R171 pads and discs replacement

[Blobcat]

I picked up some Brembo discs and pads awhile ago and today I had time to do the replacement.

>60k miles since they were last changed and whilst the front pads and discs have plenty of life left - 28mm thickness disc and 1/2 full pads, they’ve not been working particularly well and have some juddering.

12mm socket to remove the 2 calliper bolts and 18mm socket and a long breaker bar to remove the pad and calliper bracket.

Some interesting marks on the discs, both pads evenly worn and the sliders all nice and free. 300mm standard discs on mine, I do wonder if it would benefit from the 330mm optional sport brakes. It would mean new callipers as well and my 16” wheels might not fit so I’m staying as is for now.



Drivers side disc would not come off the hub no matter how hard I hit it… so with the aid of a stainless bolt, 2 nuts and my impact driver I used the calliper bracket hole to wind a bolt onto the disc and free it off, worked very well



Next I cleaned up the backing plate, primed it and applied some tough black.



Theo was helping and wondering how many tools I needed to do the job…



One reason I needed so many is there was a bit of rust build up on the hub so the disc wasn’t sitting as true as I’d like. I scrapped and used my dremel to clean off the hub, discs sat much better after that.

Passenger side also had the marks on the disc.

Piston took a bit of moving back and I emptied some fluid out of the reservoir to stop it overflowing.

The inner passenger side pad material came
off the backing when I took it off so it needed changing.



New Brembo disc and pads



The rears will wait for another day as I had to make a roast chicken for dinner.

 

[Wighty]

Looking good . If you still get juddering after all that , it might be front suspension arms or sticking caliper piston

 

[Blobcat]

Today was rear brakes - 131,000 miles and don’t believe they ever been changed



Plenty of pad but disc pretty rusty





As the discs hadn’t been off they were somewhat resistant to release - I struggled to find the handbrake adjuster - used my borescope and it’s top left (10 o’clock position on drivers side) through the wheel bolt hole. Wound it all the way off and was able to turn the disc easily (car in neutral) but it wouldn’t come off

Plenty of “rust off ice” spray, percussive maintenance as well as a large chisel between the calliper bracket and disc and pry bar on other side eventually got it free.

It still wouldn’t come off though as the handbrake shoes were catching on the rusty inner edge of the disc. With a bit more buggeration managed to get it free and only dislodged one of the springs holding the shoes in place.



Cleaned up the backing plate



Primer



Tough black



All back and handbrake adjusted through the wheel bolt hole - top left nearest the top of the calliper.

 

[Blobcat]

Passenger side was a bit more complex as the spring holding the handbrake shoe in pulled through the back of the mud shield whilst pulling the disk off. Same as drivers side the shoes were jamming on the rusty inner of the discs.

Mig welder out and patched the mud shield so the spring would hold.



Cleaned up and primed



Tough black



Spring holding handbrake shoe in place that had pulled out when removing the old disc.



All done pax side. Handbrake adjuster at 2 O’clock position inside the wheel bolt hole nearest the top of the caliper - ball ache to adjust - had to get the borescope back out and take the disc off again to locate and initially adjust the handbrake. Done eventually and I’d probably be a lot faster next time - every 131k miles though I’ll probably have forgotten it all by then…

 

[Monkey Wrench]

nice and tidy
did you set the shoes afterwards? if so what was your procedure?
recently replaced my R230 shoes but I think there should be a set number of clicks of the adjuster from the point of binding.....
i only clicked until i though they were free and not rubbing, but after a road test i felt the drum and its warm, which i think it should not be...
4 fairly firm clicks at the foot pedal hold the rotor

 

[Blobcat]

nice and tidy
did you set the shoes afterwards? if so what was your procedure?
recently replaced my R230 shoes but I think there should be a set number of clicks of the adjuster from the point of binding.....
i only clicked until i though they were free and not rubbing, but after a road test i felt the drum and its warm, which i think it should not be...
4 fairly firm clicks at the foot pedal hold the rotor

I wound the adjusted until the disc wouldn’t turn then backed it off a couple.

 

[Dean Fletcher]

Love a new disc before and after photo

 

[mioba]

Love a new disc before and after photo

whatever rocks your boat

 

[mioba]

Good post @Blobcat
I seen then pic with your boy and all those tools and thought - how many tools....... you adressed the point accordingly