Looks like a piece of cake eh? Nah, really, looks like tough stuff to lots of people, but it's VERY easy.
It actually is, and if you follow these instructions, replacing the pads/rotors should take 10-15 minutes for each side. Yes, you can do your rear brakes in 1/2 an hour!! See that handbrake cable? You shall NOT be messing with it or taking up hours trying to put it back with it's Godforsaken spring, plus it is in the way of the bottom 15mm bolt. If you attempt to take it off, it will not come off. Why? Because the cable is in the way. We shall not be going that nutty route, we shall do it the east and fast way. Ready?
For regular street driving, I recommend Motorcraft pads however, for aggressive street driving with absolutely ZERO brake fade after 90+ speeds, I recommend Hawk pads. Part # HB111F.610 for the fronts, and HB183F.585 for the rears and are in the same price range as the Motorcraft pads.
1. Jack said car up.
2. Take respective wheel off
3. Take the two 13mm bolts off. They are located next to the accordion boots that house the caliper sliders. In this pic below, I have the 13mm wrench on the bolt, and I'm using a larger deep socket over the smaller wrench for leverage and to prevent discomfort from my palm.
4. Then it's onto the 2nd 13mm bolt..(Steps # 3 and #4 should take 1-2 minutes at the most).
*Note* For 99-04 COBRA IRS setup, at this point, you have to first remove the little screw that holds the handbrake cable to the rear control arm. This is located where the rear spring sits in it's perch. There is a little bracket that holds the handbrake cable to the arm...as shown in this photo below:
5. Caliper comes off very easily...just lifts up...and also moves that dreaded handbrake cable out of the way of the two 15mm bolts that you'll be heading for next. (Notice that the pads are still in place?..pretty cool huh?)
6. At this point, you can use a rear caliper screw-in tool ($5-10 at any local auto parts store), or just rent a much better kit such as this or buy one for yourself. www.Harborfreight.com sells the kit for $29-39.00
6. (a) Screw the piston in as shown:
Step # 6 takes about 2 minutes of grunting...still very easy!!
NOTE: Align the PISTON INDENTATIONS in an UP/DOWN orientation so that they line up with the little bumps on the brake pad.
7. Now, if you're replacing the rotors, grab a breaker bar, a 15mm socket and a nice large socket wrench, and take those 2 (totally exposed/unobstructed) 15mm bolts off. *Never use a torque wrench for this. Wrench shown was for illustration purpose only*
Another angle: (see? no handbrake cable in the way) Yay!
Step # 7 is necessary IF you're going to take the rotors off and either replace them with new ones, or going to take them down to your local parts store to have them resurfaced with a lathe. (takes a very fine layer off and makes them nice and flat surfaced).
8. When that process is complete, replace the bracket and resinstall the two 15mm bolts (Use some thread locker/locktite on the bolt's threads first). Then place the new pads as shown with the anti-rattle clips at both ends.
9. Slide caliper back onto the bracket are remembering to align the piston indentations with the small bumps in the middle of the inner brake pad. You can then install the two 13mm bolts back onto the sliders with the accordion boots.
(ALSO NOTE: This would be an EXCELLENT time to slide those boots off to expose the shiny sliders inside. Grease them with some high temp grease and they should be good until the next brake pad change. This prevents a very common problem of rear caliper SEIZING which is normally due to exposed sliders that have gone dry and caused the heat from the calipers to seize the little slider piston into the caliper...and prevents use of rear brakes and can be very dangerous.)
-Ken
EDIT****
If imageshack (pic hosting site) takes a crap and the pics do not show up, my buddy copied my write up and hosted it on his site:
http://newyorkmustangs.com/forums/how-to-change-your-rear-brakes-t4024.html?t=4024
Take care!
-Ken
It actually is, and if you follow these instructions, replacing the pads/rotors should take 10-15 minutes for each side. Yes, you can do your rear brakes in 1/2 an hour!! See that handbrake cable? You shall NOT be messing with it or taking up hours trying to put it back with it's Godforsaken spring, plus it is in the way of the bottom 15mm bolt. If you attempt to take it off, it will not come off. Why? Because the cable is in the way. We shall not be going that nutty route, we shall do it the east and fast way. Ready?
For regular street driving, I recommend Motorcraft pads however, for aggressive street driving with absolutely ZERO brake fade after 90+ speeds, I recommend Hawk pads. Part # HB111F.610 for the fronts, and HB183F.585 for the rears and are in the same price range as the Motorcraft pads.
1. Jack said car up.
2. Take respective wheel off
3. Take the two 13mm bolts off. They are located next to the accordion boots that house the caliper sliders. In this pic below, I have the 13mm wrench on the bolt, and I'm using a larger deep socket over the smaller wrench for leverage and to prevent discomfort from my palm.
4. Then it's onto the 2nd 13mm bolt..(Steps # 3 and #4 should take 1-2 minutes at the most).
*Note* For 99-04 COBRA IRS setup, at this point, you have to first remove the little screw that holds the handbrake cable to the rear control arm. This is located where the rear spring sits in it's perch. There is a little bracket that holds the handbrake cable to the arm...as shown in this photo below:
5. Caliper comes off very easily...just lifts up...and also moves that dreaded handbrake cable out of the way of the two 15mm bolts that you'll be heading for next. (Notice that the pads are still in place?..pretty cool huh?)
6. At this point, you can use a rear caliper screw-in tool ($5-10 at any local auto parts store), or just rent a much better kit such as this or buy one for yourself. www.Harborfreight.com sells the kit for $29-39.00
6. (a) Screw the piston in as shown:
Step # 6 takes about 2 minutes of grunting...still very easy!!
NOTE: Align the PISTON INDENTATIONS in an UP/DOWN orientation so that they line up with the little bumps on the brake pad.
7. Now, if you're replacing the rotors, grab a breaker bar, a 15mm socket and a nice large socket wrench, and take those 2 (totally exposed/unobstructed) 15mm bolts off. *Never use a torque wrench for this. Wrench shown was for illustration purpose only*
Another angle: (see? no handbrake cable in the way) Yay!
Step # 7 is necessary IF you're going to take the rotors off and either replace them with new ones, or going to take them down to your local parts store to have them resurfaced with a lathe. (takes a very fine layer off and makes them nice and flat surfaced).
8. When that process is complete, replace the bracket and resinstall the two 15mm bolts (Use some thread locker/locktite on the bolt's threads first). Then place the new pads as shown with the anti-rattle clips at both ends.
9. Slide caliper back onto the bracket are remembering to align the piston indentations with the small bumps in the middle of the inner brake pad. You can then install the two 13mm bolts back onto the sliders with the accordion boots.
(ALSO NOTE: This would be an EXCELLENT time to slide those boots off to expose the shiny sliders inside. Grease them with some high temp grease and they should be good until the next brake pad change. This prevents a very common problem of rear caliper SEIZING which is normally due to exposed sliders that have gone dry and caused the heat from the calipers to seize the little slider piston into the caliper...and prevents use of rear brakes and can be very dangerous.)
-Ken
EDIT****
If imageshack (pic hosting site) takes a crap and the pics do not show up, my buddy copied my write up and hosted it on his site:
http://newyorkmustangs.com/forums/how-to-change-your-rear-brakes-t4024.html?t=4024
Take care!
-Ken
Last edited:
