BEZ06

with Bill Dearborn - 21 mm is the size of the caliper bolt.

Actually, 13/16 inch is a nice tight fit on the bolt as well. I have 2 box-end wrenches - one 21 mm and one 13/16 inch. I usually use the 13/16 because it's a little longer and I can whack away on it with a rubber mallet to easily loosen the bolts.

My torque wrench is a 1/2 inch drive, and I use a 13/16 inch socket (a wheel lug socket) to tighten the bolts. When you install the bolts, the torque spec is 129 ft-lbs.

The Z06/GS pad pin bolts ARE REQUIRED!!! At least if you're using padlets. You may not need them for the one piece pads.

You only need to remove the center pins to remove the padlets because......well, that's all you need to remove to get the padlets out!!! In the picture below of a front caliper, I've removed only the 2nd pad pin from the top and can remove both the top and center padlets. To get the bottom padlet out I'll need to remove just the 3rd pad pin down (i.e., the 2 center ones on both the inside and the outside of the front caliper):



To get the pins out, they respond to a whack better than to a steady pressure - the whack seems to break them loose better:



Below you can see how I use a clamp to squeeze the pistons back in a little bit - that loosens the padlets off the rotor so they come out easily if you remove the pins, or so the caliper will slide off the rotor easily if you remove the caliper bolts. The clamp is just able to grab the tab on the padlet enough to apply pressure to push the padlet/piston back into the caliper:



I use that clamp to push the pistons down into the caliper before reinstalling it on the rotor - required especially if you are putting on a new set of thick pads!! Check the level of fluid in the master cylinder - when you push the pistons back you'll push fluid up the system and the m/c might overflow, so you may need to remove some fluid if you're puttin in thick new pads.

In the picture below you can see the "tab" on the padlets. The tab should be toward the outside of the caliper. They can be installed wrong with the tab toward the inside of the caliper, but the entire surface of the padlet won't be in contact with the rotor and you'll lose a bunch of braking force!!



Good luck with your pad swap, but it's really a very easy job!!

Bob

Turbo6TA

Bob ... Thank's

I am a little confused here.

Someone else said that if we remove the calipers, we don't have to remove any of those guide pins ... but your saying that we still need to remove the center guide pins in order to remove the old pads even though we have completely removed the calipers.

However, if we don't remove the calipers at all, we still need to remove the center guide pins.

So, if we need to remove the center guide pins in both cases, why even remove the calipers at all from the car (either way, the center pins still need to be removed)?

See what I mean?


Note: Again .. I am replaceing the OEM padlets for Hawk ceramic padlets.

.

jschindler

If you remove the calipers, you do NOT need to remove any pins. That is how I did it when I did two of them one morning.

Turbo6TA

Ok, I understand, but the reason I asked if we still need to remove those center guide pins with the calipers removed is what was said below:

(but now that I look at the photo he shows, he was removing the padlets with the calipers NOT being removed)

I am not disagreeing with you, I was just confused when reading the post below.

And thank's a bunch for your straight-up answer!
________________________________

BEZ06

with jschindler!!

If you remove the calipers don't remove the pad pins.

Like Bill Dearborn said earlier, check the pad pins regularly to make sure they are tight. As difficult as they can be to remove when you want to, they have been known to back out on their own and scrape up the inside of wheels like in Bill's case. An even worse case is if the padlets fall out!!

Bob

jschindler

Straight up can be good, and sometimes it can come across as condescending . I meant it in a good way

Turbo6TA

jschindler .. BEZ06 .. Bill Dearborn .. and everyone else that has helped me, and the other members that may have benifited from reading this thread

A BIG THANK YOU SIRS !

Don-Vette

I saved this thread until I needed it. TODAY IS BRAKE DAY!!

Looking Up

When i replaced the front padlets on my 2011 C6 Grand Sport there was no spring clips to hold the padlets in place but when i watch you-tube eveyone has the spring clips.I also replaced the retaining pins and greased them.Thank you for your help