Hi guys
I know this has been answered before but i could not locate it, checked all the threads and posts for the last 2 hours going through each one .Anyways here is my question i am planning on doing a complete brake job on my X. Replacing the front and rear rotors and pads. Buying the drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads. I need to know where to either rent or buy the tool to get the rear pistons into the caliper's.
Also any tips would be helpful i know a lot of you guys have done this job before .
Or even better a step by step process to do it especially on the rears .My x has 85,000 on her and she is ready for some new brakes.

Thanks for your help.

John.

 

The small cube shaped brake caliper rotation tool that fits on your ratchet is well worth the $10 to $15 bucks or whatever at the parts store. You can do it with pliers but it is nowhere near as fast.

 

The fronts are cake. Unbolt the caliper, slide off - make sure to support it. Replace rotor. Put in new pads, replace. Personally I use a bit of disc brake quiet on the back of the pad. - Jag pads tend to be noisy.

The rears need a ford brake caliper tool to compress the piston. Don't try to compress the piston like you do in the front. You could technically compress them with channel locks, but you run the risk of tearing the rubber boot around the piston. Other than that it's the same as the front.

This is the tool:

http://www.etoolcart.com/discbrakepi...latd-5060.aspx

I actually have an older one that looks like a thick washer with tabs on the one side.

Any parts store should have it in their "specialty" parts section.

Watch the level of the fluid in the master cyl as you compress the pistons.

Make sure you pump the brakes several times to build hydraulic pressure again before you pull away.

To Bed the new brakes, find an empty road first take the car to 25mph gently ride the brakes to a stop. repeat 3x. Then do the same from 40mph.

Try to take it easy - i.e. no panic stops or aggressive braking for the first 500 miles.

Take care,

George

 

John, doing the brakes on this car is easy. Like was said, spend the $10-15 on the little cube and it will make things go really fast. I did just what you said to my car and did everything in under 2 hours. That was even including time to paint up some of the parts too. If you need more info, let me know.

 

I just completed the four wheel change over on my 05 x-type.Slotted and drilled rotors and ceramic brakes. It was very simple job, took about 2.5 hours. I did not have the tool for the rear caliper so I improvised and used a c clamp and a pair of channel locks. It took a little longer but the same effect, just be careful not to tear the rubber piston boot. the company I purchased the rotor package was r1concepts off of ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002-...item563ab21b53. free delivery and comes with all four rotors and brakes.Completely satisfied. Good Luck!!!

 

Please note that rotation direction for the rear calipers is different.

Left side: counterclockwise
Right side: clockwise

I crack the bleeder open rather than push the fluid back through the system. I do a fluid change with brake change so I'll be vacuum bleeding anyway.

 

I tried pushing the caliper back without loosening the bleeder and maybe it is just my car, but you have to put a lot of umpf behind the tool to push the caliper back. So, save yourself a lot of heartache and open the bleeder valve. Bleeding the brakes is easy. All you need is a little bit of extra brake fluid and a 4 foot piece of clear tygon tubing that fits on the bleeder valve (5/16" as I recall).

 

Not just your car Thermo, when I first tried it on my X I had the same issue. Then I realized I would be bleeding anyway so I cracked the bleeder and that sped things up a good bit. Even if you are not bleeding the whole system I would still advise to open the bleeder rather than pushback.

BTW, the minimal investment I made in a MityVac hand pump has paid for iteself many times over when doing any type of fluid evacuation or pumping. Easy one man operation. Certainly helps when you have a 4 car fleet.

 

As far as the tool you'll need... You can go to autozone and rent one. Here's how it works if you've never gone through this process before. You pay full price for the tool. You keep it as long as you want. When you're ready to return it, you get 100% of your money back. Just make sure to keep the receipt... it make the return much easier, but you'll also have a record in their system. Not a bad system.
This job is super easy, but make sure you have the proper safety equipment, AKA jack and jack stands. I did a ghetto job in my driveway, and I tell no lies here, my jack collapsed, I didn't have jack stands, and man did it freak me out!!! luckily it didn't do any damage to my shiny new rotor, but it sure did get my heart racing for a few minutes, and really pissed me off cause I had to get a new jack! True story

 

Thanks guys for all the info and tips. I have a nice garage and all the tools and saftey equipment .Ordered the slotted & Drilled rotorsand ceramic pads last night, i am loooking forward to getting this job done .I think i will also paint my calipers while i have it stripped down.
_____________________________
04 X --Type 2.5 Manual
Mods
Mina Gallery mesh grill
Chrome door Pillars
Black roof Shark fin antenna
6000K HID"S
K & N Filters Air & Oil
Soon to be Slotted/ Drilled Rotors Ceramic Pads.

 

Thanks guys for all the info and tips. I have a nice garage and all the tools and safety equipment .Ordered the slotted Drilled rotors and ceramic pads last night, i am loooking forward to getting this job done .I think i will also paint my calipers while i have it stripped down.
_____________________________
04 X --Type 2.5 Manual
Mods
Mina Gallery mesh grill
Chrome door Pillars
Black roof Shark fin antenna
6000K HID"S
K & N Filters Air & Oil
Soon to be Slotted/ Drilled Rotors Ceramic Pads.

 

John, if you are even contemplating doing a painted rotor/caliper job, now is the time to do it. I painted mine (look in my gallery for pics). I did mine up in black to simply hide the calipers. Just make sure to use some high temp paint as normal paint will not normally hold up for a long time from the heat of the brakes.