Hi, I am changing the rear brakes on my sister's 03 G35 sedan. She has an automatic with the stability control.

I have changed brake pads before on my corvette, and was wondering if there were some tricks to these? Is there a place to snag step by step directions?

Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance.

S.

 

Gee, does she have over 36k on the clock? If not, you should consider taking it in and having them replaced on the warranty, I would! Actually, my rear pads were changed already to stop a squealing prob, ao far, so good!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

She is right there on the mileage. I think that it is 50 bucks to have them changed, we got the pads for a lot less. A pad swap on the chevy is only about 2 hrs and really not hard. Was just wondering if the G would be more difficult.

Thanks!

S.

 

I changed to Hawk pads some time back. The rear brakes are straight forward, nothing to be concerned with. What pads are putting on?

2004 G35X

 

When you change pads you should always lightly resurface the rotors.........be sure to clean every thing so it looks brand new ........hub and inside rotor hat to remove corrosion rust.

Clean and Relube slide pins and use the correct temperature insulating antisqueel grease and liquid compound.

The above is a step above the usual hurried proceedure!

 

Thanks for all the input guys.

I am swapping out some OEM standard ones. She is not a hard driver and this should do the trick. I forget the brand but they were pretty cheap and the OEM compound. I did not want to get Ceramic because they are a little harder on the rotors.

I use the Hawk HP Plus on the Chevy and really like the stopping power. My only beef is that the car sounds like a city bus when stopping. When I had the Hawk HP my car was black with brake dust after a track day, do you find the same thing with the G cars?

Again thanks for all the input guys.

S.

 

changing pads at all four corners is 45 minutes once you are up on jack stands or a lift.

there are two bolts on each caliper that are 14 mm. remove one, loosen the other, the caliper will drop down easily. spray it all down with brake cleaner, inspect for caliper boot leakage, grease the slide pins (I used moly stuff), put all the rubber seals back on the slide pins. Inspect your shims/backing plates, I have one that I had to replace last week when I swapped out my OEM's for a hard canyon run. It was bent a little. I have 40k miles on mine.

Caution: one of the rear brake pads has a wear indicator on it while the other side does not. I don't think it is important which side it goes on, but I put mine back on the same side every time.

To push the pistons in, loosen the brake bleeder to prevent the fluid from going backwards into the mastercylinder and ABS tubing. Then you can just push them back in with your fingers without popping the top off the reservoir. This will necessitate a bleed once you are done, but it is easy. I can bleed my brakes with the wheels on and the car on the ground in about 10 minutes with an assistant. I just reach through the spokes.

The bleeders are 10 mm front and 8 mm rear, use a tubing wrench or a box end, so you don't strip them. better yet install speed bleeders. I use 1/4 inch tubing to fit on the bleeders so I don't bleed on my wheels/rotors

I have done this ten times at least, it is easy. Another point of concern is on the front caliper there is a notch that the caliper slide bolt fits in so you can tighten it all the way done. the bolt head has to be rotated to fit in the notch on the back side.

Better Life thru Chemistry
Black on Black 03.5 Sedan 6MT - Goodyear F1 GS-D3's 225/55/17, Custom Intake Tube, '03 "Z" Suspension, Magnaflow resonator, 6 Wire 4 Guage Grounding Kit

 

Thanks for the info on pad change!

Have you ever changed the rotors? Is it a simple matter of removing the caliper and sliding the rotor off?

Do you perform any cleaning of the caliper itself? I've heard that you should clean off dirt/salt with a wire brush.

So when you bleed the brakes, you put a hose on the bleed valve and then turn it with a wrench, or is there a bolt/plug that you have to remove? I assume you need someone to pump the pedal...

THANKS!

 

Its easiest to use wrenches the whole way, dont even waste your time with air tools or sockets/ratchets. Ratchet wrenches are best. The front torque member is held on with 22mm bolts and the rear is held on with 19mm bolts.

Spend the extra time to remove the rotors and have them machined. Its like $10 a rotor to have them done and its deffinatly worth it.