Changing brake pads on WRX

[jojotherider]

Quick li'l question here. I think two people have mentioned that you only need to remove the bottom bolt and swing the caliper up. I understand that makes it easy for working with putting the pads on and not having to deal with where the caliper falls. How do you get the caliper over the rotors with the new pads? Won't they be to close together? Or is it just a matter of working the pistons while its still bolted in? I'm going to give this a go tonight. Hopefully it won't take toooo long.

Joel

[Sotbas]

No need to take the whole caliper off, just swing it up. After you put the now pads on and before you swing the caliper back down, you'll need to compress the pistons back in all the way. That will allow you to swing the caliper back down with enough room to fit over the new pads.

[AjIsDope]

No need to take the whole caliper off, just swing it up. After you put the now pads on and before you swing the caliper back down, you'll need to compress the pistons back in all the way. That will allow you to swing the caliper back down with enough room to fit over the new pads.

...and to compress the pistons in the calipers you can use a C-clamp or a brake pad compressor purchased from any place like Sears.

[earlmale]

to compress the pistons, i just used a screwdriver. it takes about 5 seconds- when you're doing it, you'll see what i'm talking about. just pry it some on both sides a couple of times with a flat head screwdriver.

[AjIsDope]

to compress the pistons, i just used a screwdriver. it takes about 5 seconds- when you're doing it, you'll see what i'm talking about. just pry it some on both sides a couple of times with a flat head screwdriver.

Sure, you could do it that way but you will damage the piston. Some caliper pistons have a slot in them where you can turn them counter-clockwise to retract them (Honda) but I dont recall Subaru having the same design.

[earlmale]

the screwdriver doesn't touch the piston- it only contacts the caliper and the brake pad. so no, you won't damage a piston. i just installed new pads last week- it worked for me. do whatever you're comfortable with.

[jojotherider]

I forgot to update y'all...

So I changed my pads two weekends ago following these instructions. They were sooper helpful. Thanks!

I only unscrewed the bottom bolt, but loosened the top one so I could swing it up. Also, I used the lug wrench to work the pistons down. Worked like a charm. I finished up in just about an hour. Not bad for a first time by myself.

Joel

[lugee]

old post, but i used to use a vice grip to depress the pistons on my old toyotas, i think it whould work the same.

[fokai]

good refresher, haven't done this in a while... is it me or are all wrx rotors rough-lookin like that?

[blarg]

mine are.

[SeattleJeremy]

This is a great post, I look forward to doing mine someday

[fsidesmith]

Going to do a pad replacement during this long 4th of July weekend.
It was briefly touched on in this forum that you can re-use the original plastic/metal plates for the pads, given that they have not been damaged from running the pads down too much. Is this also the case for the clips? I special ordered some Beck/Arnley Ceramic pads, and from what I was told, these pads were not going to come with new plates. I'm asking becuase it wouldn't surprise me if these pads are shipped w/o the clips as well.
Your collective input on ceramic pads is fully appreciated. These will be the first cermamic pads I've ever installed, hoping that they will be as strong and dust-free as they are said to be. If they aren't, I guess I'll be spending some time in a ditch somewhere in up-state VT.

[blarg]

Going to do a pad replacement during this long 4th of July weekend.
It was briefly touched on in this forum that you can re-use the original plastic/metal plates for the pads, given that they have not been damaged from running the pads down too much. Is this also the case for the clips? I special ordered some Beck/Arnley Ceramic pads, and from what I was told, these pads were not going to come with new plates. I'm asking becuase it wouldn't surprise me if these pads are shipped w/o the clips as well.
Your collective input on ceramic pads is fully appreciated. These will be the first cermamic pads I've ever installed, hoping that they will be as strong and dust-free as they are said to be. If they aren't, I guess I'll be spending some time in a ditch somewhere in up-state VT.

yeah, mine came without any clips/backing plates. The instructions said to re-use them. You just spray them down with brake cleaner, REGREASE THEM, and put them on the new pads. I think there were spacers too.

[fsidesmith]

Got my Beck/Arnleys this weekend and changed the pads up.
The Beck/Arnley ceramic pads didn't come with the caliper clips, but they do come with the plastic/metallic backing plates. I was a little surprised that they had a decal-type back adhesive. I assume Beck/Arnley's R&D guys found that an adhesive bond is a better squeak deterrent than grease. I still greased up the interface between the plastic/metallic plate and the outer stainless steel plate, as well as the backs of the caliper clips.
I was also surprised that the rear pads on the WRX have only one plate per pad by design (at least on my 2002). Even though the front calipers are larger to shoulder the majority of braking load, the rear calipers are still strong enough to really abuse the single-plates of the rear pads (my rear pad plates were slightly warped concave). FHI might want to consider revising this design if they haven't already.
Thanks for the step-by-step pace. Your photos were great, and the info on the caliper pistons was very helpful. I tried both methods, suggested by you and other Rexers in this thread, of pushing the pistons back. I personally found the loosening of the bleeder valve the easiest. Even without loosing the bleeder, the pistons are fairly easy to push back by hand with a lug wrench or small c-clamp. But without loosing the bleeder, you are prone to pushing brake fluid up into the system and overflowing DOT3 into the engine compartment and onto the floor (which I did).
After leaving a puddle of brake fluid in my garage, I started to worry about the fact that I was pushing back dirty fluid up the lines and into my system. So on the next caliper I removed the rubber plug and loosened the 8mm bleeder valve maybe a 1/4 or 1/2 turn. I found that I could push back the caliper piston much easier. You do need to be ready with a rag to catch about 1-2 shotglasses full of fluid. Once you've pushed the caliper as far as needed, be ready to tighten the bleeder valve back that 1/4 to 1/2 turn or you run the risk of getting air into the brake line. Still, the bleed-method is easier than it sounds.
After 50 miles or so, all is quiet and performing nicely. Not that they were really that bad before, but hopefully the ceramic pads keep my rims that much cleaner. Speaking of cleaner, pace's brake system was a hell of a lot cleaner and rust-free than mine was.

[rexinfx]

can someone plz go over the whole bleeding ur brakes bcuz my brakes have been squeking for a month or so but they dont squek all the time wen i break...i want to change them regardless and got performance brake pads...can anyone reiterate...oh and my pads just came w just the brake pads...is there anything i need to purchase to do this???