RJFabCab

Instructions for changing the left front rotor: Proceed at your own risk. B) 1. Lift and safely support the vehicle. 2. Remove the left front wheel. 3. Turn the steering wheel to the right to facilitate exposure of the rotor and caliper assembly. 4. Loosen the brake pad retaining bolt (13 mm hex) and depress the retaining flat spring. The 13 mm hex head is on the inside edge of the caliper (not visible in the pic below). Take note that the flat spring is VERY stiff. 5. Remove the brake pad retaining bolt. 6. Unhook the red brake pad wear sensor wire from the flat spring and remove the flat spring. 7. Carefully spread the brake pads (yellow in the photo above), forcing the caliper pistons open, and remove both brake pads from the caliper. 8. Each brake pad contains a brake pad wear sensor. You can see the red and black wires in the above photo leading to each wear sensor. Carefully use a small flat head screwdriver to pry out the wear sensors from the brake pads. ***Use caution: the wear sensors are very fragile*** Set the brake pads aside and push the wear sensor wires out of the way. 9. There are anti-squeal shims (aka "spiders") that sit between the pistons and brake pads. If they come out with the brake pads, simply remove them and place them back inside the caliper. The spiders are pictured below. 10. At this point, you should have a caliper free of brake pads and brake pad wear sensor wires. 11. Take note of the two large caliper bolts which mount the caliper to the hub assembly. Just inside of the attachment point of the upper caliper bolt, there is a 10 mm hex bolt that needs to be removed to free up the front brake line bracket (see the green arrow below). Removing this bracket will allow adequate brake line mobility prior to removing the front caliper. 12. Run a strong piece of twine through the caliper and tie it to the front spring. The idea is to suspend the caliper once it has been removed. In the pic below, the lower caliper bolt has already been removed, the wear sensor wires are visible, and the spiders can be seen within the caliper. 13. Remove the two large caliper bolts using a 10 mm hex head socket. Carefully hang the caliper off to the side using the twine attached to the spring. 14. Identify and remove the two philips head screws holding the old rotor in place. These screws are only hand tight. 15. Remove the old rotor. 16. Fit the new left front rotor and replace the two philips head screws. Hand tighten the two philips screws. ***Make sure you have the proper rotor installed in the proper position.*** The rotors are directional. There is a specific part for the left side of the car versus the right side of the car. Take note of the white "L" on the hat designating a left-sided rotor. 17. Carefully fit the caliper over the new rotor and bolt the caliper in place using two new caliper bolts (part # 999-067-047-09). Tightening torque for the two caliper bolts is 63 ft/lbs. 18. Remove the twine and spin the rotor checking for any symmetry problems or areas of contact. 19. Replace the front brake line bracket. Tightening torque 7.5 ft/lbs for the 10 mm bolt (refer to line 11 above). 20. Place the wear sensors back into the brake pads and place the brake pads back into the caliper. ***Make sure the anti-squeal shims are all in place*** You may have to spread apart the pistons with your hands to get the brake pads to go back into the caliper. 21. Replace the flat spring. Don't forget to run the brake sensor wire through the hook on the flat spring. 22. Replace the brake pad retaining bolt and tighten the 13 mm hex bolt to 7.5 ft/lbs (refer to line 4 above). 23. Replace the wheel and wheel bolts. Tightening torque is 96 ft/lbs for each bolt. 24. Safely lower the vehicle. 25. Pump the brake pedal until firm to reset the pad position prior to driving. 26. Always properly break in new rotors and pads.