Thanks guys. I got most of the stuff today except the torque wrench, c-clamp, and gloves. I am going to just replace pads this time with the OEM ones that someone said above that cost around $42. I hope the jack I get comes in good shape. The weight is almost 80lbs on that alone.

I didn't get a torque wrench yet because I am not sure if it is needed as person said above. Also I am afraid I will rip the threads out since I'm pretty big lol. I don't want to pay $11 for c-clamp either. I will try to find a used one on ebay. This is coming from a guy that just bought a Pro Series floor lift for over $100 LOL.



The way I figure it, I'd rather spend $100+ to prevent the car from slamming on my face than spend $11+ to push a small piston 1" lol.

 

Sorry man but this is still a guess. No reason not to have a torque wrench when working on your car.

 

i've taken my wheels off and put them back on over 50 times and i have NEVER used a tq wrench to do it, its not guessing if you have TESTED it out with a tq wrench. the big T bars work well too.

try it.

also you'll notice most technicians at dealerships and local shops wont have a tq wrench, only the shop foreman or the guys that have too much money to spend have them, almost any job can be done with different techniques w/o a tq wrench, for example if you have a 1/4" ratchet w/o an extension and you wanna get about 10-15 ft/lbs of tq place your hand at the top of the handle so your hand is covering the part you connect the socket to. that'll give you that tq. practice makes a big difference.... not guessing.

 

Ill give it a try i guess. When i took my tires to get rotated i had the guy show me the torque wrench that he uses.

 

im tellin you it works

 

Quick question! Do you put the car in neutral, park, or e-brake when doing front brakes?? I am getting different answers.

 

To be safe, put it in gear and tight Ebrake. Are you auto ? Just park and tight ebrake.

 

I have auto. I heard if you put it in park and ebrake, you will ruin the transmission and the ebrake pads. Some people say to leave it in neutral and some say to put it in park? Man this is too confusing.

 

pack and ebrake

 

Whoever is telling you to put it in N to work under your car, do yourself a favor and never talk to them again.

 

Well I don't want to name names because everyone is doing their best to help. The way I figure, it would make sense to put it in neutral if I was going to want to spin the axle around. I don't plan to do that. Also, using my engineering detective work lol, I came up with this when it comes to changing a flat tire:

Find a stable and safe place to work. You need a solid, level surface. Avoid soft ground and hills. If you are near a road, park as far from traffic as possible and turn on your emergency flashers (hazard lights).

Make sure that the car cannot roll. Apply the parking brake and put car in "Park" position or in first or reverse if using a standard transmission. If possible, it is a good idea to place a heavy object (such as a brick) in front of the front tire (if changing a rear tire), and vice-versa.

So in that case, I already got the tire stoppers but I was going to get a couple of bricks from Home Depot when I get my gloves and c-clamp thingy. When it comes to cars, you don't really get second chances lol. I've never met anyone that has had the car fall on them.

Also, if pressure on the e-brake drum in the back wheel or parking brake had pressure, it wouldn't be that much since 3 wheels are still on the ground and I'm only lifting the tire about 1 inch off the ground.

Thanks guys. I would have wound up taking pictures of my progress and never being able to upload them because the car crushed my body lol.

 

For my own purpose so I can print this and use it when changing brakes:

Tools:
-Torin Pro Series Lift, Stands, Tire Stoppers - $111.57
-TRD Sparks OEM Front Brake Pads = $52.01
-6" C-Clamp or Piston Compressor = ~ $12
-Pack of Gloves = ~ $9
-14 mm Socket Wrench
-Torque Wrench at least for the tires: 76 ft/lb torque
-Brake Cleaner: if you replace rotors or just to clean brake area
-Rubber Grease from Toyota: $18.45
-Bricks from Home Depot for additional tire stop protection: negligible

How To:
1. Put car on level surface. If using asphalt, a flat wood piece can be used for stands so it doesn't sink into street.
2. Place car in Park AND e-Brake
3. Turn each lug nut 1/4 turn to loosen them up
4. Jack car up
5. Place stands near jack area to support car
6. Remove tire with last bolt being the top one
7. Take off tire
8. Use 14 mm socket and take off TOP bolt of caliper
9. Swing caliper away. If removing rotor, take both bolts off and support caliper with clothes hanger.
10. Remove pads
11. Put new pads in and use grease on back of new pads
12. The piston comes out to meet the decreased height of old pads. Piston will need to be pushed back flush so new pads which are thicker can fit. Use c-clamp or other device to move piston slowly. The pressure builds towards the brake fluid which is under the hood of the car. Clean up any leak if needed. Brake fluid is bad for paint.
13. Hand tighten the caliper back on and then use wrench. Decide if you need a torque wrench. 25 ft-lb is a good torque to use.
14. Put tire back on and hand tighten lug nuts in star shape pattern.
15. Slowly lower jack and remove stands
16. Torque lug nuts to 76 lbs-ft

Notes:
-Apply Rubber grease to pins so they don't seize up with heat
-Use brake cleaner on new rotors
-Don't kill yourself

 

You are making this so complicated. I don't know what the rubber grease is for but all you need is brake grease to put on the anti sqeal shims which is like a dollar.

 

actually not complicated, toyota's own service manual calls for a "Lithium Soap Base glycol grease" to be applied to the sliding pins. since the rotors are going to be replaced, the caliper has to be removed. which means that the sliding pins have to be removed. once removed the same grease has to be applied when reinstalling the sliding pins. if you use anything else it gums up, others can go ahead and argue not to use it, but i've already seen it happen, so why not use the stuff it was designed for? that's the grease he's talking about.

the brake grease you're talking about is applied to the shims to make the pads quiet, different grease.

also here is a quick link to others who know the right sliding pin grease to use
http://siennachat.com/forum/index.php?topic=1991.0

 

I've been looking at my brake rotors and saw that my front rotors look a lot worse than my rear ones. It isn't that they look super bad, but just old and rusting on the edges. I checked my records that I keep in my car and this is what I saw:

New Rear brake pad/new rotors: 68554 miles - 10-17-09
New Front brake pad/resurface rotors: 48966 miles - 8-23-08

That means I've been using the stock rotors since I bought the car almost 6 years ago LOL. I have almost 95,000 miles now.

Time to also buy new rotors!

I'm getting some nice ones this time! Still pretty good for rotors to last as long as they did.

 

yeah wow 95k miles?!! yeah they definitely lasted awhile! i really like the idea of those rotors that have the black hat that doesn't rust on the rotor.

so 50k since the last resurface for the fronts yep sounds like time for new ones.

thanks for the update

 

Doesn't matter how many miles you have on them. If you want to really know if you need new rotors you get them checked or buy a tool to measure the thickness. Sounds like you just want new rotors so just say that.

 

My front rotors are so old that the area where the pad hits is at least 2-3 mm below the edge of the rotor which is rusted on its own. I don't need to measure thickness. My eyes don't lie.

Plus I live in a horrible climate where it snows like everyday - including this past weekend lol!

 

Yea, i def don't miss $hitsburgh.

 

Haha. I've only been here since 2006. VA is 10x better. My tC gets owned in the winter and crapped on in the spring.