Rear Caliper Assembly Swap & Fresh Rear Brakes

As mentioned in the previous post, sticking passenger rear caliper has to be replaced - as well as at least one set of rotors & pads, I opted to swap both rotors and pads.

StopTech Sport Slotted Rear Rotors

Important Removal Caliper/Assembly Notes:

1. Use a brake disc pad separator to hold the caliper piston while performing the brake work.
2. A brake piston tool is required to spin the rear caliper piston backwards to allow for the fresh brake pad's width.
3. Do not use brake cleaner near any painted items you care about; use extra cardboard to absorb the brake cleaner spray.
4. Do not forget to disengage the parking brake as you'll need to remove the cable from the caliper assembly.
5. Use WD-40 or your preferred degreaser on the four bolts holding the assembly to the spindle.

Speaking of the parking brake:

A) This is the support bracket for the parking brake cable. There is a simple clip holding it in place, use a flat head or pliers to remove. Easy to do when the parking brake is disengaged (which I initially overlooked from habitually putting the car in gear + parking brake before jacking the car up).

B) The cable hooks onto the caliper here, when there is no tension in the cable you can wiggle this free. It may help to lightly spray it in WD-40 if it sticks. Once the cable is unhooked, it can be removed from the assembly.

Fresh brake pads on the passenger rear:

These fresh pads will require using a brake piston tool to complete the installation.

The next major portion is swapping the brake line, this is only major because the goal is to let the least amount of fluid out and air into the brake line. If you position the new caliper near the old one, it is possible to quickly reinstall with minimal fluid lost.

Enter the One Man Brake Bleed bottle:

Always have the bottle above the bleed port.

           After 10~15 minutes:

Note the solidly filled tube without air bubble.

The fully swapped passenger rear:

The driver rear rotor and pad both had mostly even wear:

Thankfully, this wear tells me the caliper is still holding up 16 years later.

StopTech brake pads have a bedding procedure of two rounds of ten 60->10 mph stops with a highway cool down between rounds.

The only problem I had was that on the way to event #6 of the autocross season I found something sharp on the road and punctured the tire. Therefore I'll have to wait until the next event to push the car without 1/4 wheels braking the whole time.