1. buy new rotors and pads
2. jack up your car
3. take off the wheels
4. take out the old brake pads
5. discover that the new ones are NOT THE SAME SIZE
6. realize you will need to have your roommate drive you clear across town to exchange them
7. curse curse curse
8. and the caliper mounting bolts won't come off anyway
9. it starts raining
10. curse some more


[sm=headbang.gif]

Sounds like a lot of my DIY's. Damn the AAP employees that wouldn't know a brake pad from a seat cover. [:@]

Yep, been there, done that too.

ORIGINAL: XCM828
Damn the AAP employees that wouldn't know a brake pad from a seat cover. [:@]


I didn't even say it was Advance Auto Parts, but somehow you knew :)

ORIGINAL: mxs

ORIGINAL: XCM828
Damn the AAP employees that wouldn't know a brake pad from a seat cover. [:@]


I didn't even say it was Advance Auto Parts, but somehow you knew :)


:D I had a hunch...

just got back with the correct pads, but it is still raining. Dammit, I have to drive to work tomorrow. :P

get a big umbrella. lol

Save it for another day if you can, so that you're not rushed. All kinds of things tend to happen when you're rushed.

yeah, I didn't want to rush, so I started yesterday (although I did have to take a big break for a BBQ) ... The rain has dulled to a fine mist and I ALMOST have everything apart. 6 hours left until I have to go to sleep ;) I think I can make it

If you take the old part with you when you go to the parts store you will save yourself a ton of headaches.

Well, the first time I went to the store, all the parts were still on my car, and I had to drive there because they don't stock very much at the Advance Auto Parts that's less than a mile from my apartment. So when I went back (with my roommate driving) I did have the old pads with me and they matched them up.

Anyway...

I finally got all the caliper mounting bolts off, and all the rotor retaining screws, and put the new stuff on. But then even though everything should have fit, and I did back the piston all the way back into the caliper, the caliper will not fit over the pads. It just doesn't clear, there's over 1/16" of overlap. So now I am going out of my freaking mind. I spent the whole weekend on this and basically accomplished nothing. Did they just sell me the wrong pads again? Maybe I'll just return everything to Advance, tell them to go f- themselves, and go to a different store.

I get all my stuff at AAP...never had a problem (other than incorrect directions to the junkyard) And sometimes you don't seat the pads right the first time...take everything apart and slowly redo it.

yeah, I took the pads out 3 times... I'm going to go take everything back off now, toss it in the garage, and go to sleep. Better luck tomorrow, I hope. (And in case anyone is wondering, I do have a ride to work in the morning)

ORIGINAL: mxs

yeah, I took the pads out 3 times... I'm going to go take everything back off now, toss it in the garage, and go to sleep. Better luck tomorrow, I hope. (And in case anyone is wondering, I do have a ride to work in the morning)


I'm assuming you used a C-clamp or something to depress the brakes all the way right?

ORIGINAL: Forty04

I'm assuming you used a C-clamp or something to depress the brakes all the way right?


Your assumption is correct :)

The surface of the prake pads seems pretty rough to me. Would it be safe to smooth them a little with some fine sandpaper? Maybe if I can get the imperfections out, they will hug the rotors better.

ORIGINAL: mxs

ORIGINAL: Forty04

I'm assuming you used a C-clamp or something to depress the brakes all the way right?


Your assumption is correct :)

The surface of the prake pads seems pretty rough to me. Would it be safe to smooth them a little with some fine sandpaper? Maybe if I can get the imperfections out, they will hug the rotors better.


You didnt use the new pad when you did the c-clamp thing did you? I have no idea about "resurfacing" the pads, someone else will have to take that one.

Yeah,m not sure about sanding the pads down. But something will definitely have to be done before you put them back on. If you can't sand them, then buy some new ones. I put some screwed up pads back on new rotors one time and it left "ruts" all around my new rotors. [:@]

UPDATE 8:30 PM ON MONDAY

Well I thought I was being smart, and I took my old rotors to be machined, thinking that MAYBE that would give me just enough clearance to slip the caliper back on. Damn, those things are heavy when you put them in your backpack and ride your bicycle a mile and a half to the brake shop. Guess what, they still do not fit!!!

I need to wrap this up because I am going on vacation in 2 days (I'm flying not driving) so right now I guess my choices are (1) try to sand down the new pads? or (2) put the old pads back on with the resurfaced rotors? They still have quite a bit of lining left on them so I think I could get away with it for a little while. (I googled "new rotors old pads")

I'm thinking I bit of more than I could chew with this project... *sigh*

ORIGINAL: Forty04

You didnt use the new pad when you did the c-clamp thing did you?



I used the old pad for a little bit, and then a block of wood for the rest of the way

ORIGINAL: mxs
The surface of the prake pads seems pretty rough to me. Would it be safe to smooth them a little with some fine sandpaper?


Sure, you could sand them, but then you should use something like a wire brush to rough them up again after.

But you shouldn't need to do anything to them. There's gotta be some other reason they're not going on. Do your rotors have a little edge of rust on them? If so, take a file or grinder and clean it off so the caliper will fit back on.
Are you pushing the caliper piston in far enough?

IMO, I wouldn't mess around with the pads. I would keep tryin to get the caliper on with the pads the way they are.

ORIGINAL: ngoti8tor
There's gotta be some other reason they're not going on. Do your rotors have a little edge of rust on them?

a little bit on the edge but it is not interfering at all. the rust is not any higher than the surface of the rotor.

ORIGINAL: ngoti8tor
Are you pushing the caliper piston in far enough?

yes, it is definitely in all the way.
Looks like the new pads would fit if I were to pry the metal shims off the back, but that seems like a bad idea.

Here are pictures of how far the caliper goes on, and also how much lining I have left on my old brake pads (which I cleaned up and I now intend to put back on the car, I guess)

local://upfiles/4155/8EC76885316A444BBD7352D0042D52D3.jpg

local://upfiles/4155/32F4A30D36724681ABECFE307C62BAA2.jpg

local://upfiles/4155/28A75767D8124C80B99D99E57B248635.jpg

Make sure that the pads are fully clipped into the pad retainer clips, and make sure the retainer clips are in the grooves in the caliper mounting bracket. And make sure you don't have the shims on like backwards or something stupid like that.

The shims were mounted to the new pads already, so that wasn't it. And as far as I could tell, everything was in there allllll the way. In the end it just wouldn't clear by about 1/16". If you look at the picture in my last post you can see where the caliper was just scraping the very edge of the outer pad.

I had three different people look at my old brake pads and they all said I had quite a bit of lining left. I cleaned all the crap off the back, remounted the shims, and cleaned out the inside of the calipers. Now I have the old pads on with the freshly machined old rotors. I'm about to put the wheels back on and go for a spin.

Try putting the old shims on the new pads.

Just got back from my drive, so you all can stop worrying about me now. ;) The old pads settled into the newly surfaced rotors pretty well, there were a few little grooves and ridges in the pads but once those wear out I think I will have more stopping power.

Now I can write up my DIY on "how to do a half-assed brake job in only 3 days!"


oh, and some drunk guys on the corner told me I had a nice car. Yay.

If I'm reading you correctly, and bt looking at your pics, I have a question for you.
Did you clip the new pads into the caliper and then try putting the caliper on, or were you trying to put the caliper on with the pads sitting on the rotor? Looking at your pics, it looks like you tried the 2nd way instead of the first. You have to clip em into the caliper, then install it.

I don't understand your question. As far as I can tell, the pads clip in to the bracket part of the caliper, and then the caliper comes down over top of them.

sounds right. the brakes are touching the disc, right? then you slide the caliper over them?

are you sure you didn't mess up the right and left sides? You could tell that by the position of the wear sensor...

ORIGINAL: sacicons

sounds right. the brakes are touching the disc, right? then you slide the caliper over them?


Yeah, the way you see it in the picture is also the way I reinstalled the old pads, which is the opposite of the way I uninstalled the old pads the first time.

are you sure you didn't mess up the right and left sides? You could tell that by the position of the wear sensor...

do you mean inside vs. outside, or driver side vs. passenger side?

OK, if anyone is still reading this...

I pulled into the parking lot at work this morning, and as I was braking to pull into my spot, I heard this repeating clicking kind of noise. GREAT! So on my lunch hour I drove over to the closest brake shop (the same chain that resurfaced the rotors on Monday, but a different store). They took a look at it and said they didn't hear the sound, but maybe it is chatter from not replacing the pads, but that my brakes looked fine. I drove away and the sound was still there. I did discover that it only makes the sound if I am lightly braking. If I stomp on the brakes from 40mph without downshifting, it doesn't make the sound. And the brakes are still working.

What do you guys think? Pad chatter? Something else? Me going crazy?

just drove home and it's still making the noise. It doesn't do it when I am braking in reverse. is that weird?

No it's not weird...it just means that your pads are unevenly worn and are "dipping" while you brake...

I had similar problem when I was replacing pads on 924S many years back. The pads were from NAPA. I had done many pad replacement jobs prior to this and after and never had this problem.
I think the pads were a little thicker than supposed be. No matter what I did to make more clearance the caliper did not fit over. In the end what I did was, , , you can laugh, , , I installed one new pad and one old pad on one wheel that time. A few hundreds miles or a thousand miles later I removed old-old pads and replaced with other half of new pads. The first set of new pads were worn enough that there was enough gap to install second half of new pads.
I had tested brake before I took the car on the street each time, so I was not going to hit nobody in case of an emergency. The brake performed fine every time.

honestly, as a last resort, i use the garage floor to resurface pads. it makes them pretty smooth, but not totally smooth, and takes off a fair amount of material, so you might try that.[&:] just rub it around in circles.

im pretty sure i kno what ur problem is here. When u depress ur brakes it depresses them with the worn pads. You see the black circle on this caliper? You need to compress that with the C clamp. The new pads are much thicker than the old worn ones. By compressing that, youre making more room for the new bigger pads. Thats why the new ones wont fit. Try that and let me know how it works for you.

local://upfiles/2201/A3C3C42B03A04603889B57DC009D329E.jpg

im pretty sure she did that. it said something to that effect in there.

Is the procedure different on a Civic than domestics to change the pads? I always place the pads into the caliper, then fit them over the rotor and slide the caliper into position.

there is a little bracket that the caliper bolts to, and you stick the pads in that (so they are on the disc) and then slide the caliper over them.

OK, got it. So there is a difference in replacing Honda pads versus domestic pads.

wait, is it mustangs and stuff that you are refering to as domestic? is that normal in canada? thats odd.

ORIGINAL: sacicons
wait, is it mustangs and stuff that you are refering to as domestic? is that normal in canada? thats odd.


Yes, Fords, GMs, Chryslers.......
It's easy to remove the caliper and the brake pads come clipped in the caliper. Then simply unclip the pads from the caliper, replace with new pads, squeeze the piston in with a C-clamp, then slide the new pads (that are already in the caliper) onto the rotor. You get more space between the pads this way.

On the Mustang the inner pad has 3 fingers that slip into the caliper piston cavity prior to install on the rotor. The bad thing about the Mustang is the Torx bolts holding the caliper on. Your first brake change, from the factory built car, your gonna bust a few bits. It seems they thought it was a great idea to use Locktite to hold the caliper locating pins in place. A lil bit of anti-seize and I've never had a problem since.

ORIGINAL: sacicons

im pretty sure she did that. it said something to that effect in there.


im pretty sure she jsut depressed the brakes before she took the caliper off. When u take the caliper off the new pads wont fit because its depresed to the level of the worn pads, maybe ur right sacs.....but im sure shed be happy with an easy fix.

I think they would fit on if the pads were clipped into the caliper before installing anything onto the rotor.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I was out of town for the weekend & just got back.

Pcupo, I swear I really did push the piston back in all the way. At first I did do it with the old pads on, but then once I had it all apart I put the clamp right on the edge of the piston and pushed it in so it was flush with the body of the caliper.

Sacicons, I hadn't considered the garage floor! ;) My friend told me I should be able to just take the pads to a belt sander and get them 1/16" thinner. That ought to fix it. I might wait a while though.


p.s. thanks to whoever moved this thread here. :)

ORIGINAL: pcupo12


ORIGINAL: sacicons

im pretty sure she did that. it said something to that effect in there.


im pretty sure she jsut depressed the brakes before she took the caliper off. When u take the caliper off the new pads wont fit because its depresed to the level of the worn pads, maybe ur right sacs.....but im sure shed be happy with an easy fix.


When trying to help someone out, it's always nice to read what they have to say.

ORIGINAL: mxs
and I did back the piston all the way back into the caliper

This is some funny stuff guys...I have been going through the same things the past4 weeks. If i could take those two weeks back i would have just taken the car to a shop and have them do it. Listen to this story...

Ok...stupid ole me was taking a curve at 60 and curbed my right front side. Got out of the car and found out my whole right front rotor and caliper shattered. After 4 days of sitting and 2 tickets i finally pushed the hatch into my driveway which first had to go up a very steep hill with a flat tire and a dead battery. I finally got the car jacked up and took apart the brake system (Caliper, rotor, brake lines etc.) A couple days later i went to the part store (AAP) and ordered a new rotor and caliper because they didnt have it in stock. The parts finally arrived after 4 days so i went to pick them up. Everything was going good until i arrived home and my car was GONE. I thought at first it was stolen but then i came to my senses and realized there was no possible way that someone would have taken the time to take the car off the jack and put the car back together again. Plus my fuel cutoff switch was on so i pretty much ruled that out. I called my apartment manager and he told me he had it towed because it was illegally parked and was endangering the kids because it was on jacks. So i payed 120 dollars to get the car out of the impound. Keep in mind the car was not in drivable condition. The manager must have had someone take it off the jack put the tire on with no rotor or caliper and had it towed. They also threw all my nuts and bold and tools into my car that ended up under my seat and all over the place. So i get to the impound right before they close and they tow the car around and say have it off our property before the night ends or we will have to put it right back in and charge you another 120 plus 30/day for storage. I brought the new parts i had purchased and planned on putting them on so i could drive it home. But my plan didnt work out because i ordered a rotor and caliper for EG hatch but i was unaware that the hatch had a brake conversion for a 95 GSR. Thank you previous seller for telling me this. So i had to throw what was left of the old caliper and rotor back on. I get that make my way to the nearest gas station to fill up the flat tire. It gets about halfway filled up and literally blows up. LOUD AS HELL by the way. So after about 37 people got their stare out of the way i had to call a towing service (The place that towed the hatch from my apartment) to tow it back to my house. It now sits in the garage still caliper and rotorless because AAP cannot get the parts right. I have been there at least 4 times this week alone. I ordered a caliper for a 95 gsr and they didnt tell me it was an unloaded caliper so i had to buy pads and a bracket for it. That order was screwed up twice and it still sits in my garage. I did buy new tires which went good, no problems. What a month...spent way too much money on pointless stuff that could have been avoided. A lot of mistakes on my part as well as the incompitant employees at AAP. Next time its going to the shop.

My front brake pads dont fit period. i think my calipers are screwed up cause the thickness of new pads doesnt allow that damn caliper bolt to line up. I'll be trying again tommorow[:@]

Where are all the Zombies? cause this is one major thread from the dead...