Dave Holland

This is on a 97 if it matters. Rear pads are about gone, planning on picking up some EBC Greenstuffs. Both front & rear have stock pads and rotors, and have never been changed(yeah, I need to drive it more). Since these will stop better than stock, should I do fronts at the same time? Fronts have lots of meat on them yet. I've done rear discs on one other vehicle before, and remember it being a PITA because the parking brake had to be backed out before the piston could be compressed. Are these the same way? I did a search and didn't really find anything that specifically dealt with the parking brake. I'm under the impression the parking brake, if never adjusted before will be fine and I will not have to worry about it. True? What else should I clean & grease while I'm in there? The slides? What kind or grease?

Thanks.

-Dave

atljar

You shouldnt have to mess with the parking break. Just undo the 2 caliper bolts, and slide the caliper off the rotor. Then you can compress the piston, and install the new pads.

As for greaseing/cleaning. I really dont know what is advised, but i just cleaned up everything well with brake parts cleaner, and then greased the slide pins with some standard grease.

jeremyferguson

If your going to do all 4 at once, why not spend $6 extra and paint the calipers.....makes a huge difference, for the money.

jwade95Z

I just did all four corners on my '95. I had a heck of a time with the parking brake, getting it back on after changing the pads that is. It's just a cable hooked onto a lever on the caliper.

I really have to crank the handle up hard for it to hold now. I think it needs adjustment, but I haven't quite figured it out the adjustment procedure yet. The Haynes manual had some steps I couldn't quite follow. It appears to have a set screw that you can fine tune. I'm about to go back in and redo the axel bearing & seal in the next couple of weeks, and will try again.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has tips on parking brake adjustment.

Brettinator

same exact boat here, I changed my rears for now because the fronts were like new almost, It will not hurt just doing the rear for now. I'm planning on rotors and maybe porcelan pads. i'd like info on the setup your talking about, never heard of them.

StreamlineZ28

front and back changing are like exactly the same. took me a little over an hour to do all four.

Metlhed54

you know i changed mine not too long ago like right before winter and my parking brake was really loose at first but i heard somewhere that it autoadjusts which makes sense cause now it is tighter nad i never touched it. unless its all in my head but no for real i believe it is autoadjusting.

danner

spend the extra money and buy high temp caliper grease and grease the back of the pads and any other parts that have metal to metal contact. Take your pins out and clean them real good and check the boots for any rips or tears. grease the pins and that should keep everything nice and quit for you. It took me about two hours to do all four but i took my time and cleaned everything up nice. Dont engage the parking brake. As atljar stated, just compress the piston with a large c-clamp after you open up the bleed screw a bit and close when fully compressed. I wouldnt rush if i were you, take your time and look at everything to better understand how everthing works and fits together

Dave Holland

Brettinator,

EBC Greenstuffs can be found from here: Tire Rack

They supposedly stop pretty good & dust very little. I'll find out.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Still a litle confused about whether I'll need to do anything about the parking brake. Also never heard of having to crack open the bleeder to push the piston back in. Guess I will see once I get in there.

-Dave

shoebox

There is no reason to disassemble or mess with the parking brake at all. Replacing the pads is generally the same as the front.

Only in rare cases should you ever have to adjust the parking brake.

akrott1

I am not sure how you drive your car, but if you do any auto x-ing or road course events, you will not be happy with only upgrading the rear pads. If anything you should just upgrade the front and get cheap pads for the rear. These cars are slightly brake bias'd to the rear and some people will experience brake hop where the rear of the car will actually hop along under hard braking. If you go with a more aggressive pad on the rear and leave the front as is, you will only make this condition worse. But obviously if you do not do alot of agressive braking, you won't notice it.

I am running a Hawk HP+ up front and cheapy NAPA in the rears when I go to track events. The Hawks HP+ are unbelievable, but not recommended if you want to keep your wheels clean.

Dave Holland

Shoebox, thanks! Was hoping you would chime in. Keep reading rears are a piece of cake, but all I can remember is doing rears on my parents' Cutlass and having to muck with the parking brake to compress the piston. Have done lots of fronts and drums over the years.

AutoX. This is the kind of info I was hoping someone would offer up. I do autoX every now and then and have some hop now with just the stock pads. Looks like I should do Greenstuffs all around. The car is primarily a street car and I am not interested in changing out pads everytime I go autoX.

Thanks.

96 WS6

Honestly to just change the rear pads you can just take the top bolt out and swivel the caliper off on the bottom bolt. Pop the pads out and have the new pads lubed up and ready. Pop em in, grease up the sliders and be done.