Has anyone here self-installed new disc-brake pads on their Odyssey?

I have a 2001 with disc brakes on the front. I have done similar brakes on an Altima I used to have. I think I got the wheel off the Odyssey last year and realized the pads were still good, but also that I might need a larger C-Clamp tool than the one I had in order to push the caliper assembly back to its widest position to actually to the removal.

Can anyone here who's done this procedure alert me to any gotcha's before I proceed? Any special tools or techniques?

Thanks! Be

Reply to
BE
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GEt the biger clamp anyway - if you need it, you need it, if you don't, you've just got to make 20-odd extra turns.

Reply to
flobert

The calipers shouldn't have to be spread far to do the removal; if so, the ridge on the rotor is excessive. That sometimes means a new rotor is in order, but not always.

I prefer to put a bleeder hose on the caliper nipple and open the bleeder a half turn or so before spreading the caliper - you can close the bleeder and remove the hose until it's time to push the piston all the way in. Without that bleed hose, the preferred place for the displaced fluid to go is (1) to the other caliper, if it is already off, or (2) back into the reservoir. That's not a cheery prospect, especially if the fluid has been topped up to compensate for loss as the pads wore, because sooner or later the reservoir is likely to overflow. Yuck! In addition, doing it that way can greatly reduce the force to spread the caliper. I've spread more than a few by tipping the caliper with my hands when the bleeder is open.

BTW - if the caliper is a floating type (doesn't have hydraulic passages to the outside of the caliper) it is *mandatory* to clean and lubricate the slide pins with disc brake grease before reassembling. I was in la-la land a couple of times and didn't do that. Twice I was right back in the calipers to correct my oversight when the brakes went loco. I think being disturbed may be the last straw for slide pins that were running dry. Anyway, see

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describes it as being specific to rust-prone cold weather areas, but my foibles were in Phoenix. I recommend you read and heed the whole web page to save yourself anguish. Otherwise, you are good to go!

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

Up here in my neck of the woods, it's common for neglected brakes to refuse to allow the caliper to be pulled off. This is because the caliper has become rusted to the pads and shims.

If that's the case, a nylon hammer can be used to persuade the caliper to come off the pads, which is all I ever do.

The ridge thing is something that affects drums, not discs.

Reply to
TeGGeR®

I've seen a pretty severe ridge on a rotor before... '83 Chevette, IIRC. Had to pry the pads open by wedging a long, large slot screwdriver beween the outer pad and the disc before I could pull the caliper off.

Reply to
Matt Ion

Matt Ion wrote in news:UOwSe.368075$s54.99335@pd7tw2no:

Then the system must be set up to attach the pads to the caliper, as in some Ford products. Honda does not do it this way.

Reply to
TeGGeR®

Big-ass spring clips that fit inside the piston and into holes on the backplate on the opposite side of the caliper.

FWIW, the way the pads clip in on my '87 Accord would make them very difficult if not impossible to slide out if there were ridges on the edge of the rotor.

Reply to
Matt Ion

The accepted way per ASE is as you described it.

Reply to
Steve H

Job done.

I replaced the pads with some ceramic ones sold by Auto Zone that have a lifetime warranty. If/when they wear out, they will replace them again and again. I liked that they had their own shims attached to the sides.

OK - here are the two basic gotchas as I found them:

1) there is a bolt that gives access only to an unusually narrow-necked open end wrench. Your basic craftsman adjustable wrench is too thick, as are many stock wrenches. It needs to be held in place while another bolt is loosened further back.

2) the two bolt-headed pins that have the rubber skirts on them are not the same. The one on the bottom has an additional ridged rubber shank that is part of the overall shank. The one on the top is all metal. Take note which one is which as you remove them, so that you put them back correctly.

BTW, after doing this I would deeply assume that any of those brake job places you might go to would skip the steps of removing those bolt-headed pins, cleaning off the old grease and applying new, and hand-washing (then drying) the rubber skirts. My guess is that they will just slap the pads in and not fuss over these items.

The weirdness I discovered on this job was that the passenger-side pads had

1/8 inch wear left; the driver-side pads were down to the warning metal. These were the original factory pads; the car has 36K miles. Why would there be such a difference in the wear? Is there something else I need to check?

Be

Reply to
BE

Gee, just a guess, but could it be that you have a driver in there all the time, but passengers only some of it. Tus the drivers side takes more OR the passenger side circuit has a tad [more?] air in than the other side OR you brake more when turning right than you do when turning left. OR the passenger side caliper doesn't move as freely as the drivers side OR many other posible reasons.

lots of different reasosn, i'm sure if you think about it, you can come with othres, even down to 'the passengers pad being ever so slightly harder, either at one point, or throughout, than the other'. I've tried to stick with the more plausable ones though.

Reply to
flobert

Sounds like the previous time somebody skipped the steps... since it was original, it probably came from the factory poorly lubricated. A Toyota tech in the Yahoo Prius group warned me he's seen brakes come through completely dry of lubricant and legend has it that isn't unique to Toyota.

When the slide pins bind the caliper no longer floats freely and the pads wear oddly (and always more quickly). In any event, that is a strong indication of the slide pins binding on the driver side. I don't know of anything else that will do that.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

Caliper piston seizing. This is common.

Reply to
TeGGeR®

Or... that could do it.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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