Fitting New Front Discs & Pads

[squarehead]

Thinking of changing my front discs & pads on my own (not with Pam :P )

Need a confidence boost - is it really easy (I can change a tyre, change my aircon filter, remove the stereo face to feed a PDA cable etc etc so I'm a little adventourous)...

So, can anybody really say that changing the discs & pads is really easy, I've read the forum and am convinced I can do it myself - not found the Knowledgebase though). I just fancy saving myself a load of wonga - the dealers are quoting £280 to do it.

Thanks in advance!

[Colin P]

I did it, it's very easy. only problem I had was pushing the pistons back in but that wasn't really a problem.

go for it!

[mudzs]

Its easy you can not fail ,should only be four bolts in total on each side ,i used a peice of two x two wood and a small crowbar to push the pistons back in ,should be simaler on a is200 to a gs300 ,good luck

[AltezzaScott]

Really easy... as mentioned... hardest bit is pushing the pistons back to get the caliper back on...

Make sure you take off the lid on the brake fluid resovoir... ( keep an eye on it whilst pushing back the pistons, to make sure it doesn`t overflow!!)

[Brettster]

I changed mine on the IS was very easy, but I did have a problem undoing the bolts on the caliper. had to use a 3ft long breaker bar !!!

but after that. no problem, took around 2 hours to do both sides and I replaced the discs and pads. follow the advise above and you'll be fine.

you could take some photo's along the way and make a guide for others :)

[squarehead]

Yeah I could take some photo's f*****g it up as I go along - Pistons, fuel reservoir, I think I'll leave it to the experts.

What if something goes wrong - Do I call the RAC !!!!!!!!!!!

[Brettster]

really, if you can wire up stuff this should cause no problem at all

when you take off the caliper, you'll see exactly what needs to be done

[squarehead]

Any Knowledgebase on it?

Thanks for all your response anyway - Long Live LOC!

[Gord]

you have pm :D

[Rob]

Any Knowledgebase on it?

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yes i wrote one ages ago

[Kazi]

Yeah I could take some photo's f*****g it up as I go along - Pistons, fuel reservoir, I think I'll leave it to the experts.

What if something goes wrong - Do I call the RAC !!!!!!!!!!!

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Lol :D :D :D

Seriously, although ive never done it on my IS iI have sorted friends and families cars on a few occassions. Sure the principal is the same and I will be doing mine when the time comes. Just get amongst it!!!

If anything, Id much rather do the brakes than removing the head unit!! Wouldnt know hwere to start!!

[squarehead]

Had a bit of good news with the discs today, decided to take it to Lexus Chester and have the discs & pads replaced. Turns out the discs were covered under warranty (car is 2 1/2 yrs old with 52k) so I didn't have to pay for them!!!

Only had to pay £37 for the pads - back of the net!

My next question is why did Lexus Stockport quote me £300 to replace them when Chester did it under warranty - any ideas ???? Opens a can of worms me thinks!

[mudzs]

What i wanna now is if the gs and the is pads are the same ??.why did you get them for £37 when i was told they were over £50 opens another can of worms altogether .always thought that discs were not covered by warrenty

[squarehead]

I had LOC discount on the price of the pads.

I agree I thought the discs wern't under warranty also!

By the way I reckon I've saved £263 ! :D :duh:

[mudzs]

I had LOC discount on the price of the pads.

I agree I thought the discs wern't under warranty also!

By the way I reckon I've saved £263 ! :D  :duh:

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Thats one ell of a saving, well done :D

[Rob]

depends why they replaced them under warranty - i had mine replaced because the hubs were rusty :duh:

[starkey444]

I tried to do my own front discs but gave up after 90 mins when I couldn't budge the bolts holding the calipers on!! Boy them things are tight!!

My tip - make sure you've got a good spanner set and can get a decent length bar in there for extra leverage coz if you got a toy socket set like mine then those bolts might just beat ya!!

Anyway, I got a mechanic mate to do it - got all the good tools. He swapped front discs/pads and rear pads for a neat £50 - saved me the hastle and some money (compared to Lexus)

[legendswraith]

easiest way to get tight caliper bolts off is give them a saoak with wd40 for a few houras or even do it the night before doesn't matter if u get it on the disc and pads if you are changing them and on reassembly use some copper or aluminium slip