In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Larry said:
My wife took her Volvo in for a brake job which cost $700 for only the
front brakes. The pads were not worn through and the rotors were not
scored (50,000 miles)but the pads were very thin as expected. The
shop replaced the rotors rather than turning them. CAn't the rotors
on this car be turned? As a result the brake job was very expensive
and the rear brakes will need to be replaced soon. How hard is it to
replace the rear pads? Is the parking brake involved and are any
special tools necessary other than a C clamp? On my explorer it is
a piece of cake. In fact I have never replaced or turned the rotors
on that car and things have been fine even after 175,000 miles.
....Larry
An awful lot of workshops seem to have a habit of replacing the discs
(rotors) whether they need it or not. They *do* have to be replaced if they
are scored, or worn below the minimum permissible thickness, or buckled. But
a lot still get replaced unnecessarily.
Whereas they *can* be machined, it is not necessarily a whole lot cheaper
than replacing them when labour charges are taken into account.
Both front and rear pads can fairly easily be D-I-Y'd if you're reasonably
competent. In my view, the front ones are easier because the whole calliper
can be released from the hub assembly and pulled away from the disc without
disconnecting the flexible hydraulic pipe - as long as you support it
properly, and don't strain the pipe. You will need a 7mm Allen key or hex
bit (not a very common size - here in UK, at any rate) and removing and
replacing the springy bit of wire is a bit tricky - otherwise no problem.
The rears are not *too* bad - and again, you don't need to disturb the
hydraulics. You don't need to touch the parking brake, either. The rear
brakes use a combined disc and drum, the drum being for the parking brake -
with its own shoes which should never wear out - and the disc for the normal
stopping brake. Whereas the front calliper only has one piston, and slides
sideways to compensate for pad wear, the rear calliper has two pistons, and
is bolted rigidly to the hub. The pads are retained by a couple of nail-like
pins which pass through interference holes in the calliper, and clearance
holes in the pad plates. These have to be tapped out with a pin punch from
the inboard side, which can be a bit tricky - but not too bad really. With
the pins out, you can remove the springy steel pad cover, and get at the
pads. In theory, the pads should slide out. In practice, they won't come
past the outer unworn bit of the disc until they have been squeezed into the
calliper to compress the pistons. You can then wangle them out, fit the new
ones, re-fit the springy steel covers and tap the pins back in.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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