grenik

It was a busy weekend for DIY projects on the Corvette. I previously posted a DIY project for the steering wheel trim and gauge trim rings. The next day, I replaced the brake pads with ceramics (not for performance, just to eliminate brake dust). We also painted the calipers.

I had never replaced the brake pads, but figured I would give it a try. Since I am a novice, I thought I would try to put together a post that might give other novices the confidence to try.

DIY Brake Pad Replacement:

First, we are not going to be disconnecting any brake lines or have to deal with any fluids. I would love to see some detailed pics of that process, but this is not it. This is just the pads.

We jacked up the car as described in many posts here. We experienced the same issues as most everyone that tries to jack their car for the first time; the floor jack does not fit under the front of the car well. As described in other posts, we pulled up on some wood and were able to get the jack under the car.

I purchased BMW pucks for my 3 ton aluminum jack stands. Jacked the car up (font and back) and got it on the stands. This site seemed great for jacking the car, but I think there are some other posts that are good as well.

http://81x.com/bugman/c6

We took off all the wheels. Loosened the lug nuts before jacking the car.

Here is the rotor and caliper for the front drivers side.



Find the bolt at the top and back of the caliper. You will remove this bolt, but you need to use a backup wrench on the part just in front of that bolt. The bolt is 5/8 that you have to remove. The bolt that you put the backup on is larger (I used an adjustable wrench, so I am not sure the exact size). I labeled the bolts in the pictures below.

This picture is with my head in the wheel well looking almost straight down the back of the caliper. The white/tan marbled surface in the background is the floor, not the ceiling.



This picture is with the camera back behind the wheel and taking the picture toward where I am sitting. Basically taken from the middle of the car looking left. What appears to be up in this picture is actually up.



Remove the bolt shown above by keeping a backup wrench where shown and turning against it. Do not remove any lines, hoses, etc.

With the bolt removed, push the grey caliper (the part that says Corvette on it) to the right and it should pivot downwards. It will swing down until it reaches the limit of the hose it is connected to. Since I did not like putting a lot of pressure on this hose (and I did not plan to replace it), I tied it up.



This keeps the part out of the way, but does not put stress on the hose.

If the caliper does not just swing out of the way, you can use a C-clamp to pinch the pads from both sides and compress them against the wheel. I had no problems with the fronts, I had problems with one of the back ones.

Now, the pads will just pull out perpendicular to the rotor. Mine popped right out, but I only had a few thousand miles on them.



Note which piece comes from the front and which from the back. They are not identical.

There is a “clip” that holds the pads at the top and the bottom. There have been posts about the need to replace these clips. My understanding is that the OEM says to. I had new ceramic break pads and they came with the clips, so I replaced them.

The top and bottoms clips are shown:





Clips have been removed:



Put your new clips in where you removed the old ones. The top and bottom were identical, so no getting them messed up. It took some playing with them to get them to snap into place.

Put your new pads into place in the front and the back. Swing the caliper back up and into position. Mine passed by the new pads without a problem.

The back are basically the same, except the shape is a little different.



Also, the hose does not allow much room to move the caliper out of the way. I was forced to put a little more stress on the hose and did not tie it up like I did the back one.

Removal and installation was the same. My only problem was on the back passenger side. When I was swinging down the caliper, the round silver cylinder would not pass by a small, metal projection on the back of the pad. I ended up using a regular screw driver as a wedge and pushed a little on the cylinder to move it back enough to let it pass by. I had to do this to remove and install. I did not have to put a lot of force on it, but it took some pushing.

If all you are doing is replacing the pads, you are done. Just reinstall the wheels.

We chose to paint the calipers. We masked off what we did not want painted and used a high temperature paint.



The first three coats were silver metallic (not very metallic) and then three coats of bright blue.

I hope that this "for novices, from a novice" is generally accurate and is helpful. I am confident that others will chime in and correct any mistakes and offer other advice.

Finished product photos to follow:

grenik

This is what the completed project looks like...

And yes, I should have done something to get the rust off the rotors, but I ran out of time. If someone posted good "destructions" on removing the caliper (and all the associated fun), perhaps I would powder coat the calipers and do something more perminant to the rotor.

I am happy with it for now. And yes, they are blue and the car is red. We had red calipers on a red 2003 Z06 and they were too boring.

WNeal

Great post


I want to change to racing brake pads for HPDE and then back to regular and definitely need to know how to do this myself.
Will give it a try.

thanks and look forward to your finished product pics.

Chipps

Nice job. Did you consider using the Duplicolor brush on paint for the calipers? This seems easier than spraying.

beaversstonehaven

Thanks for the post. I think I will change my own break pads when it is necessary. Great pictures.

c6 rocket

Great job. Have you ever removed your center console?

0corvette pilot

nice looking! I would have never thought of blue on red, but it looks good with that combo!

LJD51

Great DIY post with fantastic pictures...I will also replace my own brake pads...and I always wondered what blue calipers would look like on a red Vette... Mine will be red on blue...

...but you didn't put your center caps back on properly...

grenik

I was not sure how good it would turn out. With the calipers able to rotate, masking off the rotor is easy. We just slipped a plastic bag over it and then pushed the caliper back up. We had the back brake pad installed and left the front one off. When we pushed it up into place, it held there good, but we could swing it back and hold it to paint the other parts.

I think there is a bigger advantage to brush painting if you do not swing back the calipers. But I imagine both would work.

grenik

My wife pointed out that the wheel logo was not in the same orientation on both the left and the right. Is that what you are referring to (and how could you tell from the pictures)?

Do I have to remove the wheels to fix, or do the centers come out?

Thank you for the comments. I would rather people point out where things can be better or where there are actual mistakes.

cmb13

Very nice! Food for thought! I've thought the same about doing my calipers - I thought it would look boring with red on red. Has anyone seen yellow calipers on red???

su8pack1

Nice job. More people need to work on there own car and find out just how satisfying it can be.

grenik

I did, but I do not have pictures of that part. I know that having photos does a lot for confidence, but it is not that difficult. I posted a reply to the thread you originated and the instructions provided by others look good.

Here are the only pics I have of the interior work we did. I thought pictures already existed in the IPod forum. Now I see that the links are broken.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1440650

Here is another good link that explains the dash removal. This is what we worked from.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1034867&page=2

I hope these help. Take pictures for the rest of us if you try the mods.

bocabob

nice job dude... and more importantly, you got her involved. That is where it's at.. My honey helps me on the Harley and the Vette. She gets it.. And I help her too...hanging this, fixing that..thats what it is about right?..

My 2005 DSOM has the red calipers.. switching to DSOM color soon.. I (WE) like the mono look..

Anyway, great job. And thanks for an exhaustive post.. those take time and the forum thanks you two.

grenik

We considered it, but I was afraid of having a Ronald McDonald Corvette. I think they would probably look good, but I could not bring myself to do it.

We also considered a dark purple. We painted a small piece of cardboard and held it up and did not like it as much as blue. You could try that with the Yellow.

Porshe has a special brake package and if you order it you get yellow calipers (along with ceramic pads and rotors, more cylinders, etc). You can go to their web site and build a red one and put that package on. That will give you a good picture. They have good 3D views of your car as you build it. It would give you a good preview.

There are not many color combinations I have seen on Corvettes. We are happy with this one.

BlueC6

That looks really good. I am getting a '07 LMB in a few weeks and I am planning to paint the calipers red. How were you able to keep the blue off the corvette lettering?

Also, whoever wrote about not having the center caps on correctly, what do you mean?

grenik

Painted right over the letters and then scraped the paint off with a single sided razor blade. Took about a minute per caliper to clean them off.

People have suggested putting chap stick on the letters before painting them, but I would not mess with it. The paint came off quickly and looked just like the stock lettering.

PAVette

The blue calipers look great on your car...nicely done!

0corvette pilot

anytime you can spray, as oppose to brush, it will turn out better. I get at least a set per month on my exchange program that someone has brushed on, and you can really see brush marks.

PillRoller

That's hard to understand if the right paint is used. The superior leveling characteristics of two part epoxy paint should negate the possiblity of brush marks. At least that's been my experience with other applications. Interesting and your oppinion is appreciated.