Changing brakes pads on FF

I decided to change the grade pads on my FF (after the warning light came on).

Aside from the brake pads and attendant hardware/sensors, the tools needed are:

rubber mallet (you can use a regular hammer if you're confident you won't miss and hit the caliper)
13 millimeter socket (needed for front calipers only)
7/8 inch sock (lugs)
Brembo caliper pad pin punch ($30 almost anywhere on the internet)
jack
caliper press ($30 amazon)
torque wrench

it took about 2.5 hours, and I by no means was rushing.

The procedure was pretty simple. Find the jack point , jack up the car. The jack point raised both tires on the side being jacked, so that is how i changes the pads. I also rolled the front fenders, installed 10 millimeter spaces and titanium lug bots at the same time.

For the front pads, you knock the caliper pad pins out using the pin punch, then undo and remove the bolt on the caliper. Now you just work the pads out. It takes some elbow grease and wiggling, but they do come out. I took a before picture to note how the hardware and sensor are installed.

Once the pads are out, disconnect the sensor and you are now done with he old pads. Installation is a simple revers. I took the time to clean the caliper as best I could, then installed the new sensor, routing it along the same path as the old sensor. then I installed the new pads. I had a brake caliper press, but the front pads weren't worn much, so I didn't need the caliper press on the fronts. I'm pretty sure I could've not changed the front pads, but I was this far, so I went ahead and changed them. Once the pads are in place, then it is time to install the hardware. There is a bracket that goes on the caliper, and through the bracket you thread the caliper pin, The caliper goes through a hole in the caliper, then the pads on one side of the rotor, over the brake, through the pads on the other side of the rotor and then through the hole in the outside of the caliper. There are two caliper pins, its best to thread them along at the same rate, i.e. don't install one pin completely and then attempt to install the other, it won't work that way (ask me how I know)

The rear brake pad press is the same, with the exception of the bolt requiring the 13 millimeter socket, there isn't one on the rear pads.

The surprise to me was that the rear pads were worn far more than the front pads, especially the inner rear pads on both sides. I guess traction control engages far more often using the rear brakes than one would guess. My car is street driven, not insanely agrgessively, yet the rear pads were wrong

some pictures (i failed at taking a pic of the caliper with pads out)

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New pads with sensors and hardware
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brake pad pin punch on pin (without this little punch this would've been a nightmare
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front caliper all done, cleaned and new pads/hardware/sensor installed
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the bolt from the front caliper that requires the 13 millimeter socket
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not part of the brake pad change, but here's the fender roller installed
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rear brake caliper before i changed the pads.
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pics of the titanium bolts pre and post install. these have been sitting in a cabinet for about 10 months, lol
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these wheel alignment tools are a life saver when installing wheels by yourself. Its been awhile since i bought them i can't recall where i got them from. You just align the wheel, slide it on and bolt it right up. Image Unavailable, Please Login
i ran a timer on my iPhone for the job.

Now onto bedding fo the brake pads. The instructions that come from brembo with the pads say something to the effect of "start with a series of stops from a low speed due to diminished braking".

A quick google search turns up more involved process to bed the brakes (which is what I used). The process was more or less similar for the CCM brakes I had on my viper.

 

This is great info, thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Great tutorial with pics! Subscribed!

To do something like that for the first time, it will probably take me way longer than 2.5 hours to just change the pads.

BTW, what does rolling the fenders do? I have heard about it from time to time. What are the benefits?

 

thanks!

My car is lowered with novice springs, rolling the fender basically takes the inner edge of the fender and bends it in to make it point further up, so it can't catch the tire