Since Vance has the special caliper tool kit required to replace the rear brake pads, I made the trip to his place yesterday morning since I figured at 62,000 miles our rear pads were probably close to done. Turns out they still had a bit of life left in them (maybe 5,000 to 10,000 more miles based upon my wife's mix of mostly highway driving), but I decided it would be wise to go ahead and change them to the new set of Wagner ThermoQuiet pads I had ordered from rockauto.com back in March. Vance knocked out the job in less than ten minutes per side. He could do this stuff in his sleep. I also brought a fresh fuel filter with me, and he proceeded to change that as well. It took more time removing and re-installing the plastic fender panel to get to the fuel filter location than it did to actually change the fuel filter itself....

Those of you who have already met Vance know what a great guy he is. We spent far more time shooting the breeze and playing with the dogs than we did actually working on the car. That's what made the morning so enjoyable for me....

So thanks again for all your assistance, Vance. It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday, and you're a very valuable asset to this forum....

 

Jon, thanks for the post and the Kudos to Vance, which is really deserved I'm sure. He has been and hopefully will continue to be an asset to this site for some time to come

 

Agreed, Chris is a great guy and was very helpful when I had my STR.

 

That's superb , thanks for your thread and kudos to vance as well .

 

+1 ^^^ way to go Chris, good job!

Jon I am happy you guys were able to get the work done fast and easy.

 

Thanks Jon it was a pleasure. It was a pretty mechanical day. After you had left I had a friend come over and did an oil change, then after she left I dismantled half my bike to do spark plugs and a primary and oil change. So even through that rain that we got hit by actually got alot done. Just let me know if you need anymore assistance in the future. If it wasn't raining I could of got a video for it to add to the channel but I didn't want to risk a downpour on the camera.

 

I wish we had a Vance580 clone in Atlanta

 

+1 ^^^ but only in Virginia Beach! Thx for people like Vance580 that are willing not only to share their expertise, but to lend a hand as well!!

 

Hello Vance580!!...
I noticed that my rears are still about 60%, having said that...my EPB pads are nil. Do you need the "special tool for those also, or just for the rear pads? And where might a fella pick one up?

Thankt you Sir
Drive On!!...
Fast Freddie

 

For the STR's you only need the special tool for the EPB. The rear brembos just push in like normal calipers except there are 4 pistons. I cant remember but I dont think the kit I have which is the autozone rental kit worked on the brembo EPB. For mine I just used a big set of channel locks and very carefully turned it in with those just make sure you dont put the channel locks on the piston boot only get the little bit of metal of the piston and you should be good. The rental kit from Autozone may work I just dont remember if I had tried it or not. I do know that the cube tool I couldnt get a good bite with it so I just went with the channel locks.

 

Nice work Chris!