salimshah

[QUOTE=artbuc;9292882]Toyota OEM or Akebono ProAct. Do your research and you will find nothing but rave reviews for Akebono. Stay away from B/A as they are nothing but re-boxers. You may get OEM and you may get crap.

If you have a stuck pin, I don't they will take the time to extract it and do the job right. Bottom line - if you want it done right, do it yourself.[/QUOTE]

Mostly I would agree, but you have to have skills, tools, facilities and know your limits. I am very careful DIYer, but have made quite a few mistakes and caused accidental damage. Surely there are good mechanics out there and it is OK to hold them to higher standards.

Salim

hsmac

hey guys, i'm getting the parts and ran into some confusion. i'm not really sure what all these lubricants do, but is the syl-glide enough or do i need to get other lubricants or grease? in his post, lexmex used dielectric grease and caliper lube (not sure which one syl-glide replaces). is there also some sort of anti squeal i should put on the back of the pads or is that unnecessary?

fastnoypi

i use anti-squeal on the back of the pads only. Syl-glide on the pins and ears of the pads where they sit in the caliper bracket pad mounts.

carguy07

Some decent info:

hsmac

thanks guys!

Tyrus3

Thanks! My wife's car does this. I will lube it up next time I do brakes.

Lexmex

Doing brakes on my RX300 is also most as fun as doing them on my fiance's 4Runner, though like having more clearance on the 4Runner given it is higher off the ground.

kasak

Ordered the Akebono ACT930 and ACT325 pads. What rotors are recommended? Can't find Brembo on Amazon or RockAuto.

fastnoypi

All of Centric's offerings are good. I prefer their premium line solid rotor for daily driving.
Their C-Tek line are the same but are not zinc treated for rust prevention on the hats.

hsmac

hey guys, after some thorough research and getting the proper parts/tools necessary, i'm finally planning on doing this tomorrow after getting wheel chocks. i'm really excited

last question though (hopefully): OP included directions on changing the dust boots and cleaning many small locations. i was going to follow all the directions but became a little wary since it was very thorough esp. with the rear. my main concern is that i don't want to damage anything like tear a boot or be unable to figure out how to reassemble everything back together. i understand how cleaning every place possible is ideal but i don't intend on replacing the boots with new ones so am hesitant to fiddle around with them and the seals. watching other expert videos, it looks like the most they do is clean and grease the caliper and slide pins without paying attention to the boots and the holes they fit into. is it ok to do the same or is there something i'm missing? now that i know how to change the pads i may never touch or inspect surrounding areas again unless something sounds or feels off, so if it's important i'll do it or have a mechanic inspect it some time in the future.

thanks in advance!

salimshah

Brake parts are exposed and can take a fare bit of abuse ... but misuse of pliers or screwdriver can rip them up. The other reason for a rip/tear would be improper assembly. Most of the times a thorough visual can tell you if the part(s) needs to be replaced. Replace only if needed.

Take pictures to help you reassemble. Do one side and dont touch the other till the first is all put together as you can refer to the untouched side.
I highly recommend to work with a friend who has worked on brakes.
Finally test, before getting on the road.

Salim

hsmac

Thanks, Salim, I finally was able to do this yesterday. Took much longer than expected but I had a lot of fun doing it! All my piston boots are torn though so i'm doing that next and then flushing the fluid. I was hesitant at first to push the piston back in since I thought it would be hard to replace the boot afterwards, but if I'm not mistaken I can just put the old pads back when I'm ready to change the boots and the pistons should pop out again after pressing the pedal?

I didn't change the rears yet but when I inspected them the pads weren't that worn down. I hear the grinding noise for some reason still and I thought it was the indicator clips grinding against the rotors but it couldn't be those. Does anyone know what else it could be? For some reason the clips were very short (almost to the back of the pads), unlike the new ones where the clip sticks out to the middle of the pad. But since they were much further behind the pad, it couldn't be the clips making the noise.

hsmac

are there standards for what a brake job consists of? does it include cleaning and relubrication of pins/piston? inspection and changing of torn rubber boots?

fastnoypi

I'd think at most shops they do nothing but the minimal which is a pad slap, rotor slap and a vigorous degreasing with brake cleaner. Of course there are exceptions when there is a specified work order of suspected brake drag and abnormal scoring of the rotor.

hsmac

thanks for all your help.