Rep Power: 369

well I changed my brake pads today..

and bleed the brakes too... which I screwed up doing and will have to do again cuz there's a whole mess of air in the system (forgot to watch the fluid level in the master cylinder.. doh!)

so going to have to bleed it again tomorrow.. which I hope will fix the almost no braking power my car has right now...

on another note, I was fitting on the new pads and I have to depress the piston in so I can put the caliper back in... I cant seem to position the rubber boot that surrounds the piston right... it seems to always have a bit sticking out... anyone know what I'm talking about? and have any suggestion to fit it in its position so it doesn't rub against the pads when I put the caliper back in place?? I got a feeling that might damage something if I leave it like that... i think it'll be okay as long as it doesn't get in the way of the piston.. but still...

and on another note about the air in the system... I read something about getting air in the MC will require bench bleed.. or some other way to get the air out...

anyway.. yeah.. man I'm tired. spend 2 hours doing this and screwed up so I gotta do it again. lol. *smack himself* I never take my time doing these things and I always screw it up and end up spending more time.. sheesh.

any help would greatly be appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 369

i think i didn't compress the piston in correctly... like slowly with a c-clamp or something... i just used my hand... LOL.

thats why the boot is stuck out like that.. but still..

 
Rep Power: 312

Here's a link from a thread earlier regarding if you need to bench bleed the MC. At first I thought you had to if you got air in it, but according to solar you dont. The only time is when your replacing it.

A couple of things that might make it easier for you.. one is to get speed bleeders or what I did was buy a MityVac brake bleeding kit. For the 35 bucks it costed me it was well worth it.

 
Rep Power: 369

yeah I think I'll get those... can't get the speedbleeder in time so that'll wait for next time..

I'm still worrying abou the piston though.. when I compress it, the boot around it doesnt go in right.. I Guess I should use a c-clamp or something instead of my hand, and push it in evenly and slowly? I'm hoping that'll solve the problem.

 
Rep Power: 312

Try using a small block of wood with the c-clamp in the middle to apply pressure as evenly as you can. It doesnt have to be perfect, just close enough so that it makes the crinkles sorta even and not rip the boot. Once you get it all back together and bled a little, take a look at the boot for clearance. Usaully they'll even out and not touch.

 
Rep Power: 369

yeah i guess I better find a small block of wood or something. heh.

argh. I just noticed some small dents on my piston.

talk about screwing up.

obviously that needs that piston needs to be replaced.. I'm just not sure if I should do it asap or just have it taken care of later... I think I know the procedure to take out the piston but seeing as how I am screwing up lately I should just avoid that.

the dents are on the edge of the piston.. so the O is still completely intact.. just at one point, the edge is a bit dent in.. it'll still push on the pads evenly, but who knows how long it will overtime...

 
Rep Power: 369

well I just finished everything. realigning the piston in with a piston compression tool I rent at Pepboys... was going to buy a c-clamp, but if they have a tool specifically for this job and I can rent it, why not?

the piston isn't really an issue... the er.. dent part just happens to be at the side where the ring doesn't even touch the pad... so thats a good thing... well when I used the pistol tool it rotated the piston a bit and now the dent part touches the pad about.. but overall I think it'll be fine.


the bad news is, I found out the left front piston boot is damaged. there's a rip in there.. so I'm going to have to get that replaced.. which will cost a bundle. sigh.

what I think I will do is remove that entire caliper with the damaged boot completely and just take it to a shop to have them do it for me.. which will save me some labor cost... and reinstall the caliper myself and bleed the entire system AGAIN.

on another note.. even though there's a small rip in one of the boot, and a dent on one of the piston...

the new system filled with new fluid and new Nissin brake pads performes great.

as always, the best way to learn is through experience.. but its also the most expensive way to learn.

never rush a job, and always have the proper tools before you do a work!

 
Rep Power: 312

Ahh yes.. lesson learned indeed! Glad to hear that you identified the problems and didnt give up. I wonder what the price difference is if you were to upgrade your front brakes versus getting the work you mention done above to the stock parts.. hrrmph.

 
Rep Power: 0

How much did your shop charge you to put on the new boot?

I had a 1999 Civic and I noticed the same problem at 29K miles. I drove it all the way to 63K miles(end of lease) with no problems. Made me nervous, though, and I don't think I'll ever forgo that kind of maint. again...

 
Rep Power: 369

lol. i dont know how much it'll cost me for the boot.. the part isn't the issue.. its a couple bucks for it..

its just a real hassle to change it. u gotta take out the caliper which will result in flushing out brake fluids from the system (which means u gotta bleed the system again)...

use compress air and take the piston on (which er.. gotta do this carefully, it really shoots out appearantly) and er.. basically just take retaining clip out, the boot out.. then slap in the new boot with the piston back in the caliper.. install it back in.. bleed the system again...

I think thats about it.

so yeah the labor will definitely eat it. I was thinking to do most of the labor by just taking out the caliper and take it to them.. and have them fix the boot for me.

I'll get a quote on both of them.

heheh. its tempting to get a multi-piston caliper or a better performance brake.. but geez i dont think this little honda really needs it. when I took off the wheels i was like omg our disc is so small. lol. how does this car stop at all?

it'll probably still end up costing more to fit in a new system then replace the damaged boot. the dent piston i'm going to leave alone... i'll check it frequently though to see how its doing compressing the pads.