after having most of the stuff on hand for a couple of weeks, I finally had the time and courage to start installing.
what I put on:
Hawk HPS pads, full set
Corksport SS brake lines
Speedbleeders
Valvoline 3-4 synthetic brake fluid
Opinions:
Hawks - nice pads, but they really need to include instructions, or at least some way to differentiate between the left set and right set. After I had installed one of the front sets going by which pad looked similar to the stock pad, I noticed a little L and R on one of the wear indicators on each pair. Oddly enough, they were opposite of how I put them on (but they're working great, so I'm not going to mess with them). The rear pads, unlike the fronts, are all identicle with no wear indicators at all. Overall, all the pads fit great, though it was a bit difficult to get the caliper back over the pads due to how thick they are.
Corksport Brake lines - look very nice, go on fairly easy. Only problem is, they are standard, not metric, so the only parts that actually fit right are the threaded parts. Now, you may say that being standard isn't a problem, and normally I'd agree. The banjo bolt requiring a 5/16 instead of a 14mm(?) I can live with. However, the parts that attach to the car with those nice little clips (don't know what they're called) should NOT be standard. The pieces are keyed, essentially a hex head with a corner rounded off, and are intended to fit into a matching indentation on the brackets attached to the car. Because they are standard, they were all about 1/2MM TOO BIG. This meant they would not seat correctly into the bracket, and made it damn near impossible to get the clips back on.
Speedbleeders - worked like a charm. Some things to note:
- when the lines are fully drained, it take ALOT of pumping to get fluid back to the caliper, and you can't tell if you're doing any good (by petal feel) till you get the other three lines full. Thus, an observer is very useful for the "you got fluid" call
- doing it on a lift was hard, in that I could barely get in and out of the car. Again, observer helpful
- the clutch was kind of weird, there was no feedback and the pedal would just go straight to the floor. I'm assuming the clutch must work at even higher pressures than the brakes, thus forcing fluid out the bleeders even faster. I was pumping the pedal by hand since it wouldn't pop back, and I ended up pumping out about a cup of fluid cause I couldn't feel any change in the pedal like I could the brakes. Once I closed the bleeder, pedal was nice and stiff again.
Valvoline fluid - wish it was tinted, couldn't tell if what I was pumping was residual old or new. And it kind of burns if you get it on you
Overall, this took me about 6 hours (I'm careful, fairly slow, and tend to triple check for leaks). Drove around for about an hour to bed the pads. Let everything cool off and checked for leaks again. No leaks, good to go, all done. yay.
went out for food, soon discovered need to recalibrate brain. stopping distance is much shorter now (rockon)
btw, no pics yet, sorry. maybe later
what I put on:
Hawk HPS pads, full set
Corksport SS brake lines
Speedbleeders
Valvoline 3-4 synthetic brake fluid
Opinions:
Hawks - nice pads, but they really need to include instructions, or at least some way to differentiate between the left set and right set. After I had installed one of the front sets going by which pad looked similar to the stock pad, I noticed a little L and R on one of the wear indicators on each pair. Oddly enough, they were opposite of how I put them on (but they're working great, so I'm not going to mess with them). The rear pads, unlike the fronts, are all identicle with no wear indicators at all. Overall, all the pads fit great, though it was a bit difficult to get the caliper back over the pads due to how thick they are.
Corksport Brake lines - look very nice, go on fairly easy. Only problem is, they are standard, not metric, so the only parts that actually fit right are the threaded parts. Now, you may say that being standard isn't a problem, and normally I'd agree. The banjo bolt requiring a 5/16 instead of a 14mm(?) I can live with. However, the parts that attach to the car with those nice little clips (don't know what they're called) should NOT be standard. The pieces are keyed, essentially a hex head with a corner rounded off, and are intended to fit into a matching indentation on the brackets attached to the car. Because they are standard, they were all about 1/2MM TOO BIG. This meant they would not seat correctly into the bracket, and made it damn near impossible to get the clips back on.
Speedbleeders - worked like a charm. Some things to note:
- when the lines are fully drained, it take ALOT of pumping to get fluid back to the caliper, and you can't tell if you're doing any good (by petal feel) till you get the other three lines full. Thus, an observer is very useful for the "you got fluid" call
- doing it on a lift was hard, in that I could barely get in and out of the car. Again, observer helpful
- the clutch was kind of weird, there was no feedback and the pedal would just go straight to the floor. I'm assuming the clutch must work at even higher pressures than the brakes, thus forcing fluid out the bleeders even faster. I was pumping the pedal by hand since it wouldn't pop back, and I ended up pumping out about a cup of fluid cause I couldn't feel any change in the pedal like I could the brakes. Once I closed the bleeder, pedal was nice and stiff again.
Valvoline fluid - wish it was tinted, couldn't tell if what I was pumping was residual old or new. And it kind of burns if you get it on you
Overall, this took me about 6 hours (I'm careful, fairly slow, and tend to triple check for leaks). Drove around for about an hour to bed the pads. Let everything cool off and checked for leaks again. No leaks, good to go, all done. yay.
went out for food, soon discovered need to recalibrate brain. stopping distance is much shorter now (rockon)
btw, no pics yet, sorry. maybe later
