- Jan 5, 2019
- 473
- 1,029
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Had some noise from factory pads first thing in the morning or anytime the vehicle sat a few hours. Once you apply brakes at low speed gradual it would screech. I got tired of that. There was also a slight grinding noise up front every now and then under slow speeds.
So hearing how outrageous brake jobs are today in price and also not wanting just any old pads used and a premium price charged I decided to do the front myself. It was the first time I've done brakes in over 12 yrs. This is a 2021 vehicle with 53K+ miles on it.
The Raybestos EHT pads are what I went with. I did not replace the rotors because they didn't have any problems. I did give them a nice cleaning, a little scuffing with sandpaper on the outer edges (to remove the accumulated gunk) and then gave the entire inner and outer a scrub with 360 grit sand to remove any old pad material or corrosion. While some say that is not a good idea, having the rotors "turned" is also a risky thing these days. Not everybody knows how to do it correctly. There was a time when I turned my own rotors on a lathe when I was actually a mechanic but that was over 30 years ago. Can't say I trust an auto parts store to turn a rotor. You have to be very precise with it and not go crazy with the amount you take off.
The factory pads on one side part of the pad had chipped off and I assume that was what the noise was in combination with dry abutment clips and weak retaining springs.
I installed the new pads, new abutment clips, and new retaining springs. I normally use Sil-Glyde but this time I used Permatex Ultra Brake grease. The caliper pins seemed very stiff and a little sticky so I removed those, cleaned them and also inside to remove gunk. The factory stuff ha dried up. On one caliper pin I could see visible darkness and it was sort of scorched. I used some fine grit sandpaper on that portion and smoothed that rascal up. Re-installed and checked caliper pin function. It felt like it should- nice smooth travel and no binding.
This is my first time using this particular grease but I liked the green color and consistency of it. It's supposed to be good stuff but time will tell. Torqued the caliper down to 18 ft. lbs (spec is 16-23), and torqued my lug nuts to 81 ft. lbs (spec is 79-94). Bled the system and was finally done. Took her for a ride to test and immediately noticed a difference in steering (it felt free). I guess the old pads had not been releasing fully due to the weak springs and caliper pins not floating free like they should. Did a few bed-in shots and called it a night. Pedal feel is SOLID now versus spongy before.
I have learned a lot about how materials are these days and myself. #1, concrete is not a friendly surface to my body anymore. #2, factory pads even if they have plenty of material left still need to replaced if something is going on. #3, I'm not in my 30's anymore and don't enjoy something like this the way I once did. I'm really feeling the burn today(it's more like a hard beating in numerous parts of the body, LOL), and felt it mid-way through the work yesterday on this. Still, there is satisfaction in doing something yourself using parts you want to have on the vehicle. And you aren't getting ripped off, charged for something they didn't actually use. If it screws up, you can only blame yourself.
The bad news is the back still needs to be done. I have matching Raybestos EHT pads on the way along with a brake hardware kit. Hopefully it will not be as bad as the front due to the engine and all the weight in the front.
Have any of you ever used the Raybestos EHT pads? If so, how many miles did you get out of them? So far (less than 100 miles) these are doing good. Thanks for reading my mini-novel. I had to share it. Maybe someone else will read this and get an idea that will help them.
So hearing how outrageous brake jobs are today in price and also not wanting just any old pads used and a premium price charged I decided to do the front myself. It was the first time I've done brakes in over 12 yrs. This is a 2021 vehicle with 53K+ miles on it.
The Raybestos EHT pads are what I went with. I did not replace the rotors because they didn't have any problems. I did give them a nice cleaning, a little scuffing with sandpaper on the outer edges (to remove the accumulated gunk) and then gave the entire inner and outer a scrub with 360 grit sand to remove any old pad material or corrosion. While some say that is not a good idea, having the rotors "turned" is also a risky thing these days. Not everybody knows how to do it correctly. There was a time when I turned my own rotors on a lathe when I was actually a mechanic but that was over 30 years ago. Can't say I trust an auto parts store to turn a rotor. You have to be very precise with it and not go crazy with the amount you take off.
The factory pads on one side part of the pad had chipped off and I assume that was what the noise was in combination with dry abutment clips and weak retaining springs.
I installed the new pads, new abutment clips, and new retaining springs. I normally use Sil-Glyde but this time I used Permatex Ultra Brake grease. The caliper pins seemed very stiff and a little sticky so I removed those, cleaned them and also inside to remove gunk. The factory stuff ha dried up. On one caliper pin I could see visible darkness and it was sort of scorched. I used some fine grit sandpaper on that portion and smoothed that rascal up. Re-installed and checked caliper pin function. It felt like it should- nice smooth travel and no binding.
This is my first time using this particular grease but I liked the green color and consistency of it. It's supposed to be good stuff but time will tell. Torqued the caliper down to 18 ft. lbs (spec is 16-23), and torqued my lug nuts to 81 ft. lbs (spec is 79-94). Bled the system and was finally done. Took her for a ride to test and immediately noticed a difference in steering (it felt free). I guess the old pads had not been releasing fully due to the weak springs and caliper pins not floating free like they should. Did a few bed-in shots and called it a night. Pedal feel is SOLID now versus spongy before.
I have learned a lot about how materials are these days and myself. #1, concrete is not a friendly surface to my body anymore. #2, factory pads even if they have plenty of material left still need to replaced if something is going on. #3, I'm not in my 30's anymore and don't enjoy something like this the way I once did. I'm really feeling the burn today(it's more like a hard beating in numerous parts of the body, LOL), and felt it mid-way through the work yesterday on this. Still, there is satisfaction in doing something yourself using parts you want to have on the vehicle. And you aren't getting ripped off, charged for something they didn't actually use. If it screws up, you can only blame yourself.
The bad news is the back still needs to be done. I have matching Raybestos EHT pads on the way along with a brake hardware kit. Hopefully it will not be as bad as the front due to the engine and all the weight in the front.
Have any of you ever used the Raybestos EHT pads? If so, how many miles did you get out of them? So far (less than 100 miles) these are doing good. Thanks for reading my mini-novel. I had to share it. Maybe someone else will read this and get an idea that will help them.
