Dav1d
Totally Hooked
- Dec 18, 2021
- 492
- 734
- 93
New rear discs as the old ones were fecked, to put it lightly (car had sat for a week in the rain so the below makes it look a lot worse, but the corrosion had set in). I wish I was as mechanical as some on here and not on the same scale at all but good to do by yourself.
Hadn’t done this before but isn’t much different to just changing the pads, which I’d done for the fronts before. It’s the little bits that get you though eg one of the pad carriers had nicely cold welded to the caliper and just would not budge. Cue much brake cleaner and degreaser plus a rubber mallet (luckily all braking surfaces were being replaced so could be a little more liberal) and an hour later it was finally out with lots of nice new chips in the caliper paint to match.
Similarly, you only learn from experience that the cog for handbrake adjustment needs the entry hole to be at about 6 o’clock to access it, then you wonder why the hub won’t spin and it’s because you’ve left the car in reverse and with the hand brake partly still on. After 20 mins of diagnosing and sorting that, you realise that you readjusted the tension with the handbrake still off (but thanks to Foxspeed for a guide from 4 odd years ago here). Luckily the wheel hadn’t been fitted yet when I noticed.
Anyway, probably a couple hundred quid on labour saved for an easyish job, and I made sure to grease the pins and sliders for next time round. Sure it’ll be easier now I’ve done it once before. Apart from oil changes and spark plugs, not really sure what else you could do wear and tear wise by yourself, but need that all important stamp in the book so it’ll still go for proper servicing
. It’s a little disheartening to see how grimy everything gets as the years tick by, but without proper ramps, tricky to do a deep clean too.
Hadn’t done this before but isn’t much different to just changing the pads, which I’d done for the fronts before. It’s the little bits that get you though eg one of the pad carriers had nicely cold welded to the caliper and just would not budge. Cue much brake cleaner and degreaser plus a rubber mallet (luckily all braking surfaces were being replaced so could be a little more liberal) and an hour later it was finally out with lots of nice new chips in the caliper paint to match.
Similarly, you only learn from experience that the cog for handbrake adjustment needs the entry hole to be at about 6 o’clock to access it, then you wonder why the hub won’t spin and it’s because you’ve left the car in reverse and with the hand brake partly still on. After 20 mins of diagnosing and sorting that, you realise that you readjusted the tension with the handbrake still off (but thanks to Foxspeed for a guide from 4 odd years ago here). Luckily the wheel hadn’t been fitted yet when I noticed.
Anyway, probably a couple hundred quid on labour saved for an easyish job, and I made sure to grease the pins and sliders for next time round. Sure it’ll be easier now I’ve done it once before. Apart from oil changes and spark plugs, not really sure what else you could do wear and tear wise by yourself, but need that all important stamp in the book so it’ll still go for proper servicing
. It’s a little disheartening to see how grimy everything gets as the years tick by, but without proper ramps, tricky to do a deep clean too. 
Finally tire temps widget stays after restarting the car.
