4wardmotion
Member
- :
- '08 CX-9 Sport AWD
I actually started Friday evening around 4:00 PM. I should have paid more attention to the posts regarding people's experience with the retaining bolts. I kind of forgot about that and when I got to that point, I realized I only had a large Philips screwdriver. I should have stopped after attempting the first screw - which didn't budge. My neighbor came over to see what I was up to and while I was digging through my toolbox, he tried to get one loose and ended up starting to strip the screw. I headed over to Sears and picked up a socket with a #3 Philips bit. Got home and was able to get 3 of the 4 screws off, but unfortunately, the one that had started to strip just got worse. I don't know what they make those screws out of but they are pretty soft. I ended up having to drill it out......which, being soft, made for a quick and easy job.
I was worried about getting the rotors off after others mentioned they were rusted on pretty good. Mine came loose with 1 good blow from the hammer. I was pretty amazed on how much pad 'meat' was left on my front pads - easily over 50% left....and that's with 86K miles on my 9. Granted, I do mostly highway driving, but I didn't expect to see that much. On the back side of one rotor, I had a significant groove, which I wonder if it was the real cause of the pulsation I was feeling when braking. Otherwise, the pads and rotors were in relatively good shape.
The new rotors (Centric Standard) were installed quick and easy, but the pads (Centric Posi-Quiet Ceramics) gave me a heck of a time. I'm sure it's due to my inexperience with doing this work (I've only replaced brakes and rotors on one other car of mine). It didn't help that the sun had left me, so I had nothing but my garage lights to work under, but I had trouble getting the pads in place. Having slippery fingers from the brake lube that I put on the back of the pads wasn't helping matters. I eventually got one side done and thankfully, the other side took less than 1/2 as long. I finally finished around 9:30!! I took it for a short ride and the brakes seemed really nice - no more pulsation. I was worried that the issue might have been caused by the rear brakes.
Today, I tackled bleeding my brake lines - I have only done this once before..on a motorcycle. I purchased the Motive Brake Bleeder (Model 0118) a few weeks ago - thanks to someone on here that mentioned it. The 1118 Adapter and the thicker of the 2 sealing washers that it comes with, worked well.
I removed as much of the old fluid from the reservoir as possible - but there must be some sort of built-in screen at the corner of the reservoir because I couldn't push the siphoning tubing that I was using any further, so I was only able to pull about 2 or 3 ounces from the reservoir. I then partially filled the reservoir with my new (Blue) brake fluid.....attached the Motive Bleeder that I had already filled with the rest of the new fluid and started pumping it up.
I bled the rear passenger side caliper first. I was surprised how little of the old fluid came out before the new Blue fluid was flushing through. Then I did the other rear caliper. Next, I did the front passenger caliper and finally the driver's side front. At this point, I was excited to think that I did something I had never done before and how easy it was!
Then I went to top off the brake reservoir........
When I removed the Brake Bleeder, and looked into the reservoir, I could see fluid...but it wasn't Blue! ....WTF.....???? The only thing I could think of is that there was so much residual fluid in that lower reservoir, that it somehow mixed with the blue or somehow allowed the Blue fluid to by-pass it during the flushing process. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but that's what I found. I siphoned out the reservoir again - what came out was definitely the old fluid, but just slightly tinted from the Blue fluid. I filled up the reservoir and this time decided to use the Bleeder again but just to flush fluid to the front caliper....I thought maybe when I flushed it, I would see Blue, followed by the old fluid and then Blue fluid again. Nope...I kept just seeing Blue fluid come out. ...???
I decided to give up. I topped-off the reservoir and put everything together and went for a ride. No issues and it stops really sweet now with no more pulsation and vibrating steering wheel.
So, I suppose it was a success, even though I ran into some issues along the way. And if anyone knows why the Blue fluid didn't just push the old fluid completely out of the system, I'd be curious to know your thoughts....or if there is another way to get more of the old fluid out of the reservoir before starting.
Thanks to those of you that have written 'how-to's' on these forums - if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have even attempted this.(drinks)
I was worried about getting the rotors off after others mentioned they were rusted on pretty good. Mine came loose with 1 good blow from the hammer. I was pretty amazed on how much pad 'meat' was left on my front pads - easily over 50% left....and that's with 86K miles on my 9. Granted, I do mostly highway driving, but I didn't expect to see that much. On the back side of one rotor, I had a significant groove, which I wonder if it was the real cause of the pulsation I was feeling when braking. Otherwise, the pads and rotors were in relatively good shape.
The new rotors (Centric Standard) were installed quick and easy, but the pads (Centric Posi-Quiet Ceramics) gave me a heck of a time. I'm sure it's due to my inexperience with doing this work (I've only replaced brakes and rotors on one other car of mine). It didn't help that the sun had left me, so I had nothing but my garage lights to work under, but I had trouble getting the pads in place. Having slippery fingers from the brake lube that I put on the back of the pads wasn't helping matters. I eventually got one side done and thankfully, the other side took less than 1/2 as long. I finally finished around 9:30!! I took it for a short ride and the brakes seemed really nice - no more pulsation. I was worried that the issue might have been caused by the rear brakes.
Today, I tackled bleeding my brake lines - I have only done this once before..on a motorcycle. I purchased the Motive Brake Bleeder (Model 0118) a few weeks ago - thanks to someone on here that mentioned it. The 1118 Adapter and the thicker of the 2 sealing washers that it comes with, worked well.
I removed as much of the old fluid from the reservoir as possible - but there must be some sort of built-in screen at the corner of the reservoir because I couldn't push the siphoning tubing that I was using any further, so I was only able to pull about 2 or 3 ounces from the reservoir. I then partially filled the reservoir with my new (Blue) brake fluid.....attached the Motive Bleeder that I had already filled with the rest of the new fluid and started pumping it up.
I bled the rear passenger side caliper first. I was surprised how little of the old fluid came out before the new Blue fluid was flushing through. Then I did the other rear caliper. Next, I did the front passenger caliper and finally the driver's side front. At this point, I was excited to think that I did something I had never done before and how easy it was!
Then I went to top off the brake reservoir........
When I removed the Brake Bleeder, and looked into the reservoir, I could see fluid...but it wasn't Blue! ....WTF.....???? The only thing I could think of is that there was so much residual fluid in that lower reservoir, that it somehow mixed with the blue or somehow allowed the Blue fluid to by-pass it during the flushing process. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but that's what I found. I siphoned out the reservoir again - what came out was definitely the old fluid, but just slightly tinted from the Blue fluid. I filled up the reservoir and this time decided to use the Bleeder again but just to flush fluid to the front caliper....I thought maybe when I flushed it, I would see Blue, followed by the old fluid and then Blue fluid again. Nope...I kept just seeing Blue fluid come out. ...???
I decided to give up. I topped-off the reservoir and put everything together and went for a ride. No issues and it stops really sweet now with no more pulsation and vibrating steering wheel.
So, I suppose it was a success, even though I ran into some issues along the way. And if anyone knows why the Blue fluid didn't just push the old fluid completely out of the system, I'd be curious to know your thoughts....or if there is another way to get more of the old fluid out of the reservoir before starting.
Thanks to those of you that have written 'how-to's' on these forums - if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have even attempted this.(drinks)
