This morning I taped off the parts and started to coat the calipers.
Rear Before & After two coats

Front Before & After two coats

After waiting three hours I applied the LT SPYDER decals.
Front

Rear

All done and wheels on.
Rear

Front

First lets cover a few of the basics before we actually begin. First off why even bother changing out your brake fluid? Well for one if it’s NEVER been done you have DOT 3 brake fluid which has a relatively low boiling and will cause your brakes to fade if you use them a lot in the twisties or on a track. Brake fluid is also hygroscopic which means it absorbs water. As it absorbs water it’s boiling boint becomes even lower since water boils at a much lower temperature. So it is best to replace your fluid once and awhile with DOT 4 which is fully compatible with DOT 3 fluid but has a higher boiling point. However there is another reason to reguarly change out your fluid which we all face. Even those of us who drive like a grandma. With our ABS system the water that is absorbed by the fluid can cause problems over time. IIRC 2 years is the accepted time frame to flush the fluid to prevent this.

Ok onto the procedure.

Tools Required:

1) One man brake bleeder
2) Air compressor *
3) 8mm box end wrench (A socket wrench will not work)
4) 4 new brake bleeder caps **
5) Brake fluid (preferably DOT 4 and about a quart of it)
6) 4 Jack stands (not shown and semi optional)

* Note: If you do not have an air compressor you may consider griots one man brake bleeder that you can pump by hand.
** Note: I have heard tales of parts guys saying you don’t need a bleeder cap. You do, you don’t want road crap in these things. Also the reason you need to replace them is because the ones toyota put on our car like to crack in a very short period of time and when you take them off they fall apart. Best to have new ones on hand. Part number for these is 31478-30010.

Once you get your air compressor plugged in set it to between 75-120psi as that is the normal working pressure for this bleeder. Then you want to walk over to your car and open the frunk lid. Under there you should see a cap that looks like this.

(Note: My frunk plastics are out so you will probably just see the top of the cap if yours are still in.) Now clean all of the dirt around in that area so you don’t end up like this…

There’s a little strainer in there (thank god) that you pull out. Do that now.

Now your master cylinder should look like this with the strainer removed. And here comes the more interesting (in a good way) part of the procedure.

Remove the black piece at the end of your brake bleeder by pulling it so you just have a bare hose like the picture below.

Now insert that into your master cylinder (where we took off the cap) and pull the trigger on your brake bleeder. Watch in amazement as your fluid level magically drops.

Once that’s done refill the master cylinder with fresh brake fluid. You don’t need to be exact with the level just sort of “fill her up good”.

Ok now put your black piece back onto the end of your hose. Put your car up onto the jack stands and now it’s time to hunt down your bleeder valve. If you are a really small guy you might be able to do this without the stands but it just seems easier to be able to move around under the car easier. My wheels were off when I did this but that is only because I was doing other stuff with my suspension. I see no reason to take them off just for bleeding your brakes. When you’re under your car you should see a little thing sticking out of your brake caliper like this.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800×600 and weights 60KB.

You can now pull the little the bleeder cap (the little rubber piece) off.

Then slip your box end wrench over the bleeder valve like so.

And then slip your brake bleeder over the nipple.

Finally pull the trigger on your brake bleeder so it starts sucking and crack open your bleeder valve by turning the box end wrench (counter clockwise to losen). Watch the fluid as it comes out through your hose, once it turns clear you can close the bleeder valve. I usually find it rather hard to tell so I just let it go for awhile and call it good. One thing to make note of is to never let the brake master cylinder go dry!!! If you do you’re going to have air in your system and do this all over again. Also don’t forget to put your brand new bleeder caps back on once you are done with it all. Same goes for the cap on the brake master cylinder.

One last thing I should mention. You want to start at the farthest wheel from the master cylinder (rear passenger side in this case) and move your way towards the master cylinder. Don’t ask why because I don’t know, it just is. So that means you start at the rear passenger side wheel move onto the drivers side rear wheel, then to the passenger side front wheel, and finally the drivers side front wheel.

Overall I would rate the difficulty of this project on par with an oil change. Not hard at all and with this tool any wanna-be gear head can do it in a matter of 15-30 minutes.

Now get out there and change your brake fluid!!

While having my tyres replaced I noticed the rear discs & pads were getting worn/corroded and as the MOT is due next month I thought it best to replace them to give time for bedding in.

Here again is a picture record of how it was done (showing rust and all) using tools not necessarily recommended by the manufacturer

JACK UP
SUPPORT CAR
REMOVE WHEEL

REMOVE SLIDER BOLT (12mm RING SPANNER)

ONCE BOLT IS REMOVED
PIVOT UP THE PISTON ASSEMBLY AND SLIDE OFF TOP PIN (This can be a little awkward but it is doable)

YOU CAN NOW REMOVE THE PADS WITH ANTI SQUEAL SHIMS

REMOVE TOP & BOTTOM CALIPER SUPPORT BOLTS (17mm RING SPANNER)

THE OLD DISC CAN NOW BE REMOVED 9There are two drawing holes if needed)

I USED A “WIND BACK” TOOL PURCHASED FROM HALFORDS FOR £19
THIS WAS MORE THAN ADEQUATE FOR THE JOB
WHEN DOING THIS REMOVE THE BRAKE RESERVOIR CAP AND DRAIN OFF THE EXCESS FLUID (As shown in the front brake replacement)

AFTER WINDING BACK THE PISTONS
ROTATE THE SLOTS AS IN PICTURE TO ACCOMMODATE DOWEL IN BRAKE PAD

CLEAN OFF AND LIGHTLY COAT ANTI SQUEAL SHIMS WITH COPPER GREASE

SQUEEZE SPRING CLIPS ON TOP AND BOTTOM OF CARRIER TO LOCATE SLOTS ON PAD NEAREST TO YOU

THE REAR PAD JUST SLOTS IN TO CARRIER (Note that I put a nut on the new disc to hold in place while assembling)

SLOT THE PISTON ASSEMBLY ON TO SLIDER (Again this is a bit awkward but doable)

REPLACE SLIDER BOLT AND JOB IS DONE

BEFORE MOVING OFF START THE ENGINE, PRESS HARD ON THE BRAKE PEDAL THREE OR FOUR TIMES THEN APPLY THE HANDBRAKE THREE OR FOUR TIMES (This should take up the adjustment)

Hope this helps

If I have missed anything / made a mistake then please let me know and I will edit this guide.

**** Usual disclaimer about doing it at your own risk and if it all goes wrong, both I / MR2ROC take no liability****

All of the items, neatly packaged, ordered from

www.braking.co.uk

.

First of all, with the car on level ground, make sure the wheels are chocked so that the car can’t roll away when it is jacked up. With the car still on the ground, loosen the 4 wheel nuts very slightly, about half a turn each. put the jack to the correct jacking points and jack it up.

remove the final four nuts and take the wheel off. Place the wheel underneath the car so that if the jack were to fail, the car would land on the wheel and not YOU.

Next, open the bonnet and remove the cap from the brake fluid reservoir.

With the wheel removed; look at the state of my discs.

First up, undo the bolt which holds the brake pipe in place.

Secondly, undo the top and bottom bolts of the caliper:

This allows you to remove the caliper and sit it out of the road. (NOTE: If you’re only changing the pads, this is as far as you need to go. remove the old pads and replace with new ones. refit all other parts in reverse order to above)

If replacing discs as well, remove the bolts as shown in the picture below:

This allows the removal of the second part of the caliper.

Removing the disk is often a case of simply pulling it off to reveal the hub. If you cannot get the disc off, the 2 small holes are there so that you can insert two screws and tighten so that you are pushing the disc away from the hub, until the disc is removed. The hub should be brushed with a wire brush to remove any dirt / rusty bits and make a good flat mate with the disk.

Further inspection of my old discs revealed excessive wear and “Grooving”

For the new discs, it is important to wipe them down as they will still be slightly contaminated with oil and lubricant from their production. I used white spirits and a rag to clean them.

Next, simply fit the new disc over the hub.

and replace the first part of the caliper as shown below:

A comparison between my old pads and my new ferodo ones. Strangely, the new ones don’t seem to have a groove up the middle. I have to say though my new brakes are a million times better than the previous so I don’t think this is any kind of issue.

Fit the clips onto the brake pads and insert the new pads into the caliper

Carefully apply copper grease to the back of the brake pads. Be sure not to get ANY on the pad / disk surface as this will cause your brakes not to work! Applying copper grease to the back of your pads stops your brakes from squealing

Because the size of your existing brake pads is much thinner than your new ones, you will have to push the pistons back in a little to allow it to fit over the new pads & disk. When doing this, be very careful not to damage the rubber seals of the cylinders. To push it back, I put 2 bits of wood between the piston and the caliper and pulled them apart to push the piston back in.

Fit the caliper back over the brake disk and reinsert the 2 bolts that holds it on.

TADA! Doesn’t that look nice?

Refit the brake pipe clip.

IMPORTANT: Refit the brake reservoir lid!

Now, Refit the wheel and jack the car down. remove the chocks and retighten the wheel. before driving the car, start the engine up and pump the brake pedal several times to get the pressure back up in the system.

when using the car for the next while, take care not to use the brakes too hardly / nor depend on them too much till they are properly worn in.