a clean, lint-free cloth like those blue disposable shop towels that cost a buck or two per roll.

A third 'by the way' nonessential item: while you have the caliper disassembled you may want to knock/wash/wirebrush the corrosion and dirt off the calipers and brackets, and paint them. Put masking tape over the obvious moving/rubber parts. And be advised that when you paint calipers you have to use a paint rated for at least 450 deg. C - basically, get the paint labeled for calipers from Advance, Carquest, or your parts store and follow the label directions -- and when you have reassembled and reinstalled the calipers you need promptly to heat them up to cure the paint. The curing process will stink. 40-50 stops from ~30 miles an hour should do it, with some paints you'll see the smoke... if you're a bachelor (or you want to be one, heh heh) you can probably put them in the oven on a sheet of foil and bake them per the paint label directions. If you have the space in your garage, think about buying a (relatively large) toaster oven at the local thrift store or discount department store for this sort of thing.

Hmmm.... parting comments... The disassembly and proper re-lubrication of the calipers and brackest is *not* optional - although I suspect many mechanics don't do it if the parts are sliding OK when they are replacing pads or what have you. If they don't slide, then one side or the other will wear more quickly. In my case I noticed my inner pads wore way too fast. Did not figure out why - the calipers seemed to slide OK - until I did the job myself and got rid of that #^*&!#@ clumpy grease. Looked like dirty snot and boogers. Sheesh. I teased my mechanic (Doug) about it and learned that in many shops taking the time to do the job up to a point that customers are not in danger is a given, but there is not necessarily a safety reason to do the job as thoroughly as I've commented on (IE to paint the calipers and brackets, or re-shop reputable re-manufactured calipers). 'Not in danger' means that if the professional mechanic finds parts are not sliding freely they get disassembled and lubed, etc., but if they are sliding OK then in reality they might or might not.

Final parting comment. I am pretty sure brakes are the most important system on a vehicle. We have fun talking about how fast we can make the cars go, and such, but frankly any car is big and inherently dangerous; the responsibility to steer and stop quickly, safely and under control is a primary requirement, I think, that enables us to accept the privilege of driving at all, not to mention the way some of us brag about driving around to score 'kills.'

Albertj

Hello,

I'm doing front and back brake pads only tomorrow and wondering what torx socket i need for fronts. The manual I got at autozone doesnt mention specifics - also I have a 6 inch C-clamp for fronts - is that big enuf?

thx

here is a write-up for the rear brakes
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/brakes-suspension-f6/write-up-replacing-rear-rotors-and-pads-lots-of-pics-t631.htm

as for the fronts, just about any clamp will work as long as you can fit it between the old pad and the back of the caliper.

i cant remmember the torx size, but it is sold as a specific "brake tool" in the misc tool section of the parts store. get the gm one.

also, there is no manual sold at autozone specific for our cars.

You probably need a bigger C-clamp for the front calipers. I use an 8 or 10", the bigger the better.

DO NOT clamp the rear calipers. The pistons turn in and out with a special tool.

"DO NOT clamp the rear calipers. The pistons turn in and out with a special tool."

Found that out the hard way. No mention of that with the shop mauals I have for the Riv

that's why we have the write-up on here!

I don't recall a Torx head on the caliper bolts, it would help if you posted the year of your car.

I think pre '97 had the torx head bolts.

car is 1996 - i still can't figure out what torx socket i need, im almost certain it is T50 but idk?

Probably a T50, but you should probably have a set of them and just trial fit.

a quick search gave me T55 size for gm calipers. i'd get that one and go from there.

thanks a lot - ill prob do them next week an let yall know which size it was