I need to renew my rear brakes

GTE

So,
Even after getting the car checked by a VW main dealer (they said Id get a free health check, they bloody told me Id get it) and asking the local Citroen garage to take a look at the brakes when they did my big shock top job after I got sick of VW's high price my rear brake discs and pads are in horrendous condition.
http://s1.hubimg.com/u/1955068_f260.jpg

I bit worse then this.
They feel more like ~~~~ instead of _______.

So, my DIYing career is gaining momentum and I have decided I will do it myself, with the help of my dad who is well up for it. Harping back to his youth maybe

The Haynes manual is fine for it if anyone has any tips? (like suspending the calliper with some string to stop it from being suspended by the brake pipe)

Price wise from Micks Garage is 21.50 for brake pads for two rear wheels and 16.89 for the disc.

So its 55.28 for the lot if I go collect it. And some free Dot brake fluid it seems.

Ill go checking the motor factors in the next day or two but would that price a good one or a bad one? What should I realistically expect?

Lastly, are there good or bad brands I could get if I went with Micks garage or a local motor factor?

God you cant trust the bastards!

EDIT:
Just read a brake pad thread for the mark 4 Golf. My bad, doubling up a bit.

kasper

dont shake the bottle of brake fluid when you get it , the amount of people i see doing it is unbelievable , also make sure it is the correct fluid for your system it is usually dot3 or dot4 but you should know when you check , best of luck with it

GTE

With regards to the fluid, will I need to take some out using a turkey baster as the haynes manual says or is there anyway of getting around it?

I guess Im asking why does this need to be done, I dont quite understand it yet.

kasper

when the pads wear down the pistons in the cylinders in the wheels move closer together , the room the pistons moved out is filled with break fluid so the fluid in the resavoir goes down , when the car is serviced it gets topped up , when you push back the pistons to fit your new pads it pushes the fluid in the resavoir to over flow . hope that makes sense by the way break fluid is very corrosive dont let it spill on paintwork or it will strip it to the metal

GTE

kasper wrote: »

when the pads wear down the pistons in the cylinders in the wheels move closer together , the room the pistons moved out is filled with break fluid so the fluid in the resavoir goes down , when the car is serviced it gets topped up , when you push back the pistons to fit your new pads it pushes the fluid in the resavoir to over flow . hope that makes sense by the way break fluid is very corrosive dont let it spill on paintwork or it will strip it to the metal

Yeah, get ya now. So the whole thing to do with the fluid, besides the paintwork warning, is reasonably trivial. I just need a daycent way of getting the stuff out.

Its the rest of it now I have to look out for

On a different side to this topic I was reading a guide and it mentioned good and bad pads, as well as methods for stopping the brakes from squealing.

Are there certain brake pad brands that I should get? The article said that there can be soft and hard pads, wears quickly and wears slowly respectively compared to eachother.

Do I need to get some copper paste (I think its what I see on Whealer Dealers) to stop the brakes squealing or is there something built into the brake system itself for that. The article mentioned some kind of metal plate, cover or backing for that.

Thanks muchly!
Great help!

kasper

i am quite serious about it being corrosive , the anti squeal shims will be between the inside pad and the piston some people put copper grease on the backs of the pads but it shouldnt need it , for ordinary road use a medium pad would be best . make sure the lid is off the resavoir when pushing back the pistons or the fluid will squirt out through the breather hole in the cap and destroy your car

GTE

kasper wrote: »

i am quite serious about it being corrosive

I know, I just meant the part of the job with the fluid is trivial. Aside from the major danger of the corrosive aspect all you need to do is stop it from overflowing.

Thats grand about the shims.
Ill look out for the pads.

MetzgerMeister

Aswell as having the cap off the brake fluid reservior, cover the area around it with rags and cover the reservoir right up to the neck. This will catch any overflow and save your engine bay and paintwork.

Hal1

Keep an eye on the brake fluid reservoir so it doesn't go passed the min mark.

El Guapo!

I know it might seem like an obvious thing but DON'T forget to pump the brake pedal when your finished. Iv'e seen a couple of people drive off without doing this and nearly go into a wall!

GTE

Dean09 wrote: »

I know it might seem like an obvious thing but DON'T forget to pump the brake pedal when your finished. Iv'e seen a couple of people drive off without doing this and nearly go into a wall!

Its just the obvious thing that would slip my silly little mind.

The Haynes manual mentions that I should replace certain screws, I believe that mount the calliper to the rest of it. Is this an essential step because in the videos on youtube I have seen no one has done it. Its another thing I have to go find if so.

El Guapo!

No its not essential. Some brake pads come with replacements in the box but if they don't I wouldnt worry about it.

GTE

Thanks again.

Final question: I hope
Front brakes need doing too btw.

I dont know if this is a typo by Haynes or if it is like this for a reason.

For the front brake pad replacement section it says to retract the piston by using a g clamp and the old pad, or some setup like that.

In the same manual it says I need to wind the piston back for the rear ones.


Just reading the Tool Tip now and it says a set of Circlip pliers will do the job fine if I dont have the special tool. May just get that.

GTE

I understand, after a lot of googling that it has to do with the rear brakes being acted on by the hand brake. Whatever this does makes it a requirement to wind back the yokies.

El Guapo!

Basically the piston on the front brakes can be pushed back but on the rear you have to push it and wind it at the same time. The special tool does this fairly handily. It can be done with a long-nose pliers but it can be fairly difficult to do it this way.

Voodoomelon

Don't bother with a specialised piston retracting tool if you're doing this on the cheap. I picked up a metal C-clamp for wood joinery in Atlantic for about €3.50 and it wound pack my big-ass pistons in 30 seconds.

Did you get the job done yet?

The Muppet

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Don't bother with a specialised piston retracting tool if you're doing this on the cheap. I picked up a metal C-clamp for wood joinery in Atlantic for about €3.50 and it wound pack my big-ass pistons in 30 seconds.

Did you get the job done yet?

The rear piston has to be rotated as well as pushed back, the G clamp ond do that, I use a long nose pliars to rotate and push the piston back and it works for me.

Plug

Dean09 wrote: »

I know it might seem like an obvious thing but DON'T forget to pump the brake pedal when your finished. Iv'e seen a couple of people drive off without doing this and nearly go into a wall!

Just there friday I done pads on a mondeo, never pumped the brakes and drove it up to the lads at the wash and straight into the bush, luckly I wasn't going too fast, no damage done just got a fright.