Front Brakes Pads Change DIY

[AsianDude]

My little contribution to this board...

1) Make sure you have your favorite brake pads

2) View of front calipers

3) Remove clip from caliper, pry up and then out, there is a 'tab' that is sloted into the outside pad clip you can see in the pictures below. You need to pry the clip up till the 'tab' clears the pad clip slot before you can get it outwards towards you. This clip is going to come off with some force, and it very well will scuff off a small portion of the caliper paint.

4) Remove both caliper guide bolts with a 7mm hex key, these guide bolts are covered behind 2 plastic caps on the back side of the caliper.

5) Upon removal of the 2 caliper guide bolts, the caliper will slide out and away from the brake disc and you can then remove both inner and outer pads. Remember to have someting to hold the caliper while its off the carrier, do not let it hang on the brake line.

6) The correct front pads are the 915-3 with 1 sensor on the driver side only. Since there are none I know of available of the 915-3, I used the 915-1 which is the exact same pad pattern with the 1 sensor on the driver side, except that the sensor clip is different. You can choose to 'loop' the sensor and eliminate that feature or you can graft the old stock plug on to the new pad sensor wire like I did (the stock wiring boot covers the wire joint nicely).

7) A good synthetic grease is recommended on the mating surfaces of the pad to the caliper piston/bracket, and the contact surfaces of the pad at the caliper bracket. I use a thin coat and so far the brakes have been silent.

8) Re-assembly is the reverse of dis-assembly, do not over tighten the caliper guide bolts during re-assembly and be careful not to cross thread these bolts as well.

9) A thin coat of anti-seize where the hub meets the wheel is also recommended.

10) Finally, don't forget to torque to the correct rating. I don't know what the torque rating for the lug bolts are on the R32, but I have always run 80 ft lbs on my BMWs and so that is what I used.

Usual disclaimers applies to this DIY, I have attempted to be as detailed as I can, but if you have specific questions, I will be glad to answer based on my experience. Make sure your car is properly supported and secured before you work on it.


Modified by AsianDude at 10:58 PM 7-20-2008

[ncraba01]

Good write up! Thank you.

[FlyingTurtle]

didn't know oem stuff is made by Pagid (looking at the pics). Good stuff

[AWPower]

Pagid has always been the brake pads of VW

[kfraserj]

Anyone put ceramics on yet? Less dust??

[sclinton]

Nice info, 88ft lbs for the lugs. Just rotated this weekend and had to verify.

[Paco D'Emu]

Thanks much for the write up.

I was initially intimidated about changing my pads myself, but now I see that, aside from a few tools I don't have, it's not as difficult as I had assumed.

[Coyote R32]

Thanks so much for the write-up.... I received my new pads from Carbotech and will put them on this weekend....

I did a search for rear brake pad installation and found only MkIV - I have Carbotechs for the rears as well.

Happy Bedding-in

eric

[AsianDude]

Quote, originally posted by Coyote R32 »

I did a search for rear brake pad installation and found only MkIV - I have Carbotechs for the rears as well.

I have a write-up for the rears as well...I will post it in the next day or so...
Carbotech

[Judgie]

I'm about to change the pads but I'm next to certain that the replacements I'm getting do not come with the sensor. Can anyone describe the process to 'loop' the connector (is it just splicing the wires together??? - do I need to worry about tripping the sensor and how would I reset?.... or reuse the old sensor in the new pad?

Thanks!!!!

[VBeachR32]

nice clean wheels

[mach gti]

you really dont need to "break" into these pads? Hows the initial bite and fade? Less dust than the OEM?

[Gotsol]

Quote, originally posted by Judgie »

I'm about to change the pads but I'm next to certain that the replacements I'm getting do not come with the sensor. Can anyone describe the process to 'loop' the connector (is it just splicing the wires together??? - do I need to worry about tripping the sensor and how would I reset?.... or reuse the old sensor in the new pad? Thanks!!!!

just splice them together and tape them up.

I've got the Carbotec bobcats, They are a nice pad.

[trademark2k6]

sorry for digging up old thread, but how comes i dont have that metal clip? (from step 3)?
car is a 2.0 SDI

[Saabstory02]

sorry for digging up old thread, but how comes i dont have that metal clip? (from step 3)?
car is a 2.0 SDI

Because this is the .:R32 forum; and these are .:R32 brakes.

You need to go to the correct forum for your car bud

[trademark2k6]

I got linked to this thread from the MkV and Jetta section DIY thread...

[-jakrbt-]

I got linked to this thread from the MkV and Jetta section DIY thread...

.:R brakes are a little bit different. For starters, they're bigger. But yeah, almost everything about them is different from the GTI/Jetta.

[jsowens52]

I have a 3.6 4mo passat which uses the same front brakes. One tip I would give is this. After I removed the carrier bolts, I needed to compress the piston back into the caliper before I was able to slide it off. I just used a screw driver to pry the caliper towards me compressing the inside pad against the back of the rotor.

Maybe this should have been obvious, but I searched for hours online trying to figure this out. The only forum I could find about my front brakes was this one, but my calipers didn't just slide out and away as easily as it seemed in the write up. Out of frustration, I tried my above method and luckily for me it worked. Hope maybe this will save someone else some frustrations.

Otherwise, great write up and great pictures. Thanks.

[PSU]

You, sir, are the man. Definitely bookmarking this for later.

Thanks for the informative write up. Don't know how I missed it years ago.

[abeR]

can we get this added to the FAQ's

who is in charge of the FAQ's ..

I vote for PSU to clean up that thread....

amrando?

[AWPower]

Agree add it to the DIY/FAQ section the old one is not there anymore. I really needed this when I was changing my brake pads

[PSU]

can we get this added to the FAQ's

who is in charge of the FAQ's ..

I vote for PSU to clean up that thread....

amrando?

I'd gladly take it on if someone will grant me access to it.

Thanks for the nomination Abe.

[jlaudio27]

Is there a torque setting to the caliper guide pins? Or just tighten until snug but don't over tighten. I remember doing brakes on my Passat 00 awhile back and there was a torque setting for those pins on that car.

Thank you!

[Ikey3125]

Is there a torque setting to the caliper guide pins? Or just tighten until snug but don't over tighten. I remember doing brakes on my Passat 00 awhile back and there was a torque setting for those pins on that car.

Thank you!

What he said...and same for the rears...

I really need to invest in a Bentley...

[g8guard]

This is what I found in my Bentley DVD manual: (front & rear)


Tightening Specifications
Guide pin to brake carrier 30 Nm
Brake hose to brake line 14 Nm

[Ikey3125]

This is what I found in my Bentley DVD manual: (front & rear)


Tightening Specifications
Guide pin to brake carrier 30 Nm
Brake hose to brake line 14 Nm

Cool thanks...well I've never torqued a line...ever...7 years today in the AF and every hydraulic line gets put on til the B-nut is nice and tight.

Guide pin is 22ft lbs
Brake Lines is 10ft lbs

[EngTech1]

Aren't the Calipers half Alu. on most set ups , and You might be gaining some Dia. on Disc ,
Butt - don't really see much advantage or are other Benefits to this Up Grade .

I was Hoping the R32 had a least Alloy Calipers , any of the Audi Stuff transfer Over Like this ?

[BetaOp9]

Aren't the Calipers half Alu. on most set ups , and You might be gaining some Dia. on Disc ,
Butt - don't really see much advantage or are other Benefits to this Up Grade .

I was Hoping the R32 had a least Alloy Calipers , any of the Audi Stuff transfer Over Like this ?

Not sure what you are talking about...

The R32 setup is kind of mandatory since we own R32's....and like other cars our pads need to be replaced. That is where this thread comes into play to provide us with info on doing that. Please expand on what you are referring to.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

[abeR]

Me thinks he was trying to respond to a racing brake thread


But seriously

Changing your pads is a waste of time. I did the flintstones mod years ago

[nlz242]

Thanks for the writeup, i changed my pads using this method and everything was smooth, except for the unretracted piston part. I came back to this thread and saw jsowens52's reply which helped.

And i also had a slight squeal @ low speed and low braking-force, which is gone now.

[VDubCub]

During removal of the front calipers how did you compress the caliper piston? I'm not able to remove the caliper due to the fact that piston is extended and applying pressure to the brake pads on the rotor

[BetaOp9]

During removal of the front calipers how did you compress the caliper piston? I'm not able to remove the caliper due to the fact that piston is extended and applying pressure to the brake pads on the rotor

I had this same issue. Since you can't get the caliper retraction tool in to properly retract it, we got a breaker bar to apply some force onto the rotor between the outer surface of the rotor and the caliper bracket. Not a lot, just enough to give you some clearance to remove the floating caliper assembly.

[Ryan E.]

after removing my calipers so many times I realized you can use a large flat head screwdriver to pry the piston enough space to remove the caliper, just make sure to remove the clip and loosen the 2 caliper bolts first. Also, use a rag where the screwdriver touches the caliper if you don't want any scratches.

I had this same issue. Since you can't get the caliper retraction tool in to properly retract it, we got a breaker bar to apply some force onto the rotor between the outer surface of the rotor and the caliper bracket. Not a lot, just enough to give you some clearance to remove the floating caliper assembly.

[VDubCub]

Got it...

[EngTech1]

Dan

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