Hi - just wondering when doing rears and trying to line up the hole for adjusting the parking pads, does it have to be in neutral for the wheel to spin freely? I forgot to tighten before putting the caliper back on...because it couldn't get it to turn...oops.

 

No. Because you have to have BOTH rears up and the opposite wheel will just spin. You just have to make sure you turn them the correct way when adjusting them which I think is forward. This is covered in the Bible I sent you. make sure you do these right cause they could fail in a way that would lock up the wheel.

 

Thanks. OK so both wheels up and move them forward to adjust... but you mean move the hub with the new rotor forward?

BTW - not sure I have "the bible" from you...

 

I sent it in a message, that link to the PDF for Body's Brake Bible. But I attached it here also. And yes, when adjusting I am pretty sure you roll it forward as if the vehicle was moving forward. Thats for loading the adjustment bits, etc. Read this thing though, it makes it all clear.

 

Thanks. Is there anything special I have to watch out for while replacing front calipers?

 

Nope. Fronts are a piece of cake compared to the rears. Rears seem a little intimidating by reading the brake bible, but once you get in there, it all makes sense. The hardest part for me has always been just trying to hold everything together while cinching that top spring across the plates of the shoes. I guess I've always bought aftermarket shoes, but the holes are barely big enough for the spring to go into and it's difficult to be precise when you're pulling with a bunch of force. That probably makes zero sense now, but it will...

The most difficult part of the front can just be knocking the rotors off the hubs if you're doing rotors. They can rust on there pretty good, but a small sledge will usually make quick work of it.

 

ok Good to hear.

I take it the banjo bolt etc. no issues..

I have never bled brakes nor flushed before. Any tips?

 

If you're flushing the brakes, just make sure to keep the reservoir filled at all times. I use a Motive brake bleeder to push fluid through from the reservoir as opposed to trying to pull it through or using a second person to pump the pedal. If you get air in the lines, it can be difficult to get out. This goes for any modern car with ABS now because tiny air bubbles can get trapped in the ABS module. There's a special function in Testbook for bleeding the brakes which flutters the ABS valves in a specific sequence in order to help dislodge those air bubbles. The GAP IID tool has that functionality as well. However, it's not something you can do on your own without a software tool of some sort.

If you're just flushing the lines with new fluid, then keep the reservoir filled all the time and you shouldn't need to worry about this as you won't be introducing air into the system. However, if you're replacing brake lines (like I just had to), then you'll have a ton of air in the lines and you'll need to run this procedure.