How do I remove my brake pads?

[TheV6Bird]

I want to paint my calipers, but not my brake pad...I have been told by a few LS1 guys to just "take the pads out, leave the caliper hanging and don't disconnect the brake hose."

I thought If I removed my pads I would need to bleed the brake fluid because the original fluid would spill out?

So how do I remove my brake pads?

[camarofan]

Only reason you would need to bleed the brakes is if you open the system by disconnecting the brake hose or bleeder valve, which wouldn't be needed. Just remove your calipers, take the pads off and enjoy. If you have fluid seepage it is from a brake hose or the caliper itself is leaking, if not no worries.

[ May 19, 2003: Message edited by: camarofan ]</p>

[Dirty8-un-Dreds]

I had a hell of a time with my brakes when I did them. The caliper got stuck closed so I couldnt get the new pads back in. I had to disconnect the caliper from the lines and then take it to a shop so that they could reset the little piston inside. Then I drove around for like an hour with brakes that didnt work because bleeding is waaaay harder than I thought hehe. I wasa noob, all in all if you have little to no experience with cars make sure you either pay someone else to do it or get someone who knows what theyre doing to help you. Every single job can get very complicated should you do the wrong thing.

[camarofan]

To solve the problem of the caliper and pads not going back on, before you take them off use a screwdriver to push the piston back in a little bit, no major force is required, just don't pry on the brake pad surface. If already off, use a c clamp or a set of channel locks to push in the piston a bit. if you move the piston in about a 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch clearance should not be a problem. There is no need to remove the brakeline to do this. If you want to do it effortlessly, use a pair og channel locks, put one side of the jaws on back side of the caliper and the other on the pad frame and squeeze, when you have a good pressure use another wrench to slightly crack the bleeder valve, when the pistons starts to push in tighten the bleeder screw back up. No air can enter under backpressure and bleeding is not needed. But the piston should move back in rather easily without that.

[Dirty8-un-Dreds]

The piston inside the caliper got off center and was not aligned properly. That was why mine got stuck thus the screwdriver/c-clamp bit didnt work that time. I took autoshop back in hs so I thought I was okay. Guess not hehe that piston that got all crooked had me totally stumped. But the shop was nice and re-alligned it for ne for free. Good stuff to know though or else the job can take forever. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[O2Bsogood]

Simple, just do a search on here, I'm sure you'll find links to pages that show how it's done. Yeah, just tie the caliper up to the spindle. And if your piston needs to be pushed back, the way I do this, is get a c-clamp and a thin piece of wood put one side of the c-clamp on the back of the caliper and the other side on the piece of wood.(put piece of wood on the piston) And just tighten the c-clamp, and if it's too hard to do by hand just use a wrech that will fit on the c-clamp, and give it hell.

[Dirty8-un-Dreds]

I have found that it takes a rahter large and sturdy C-clamp to do this as well so make sure u dont get a chintsy one.