348 Brake Pad Change Instructions : MultiPost.

If your jack is too high I would suggest driving onto a bit of wood first and use the correct jacking points. Everybody has some bits of timber lying around so you can leave that $300 jack in the store and still not risk any damage.

 

Good write-up and pics. However, most pros will tell you that if one does not cut the rotors (no pedal pulsation previous that would require it), it is a good idea to "scuff" the rotors with a 3m pad and drill to help the new pads seat right away. Essentially you take the "glaze" off the rotors. Obviously that would require removal of the calipers and a more lengthy job. I have done that for years turning wrenches and never had a problem with pads seating/breaking in. Just a suggestion, Scott

 

Successfully used EBC red stuff in mine, although now changed to ferodo racing for this season, they feel very good one first try out, but still to see how they work on track next week. need to bed in by 25-30 4 second 1/2 pressure braking. Also changed discs - rotors - to 12 grooved ones that have also been cryogenically frozen, meant to harden them. We shall see, last years rears were a bit cracked!

But what I wanted to say was I had to take a bit of metal of the pad mounts on the inside of each caliper to get them to fit. both with the ebc and ferodo. Anyone else had this problem?

 

Thanks for that detailed posting.
I am planning on tackling the brakes on my car next week so it was very timely.
It has made me feel better hearing that the job is a relatively easy one!
Another thing off my 'to do' list... whewww...
Don

 

From what I've heard, unevenly worn pads could be caused by the caliper not moving entirely free due to corrosion and dirt etc. The cilinders push the pads to the discs, but since the caliper can't move freely, the pads on the other side of the disc are not pushed to the disc hard enough so these will wear less then the ones on the cilinders' side.
So if this problem occurs, you should probably clean the calipers and make them movable again.

 

Daniel,

Thanks for the outstanding write-up, photos, and the obvious time and effort you put into this... I appreciate it, and know when I do my brakes your info will be invaluable, as will the input from others afterwards....

Really, you guys are great...!

Mike in Kuwait

 

The 348 calipers are fixed position and not floating. This type of wear, in the proportions depicted, are fairly normal and I wouldn't worry about it.

Another thing you might add to the procedure, if you grease the ends of the pads with the Brembo copper-based brake pad lubricant, it greatly reduces the tendency to squeal at low speeds.

 

Ah ok, didn't know that. Oh well, that excludes my explanation then. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Another trick is to smear a light film of high temp silicone sealant on the back of the brake pads.
This will keep the pads quiet and not allow them to vibrate(squeal).

Great write up.
Has anyone seen the 2 books written by Wayne at Pelican Parts. He wrote 2 books "101 projects for the Porsche 911" and the BMW. The books are well written with color pictures.
I keep waiting for someone to do a "101 projects for the Ferrari 308GT4,GTB,GTS/Mondial".

Charles

 

Awesome writeup!!!!!!!!!

I also understand the neat freak comment---I have OCD very bad and know exactly where your coming from!!!!

 

Danial nice write up. I guess though I would have left in the pads for another 5-8K miles. I usually don't pull them until the center notch is gone. That's about 1/8" pad left.

 

Daniel - thanks for the detailed instructions. I am doing my pad change now.

I found a different way to compress the brake pistons. You used a large screwdriver to achieve this. This didn't work for me. I tried a pry bar and other stuff as well. As I was doing this, I was really scared that the screwdriver would slip and scratch up the rotor or piston.

I found another way to do the piston compression:
1. Put the old brake pad back into the caliper.
2. Take a C clamp (get a 4 inch or large one from Lowes/Walmart/Home Depot) and jam one end of the clamp against the caliper outer end and the screw end into the edge of the brake pad itself.
3. Tighten the C clamp - it will push the brake pad inwards which in turn pushes the piston back in. Works like a charm and there is no chance of damaging the piston or rotor surface.

Note: I put a piece of cloth between the C clamp outer edge and the caliper to prevent scratching the caliper.

If anyone wants to follow this approach, then it makes sense to do the piston compression step prior to taking out the old brake pads out in the first place.

I will be doing the front brakes tomorrow and maybe take a picture or two of this step.