Bill Dearborn

If you can get the pad pin bolts out it would be a good time to put some anitsieze on the them. I checked my brakes the first time I took the car to the track. All of the pins came out nicely. After the first track day I checked them again to see how the pads had worn. When I tried to get the pad pins out they were frozen into the calipers. Since then I have tried to get them out several times and haven't been able to. The last time I broke my Torx bit off in a bolt and can't get it out of the bolt head.

Bill

BEZ06

Excellent post!!

You say "pry the caliper off", but I prefer to pull the pads off the rotor slightly so it just basically falls off when you remove the 2 large bolts that hold it on.

You can use a screwdriver to push the pads back slightly, or I use a ratchet clamp. You can see that the clamp can grab ahold of the little tabs on the padlets to pull them back and compress the piston slightly so the caliper will slide right off the rotor:




I also use the same clamp to compress the pistons down into the caliper before placing the new padlets into the caliper:




Bob

VETFEVER

Bump

vetfever

goatts

Great write up.

rsmith1944

This DIY needs to include removal of allen bolts that are stubborn to come out. I think mine would self destruct the bolt head before they would come out. I have wondered if heating caliper would loosen them maybe with a propane torch? Anybody ????

blackvetterzo6

Good write up i just remove a couple guide pins and remove the pads that way.They can be tough to get out,but when out I put a little antiseize on them, and there good to go.

SpeedshifterZ06

I'm at about 7,000miles with no track time. About what amout of miles should i expect on average to get out of the factory pads?

Squishy

I got about 24000 miles before the front pads started screeching that indicator.

Your driving habits will dictate how soon they get replaced. Go to alot of autox or HPDE, and they could get worn much faster. Some replace it much sooner to just get rid of the OEM pads that leave alot of dust.

A good thing to add is that some people will probably want to clean out the pad dust accumulated in the calipers (brake kleen or similar sort of spray). I also bled my brake fluid at the same time. Would probably be nice to link a brake fluid flush with this.

QwikC

They tend to seize up if installed without anti-seize compound.

Take advantage of the higher temperature expansion coefficient of aluminum (female thread) vs. steel (male thread).

If you use your car on the track, immediately after a session jack the car up and remove the pins easily because the aluminum caliper thread has expanded more than the steel pin.

The hotter the caliper gets, the easier it will be to remove the pins. Cold is your enemy in this operation.

Reinstall using a good high-temp anti-seize compound.

Frank Gonzalez †

Amol

Do you have to undo the battery to put the new pads? Also, is there a link on how to change the brake lines to stainless steel? Thanks

C6-Z51-LS2

Hey guys,

I just did a complete Z06 brake conversion with the hawk performacne ceramics... as soon as I took it down the road for a test drive, I heard that metal to metal scraping sound. So I came back to the shop and the mechanic and I noticed that two out of the four rotors were slightly scratched. What do you guys think could have possibly caused that? What should I look for when troubleshooting? Thanks for all your help in advance

C6-Z51-LS2

Actually, here is a pic I found of another members car with the same exact location where the scratch has occurred on the rotor, take a look:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...mal-pic-3.html

Carnac

I can't see the picture that you posted (blocked where I'm at), but if it is on the face of the rotor, check that one or more padlets isn't turned face out (it can happen - I never drove off with one turned around, but I did start re-assembly and found that I had it in wrong).

Also if the tab on the metal part of the padlet (not the wear indicator found on one pad per caliper (OEM only)) is placed down in the caliper, you can get pads to hang and cause a problem.

Cheers - Jim

C6-Z51-LS2

Ok, here are some pictures from yesterday... Just to keep everyone updated, the tech basically put the car back up on the lift, re-inspected everything. We took all the padlets out off of all four calipers. We noticed that the padlets that were placed on the front side of the calipers had the same exact groove or scratch pattern as the one on the rotor. In other words, the padlets that were facing the back side of the calipers didnt have the groove embedded into them. So we decided to take the padlets with the groove pattern in them and swapped them to the backside of the caliper and took the "good" padlets and placed them to the frontside. We retorqued, etc... We took it back on the road and the SAME THING!!!

To further clarify the symptoms during the road test, here is what we noticed... From the beginning as soon as you start driving, you hear a very minor grinding sound, kinda normal in the sense that they make be breaking themselves in... BUT, once you apply the breaks, its all hell..lol- its a screeching sound thats almost unbearable to your ears... I mean, when we applied the brakes, THE CAR STOPPED. It has amazing braking power. One other note; when we leaned into a turn at about 5mph, w/o foot on the brake, the same screeching sound came up again as if metal to metal made contact again somehow.. After, we came back to the shop, we inspected "the damage" and it was the same as before.. The groove or the scratch in the rotor was a little deeper this time but in the same location. The service shop was as boggled as I was.. these guys work on lambos, ferraris, vettes, vipers, you name it- Very experienced but couldnt explain why brand new Z06/GS OEM Rotors, calipers and Hawk performance Ceramics could be doing this.. They even contacted some people more experienced with vettes and they asked them certain questions as they were troubleshooting step by step and still remained stumped.

Oh one other thing, we also inspected the brake guide pins to make sure there wasnt any contact between them and the surface of the rotor and that was clear. They were not making contact at all because we inspected them for damage and scratches....

Some possibilities that came up were; The possibility that the Hawk pads are a defective batch? (Hard spots in the pads, etc...) So this is where we stand and I have no clue what to do...

AFVETTE

A buddy and I replaced my OEM pads with some HAWK Ceramic (street) pads last month and your tutorial mirrored our process EXACTLY. We went a step further and used a power bleeder to change the OEM DOT3 brake fluid with some fresh SuperBlue DOT4 Racing fluid.

Great write up and thanks for taking the time to remind folks how easy it is to change the Z's brake pads.

Tom

sammyv

It sure looks like a pin is rubbing? I see you have the after market pins. Did you run them prior to the pad change? I realize you said have clearance there, but I would take another look. Maybe the caliper is flexing under pressure. I read a thread somewhere on here last year about the same issue. Just curious, I have a new set of pins ready to go on.

Dirty Howie

That was probably me.

If the pins are rubbing you may not be able to see it by lookin at the pins. Have them check the actual pin clearance with the caliper/pads/rotor installed ...........


DH

C6-Z51-LS2

I feel like its the pins too... We will take a close look at all of them hopefully later today as we disassemble everything for another reinspection- and no, I havent run these pins prior to the pad change...

C6-Z51-LS2

K, I will check that out later today and report back. Would you happen to know or have a pic of how much clearance there should be from the end of the pin to the rotor's surface? thanks....

drmrman

If it was defective pads then the problem would have moved to the inboard side of the caliper... Sounds AND looks like your guide pins are touching the rotor... I know you said that none of them are worn but to me it looks like something is missaligned whether it is debris behind the rotor or the caliper isnt mounted properly.

Also are those guide pins factory? I didnt know GM changed the design to standard style 6 point bolts.