Brake Caliper & Bracket Removal Procedure
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Brake Caliper & Bracket Removal Procedure
I plan to have my brake calipers and brackets powder coated while I have the car up on stands during my planned engine maintenance work after the holidays. Any recommendations on best step-by-step process to remove the calibers and brackets? This will be my first attempt at removing the brake components.
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 62
Likes: 26
From: Knoxville Tennessee
It's a fairly straightforward process.
- Disconnect the brake hose (12mm flare nut wrench)
- Remove the caliper (15mm socket)
- Remove the bracket (21mm socket)
- The flare nuts on brake lines will round in a heartbeat. Be careful with that.
- The caliper bolts torque to 23 ft-lb, and the bracket bolts to 125 ft-lb
- Do not reuse the bracket bolts
- You will need to bleed your brakes when you reinstall your calipers. The order in which you bleed the corners differs by year.
- 1997-2000: RR, LR, RF, LF
- 2001-2004: RR, LF, LR, RF
- Brake fluid tastes pretty bad. Don't get any in your mouth if you can help it.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 17,768
Likes: 3,695
From: The Sunshine State
2022 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2021 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
Finalist 2020 C7 of the Year -- Modified
2020 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C5 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
2018 C5 of Year Finalist
It's a fairly straightforward process.
- Disconnect the brake hose (12mm flare nut wrench)
- Remove the caliper (15mm socket)
- Remove the bracket (21mm socket)
- The flare nuts on brake lines will round in a heartbeat. Be careful with that.
- The caliper bolts torque to 23 ft-lb, and the bracket bolts to 125 ft-lb
- Do not reuse the bracket bolts
- You will need to bleed your brakes when you reinstall your calipers. The order in which you bleed the corners differs by year.
- 1997-2000: RR, LR, RF, LF
- 2001-2004: RR, LF, LR, RF
- Brake fluid tastes pretty bad. Don't get any in your mouth if you can help it.
Thanks. Appreciate the detailed information.
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,152
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From: South Western Ontario
The bracket mount bolts can be re-used. GM must expect their techs to be lazy or something because instead of cleaning off the locking compound and applying new compound GM says to just replace the bolts with new which have it pre-applied. I've had mine off lots of time and just bolted the brackets back up without using anything on the bolts.
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,864
Likes: 4,668
The bracket mount bolts can be re-used. GM must expect their techs to be lazy or something because instead of cleaning off the locking compound and applying new compound GM says to just replace the bolts with new which have it pre-applied. I've had mine off lots of time and just bolted the brackets back up without using anything on the bolts.
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