81corolla

The front pads on my 2000 RX300 were shot. It was time to take the plunge and change them myself.

I did a bit of background searching on the forum. Here's just a few of the threads I used.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=264864 (the DIY)
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=355045
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=237832
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=363662
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=346294
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=375579

The rotors were extremely rusty. Since there was so much rust buildup around where the old pads didn't hit the rotor, there was a small bead of rust around the circumference of the rotor as well as towards the center.

I was concerned the new Akebono pads would not hit the surface of the rotor *exactly* where the previous pads were. The last thing I wanted was my new pads hitting lots of rust, having it flake off and not having a smooth braking experience. :-)

So I had the rotors turned. I measured the rotors before hand to make sure they weren't too worn down. I will get new rotors next time as I've read rotors should only be turned once in their lifetime.

Getting the rotors off is easy if you go out ahead of time and buy two 8mm x 1.0 pitch bolts and carefully thread them into the rotor. Just turn them in and they will push the rotor off the hub.

The driver side bottom caliper bolt broke (or was already broken). I had to get a new one from the store and a little grease packet. No big deal, but the head is a different size. The top bolt is 14mm and the new bottom one is 12mm. But the bolt is the same otherwise.

As has been mentioned before, when swinging the pads up, be careful of the top rubber sleeve. Make sure it turns or it might tear.

Installing the new pads was fine. I was unable to get the new pad indicators to fit in the grooves that hold the pads. IOW, the metal from the wear clip makes the pad too fat to fit into the slot that holds the pads. This may not make sense to the novice. The point is: if you use Akebono pads, the wear indicators may not fit and that's ok.

Bleeding the brakes should have been easy... but once again, there's always something. :-) I wanted new fluid so I sucked out the old stuff from the reservoir. I didn't care about air in the lines as I was going to bleed them all.

With the front wheels off, it was easy to put an 8mm socket over the bleeder valves and loosen them. But that can't be done on the rear wheels with the tires on. The 3/8" socket drive, with the 1/4" adapter ends up being too long and hits the rim of the rear tires. So the tire has to come off as well just to bleed the rear brakes. :-(

I did look for a 5-point 8mm brake wrench (box wrench), but they only had English, no metric sizes. And Sears, you can always get a tool at Sears, right?, they only had 7mm and 9mm. 8mm was conveniently absent. Arg!

Anyway, removing the RR first, I was able to bleed the brakes as documented in other threads. One tip from my neighbor; soak the bleeder valves a day or two prior to the bleed. Use a small [steel] brush to clean up the threads around them. And when it comes time to loosen them, actually tighten them just a nudge to break the nut free. Then back off.

The size of the tubing I used was 3/8".

All in all, the job wasn't too bad. Like anything new, until you've done it once, you are never sure how things will go. Thanks goes out to all those who have done writeups before.

I've attached a few photos. I didn't try to document the whole process as that's been done in other threads. Maybe next time.

81corolla

Some shots of the old rotors.

81corolla

There's the 8mm x 1.0pitch bolt threaded into the hole to break it free from hub. VERY important to have on hand ahead of time.

81corolla

Driver side.

81corolla

Inside of old rotors

81corolla

Outside of old rotors

81corolla

New rotors - outside

81corolla

Inside new rotors after they've been turned.

81corolla

Driver side with new pads and turned rotor.

81corolla

Passenger side with new pads and turned rotor.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Are those new rotors? If they are the same old rotors, how did you clean up the hub?

81corolla

They are the same old rotors but I had them turned (machined down.)

As for the hubs, they didn't have that much rust compared to the rotors. Using some sandpaper, I cleaned up the outside surface where the lug bolts are and smoothed out the center part of the hub that the rotor fits over - center hole of rotor.

The second part of this thread has some shots of the driver side hub.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=383594

Should I have done more cleanup with the hub?

Lexmex

You might get a bit of rust on the rotors, but nothing drastic to worry about. I do with mine and I have machined them a few times over the years I was in Mexico, but they run fine at sea level (better cooling).