DIY Brake pad change.

[young bill]

Hi all,

The brake pad warning light came on today on the 3.0l 2009.
The car is just out of warranty a few months and I am planning to change the pads myself.
Any tips on tools that I'll need? Planning on getting a set of Mintex pads from ebay, anyone used them before?
There is Brembo wear cables on the old fleabay as well.
Your advice will be well received

Cheers

Willie

[young bill]

Righty troops, since no one bothered their butt replying I thought I'd drop in my experience in changing the pads myself.
To be honest I was surprised how easy it was.

Wee method statement

Tools required:
Jack, wheel brace for the wheel removal.
13mm socket, thin chisel and a hammer.Wire brush and emery paper.

Replacement pads and wear indicator cable. (Delphi pads and wear indicators from my local Dingbro - £56.

Take the wheel off, you'll find it difficult if you don't.
Remove the bolt from the rear of the caliper that holds the retainer and pad in place.
Knocked it out from the rear using the thin cold chisel and hammer. Careful not to damage the threads.
Cleaned the pin using the wire brush and emery cloth.
Wear indicator unplugs by pushing in the catch, pushing up and pulling down.
I left the pads in and used a large screwdriver to lever the pistons back into the slides as my wee tool didn't fit.

Reversed the procedure and put a smear of copper slip on the back of the pads.

Bobs yer uncle. done and dusted in an hour and a half.

Dealer's were charging through the nose for these and its so simple. Done some research and I reckon the OEM pads are Pagid.

Hope this helps anyone else in the future. The brake pad indicator clears itself by the way.

[JimC64]

Nice one Bill, thanks for sharing.........presumably it was the fronts?

[turpal]

Sorry didn`t see this thread.Pagid pads aren`t very good as they squick and braking is not as sharp.I had unipart ones on mine and very good responce from the pedal as soon as I`ve changed to pagid I noticed the difference.ATE make genuine pads for vag cars.Hope this helps to others.

[young bill]

That explains a lot. The oem pads always squealed a bit. The pads had been on from new and they are definatley Pagid? Very happy with the Delphi pads. Not a peep out of them so far

[davidson4301]

My new pads were squealing quite bad too. I used a bit of copper slip on the Caliper sliding pins
and on the back of the pads themselves. Problem solved.

[young bill]

Nice one Bill, thanks for sharing.........presumably it was the fronts?

Sorry Jim,

Aye, it was the fronts... Doddle

[mikey2012]

Just one tip, If you have to push the pistons back to fit the new pads make sure you open up the bleed nipple (with a length of pipe added). Also use a brake pipe clamp on the brake hose to stop fluid being pushed back up and possibly flipping the ABS seals which would be big, big money

[allroadkev]

I used hawk ceramic pads all round they have been great, they were bigged up on US forums.