doing front brakes - tools needed

[Wallythacker]

And we expect to see pictures of this tower mounted on your Mirage.

AHAHAHAHA! Imagine a 40 ft. tower plunked on the Mirage roof! Think I might need guy wires?

Maybe I'll install it upright in my one tail light trailer!

[Eggman]

For field days. You'd get great reception.

[Wallythacker]

Use it for ROTA, re*ards on the air!

[Wallythacker]

Wow.

That was one of the easier brake jobs I have done. It was 3c outside. That was not pleasant.

Since both my long coma and various ops I have slowed down considerably. It took me 3 hours for a 1 hour job. The pass. side I did first expecting the rust to be worst here. Not bad. It all come apart OK. I really had to kiss the rotor and HARD with my sledgehammer probably 20-25 times! I nearly gave up and called the tow shop but after a short break to warm up I tried again and pounded loose the rotor.

The new stuff went on fine, the new rotor was nicely crosshatched, the pads had channels to let the dust escape.

The driver side was much easier. It came apart faster, the rotor popped off after 3-4 hits, the rubber boots for the bolts did not pop off and it all went together in a breeze. Total driver side time, maybe 35 mins.

I went for a city drive with hard stops to help seat the brakes and noticed ALL what I thought the exhaust bracket noise was GONE. Are you telling me that insane rattling I heard was from the worn out front pads flopping around? say what?

Anyhow, no more exhaust bracket noise and no more warning light on the dash from low brake fluid, all seems well!

[bunio14]

Was swapping my wheels and decided to check on front brakes as they got slightly louder. To my surprise the pads on the front are almost completely worn out at 26k km (!). Ordering new pads to have fun in the coming days...
I guess driving it mostly in the city by my wife could be 2 deciding factors here

[Eggman]

Was swapping my wheels and decided to check on front brakes as they got slightly louder. To my surprise the pads on the front are almost completely worn out at 26k km (!). Ordering new pads to have fun in the coming days...
I guess driving it mostly in the city by my wife could be 2 deciding factors here

Hopefully the calipers are not bound on the pins. Good luck with your brake job.

[bunio14]

Ordered the parts, did the thorough clean up already. All looks good, applied new lube everywhere needed. Should work for couple of days more before I get the parts. Will have to check the torque specs out of curiosity to assemble it back properly.

[bunio14]

So, did the brake job over the weekend. Surprisingly, the inner pad (piston side) was much thicker than the outer one. Based on my experience the one that is worn out more was usually from the piston side, also this pad has a metal noise sensor. In my case no way it would ever work. I cleaned everything thoroughly, installed new pads - breaking nicely, not heating. Will see how much this set of pads lasts. When pushing the piston back to fit the new pads, I did not like how the dust seal fits on the piston, it was going over it, covering it partially - tried my best but I am afraid it may get damaged. Question - is the rotor bolted on the mirage? It was sitting tightly but could see no bolts like with other cars, the only bolt would be the axle one, didn't want to hammer it to see. I guess next time I change the tires I will take off the rotors and give everything even a better clean.
Edit: I read in one of the posts that upper sliding pins have rubber on them, in my case on both front wheels it was on the bottom ones, not sure if that makes any difference at all - I put them back the way it was.

[Fummins]

The rotor isn't bolted on. They rust in place. There should be one or two threaded holes that you can thread a bolt into to help press the rotor off. I can't remember the thread size but it's pretty much any bolt on a Mirage that uses a 12mm head.

And again, I can't remember which caliper bolt has the rubber on them. It should be the same across all Mirages I'd think.

[Wallythacker]

my brake pads were completely gone and I was using the backing plate as friction material.

I think given the issues I am having with the front end my front tires will come off and I will give everything a good look and check for tightness and add some lube, I wire bushed the spots the pads slide on but no lube, only had a type of grease that I did not think was good for brakes.