Front brake disc and pad fitting guide

[Legojon]

Although the brake pads still had a fair amount of material left, I believe the discs are the factory originals. Plus, all the rust made me feel sad. So I decided to change the front pads and discs on Sealion2.

Firstly, before you do anything, remove the wheel nut cover (I don’t have a tool for this, so just used the smallest allen key I have and yanked!):

Then loosen off the wheel nuts. I used a breaker bar to save struggling. Whatever you use, make sure you loosen them slightly before raising the car in the air:

If your unsure how to jack the car and get it up in the air, check my guide here:
https://forums.seatcupra.net/index.php?threads/jacking-the-front-oil-filter-change-guide.446948/

Take a screwdriver and remove the top and bottom rubber bungs protecting the slider pins:

You’ll then want to take your 7mm hex bit and take out the caliper slider pins. If your struggling, turn the wheel lock full on so you can get a better view of what your doing:

I always get these stuck, and they should be greased so you can’t just pull them out. But once they are loosened all the way, you can get a screwdriver behind them and push them out:

You should now be able to remove the caliper. If it’s too tight, you can lever it slightly to push the piston back in 1-2mm to allow it to come off:

I suggest using a bungie cord or similar to take the weight of the caliper as they are a fair lump of metal and if your like me, you’ll be messing around for some time:

I took this opportunity to clean everything with brake clean and a wire brush. I also sprayed brake clean onto a cloth and wiped around the piston itself to remove any debris before pushing it back in:

At this point if you haven’t already, I would remove the cap off the master cylinder and put some rags around it as your about to push the brake fluid back up the lines:

Just pull out the outer pad, leaving the inner pad in for now. Using a caliper rewind tool, water pump pliers or the strength of 10 bears, push the piston all the way back in (and check visually it is all the way or you won’t get it back on later):

 

[Legojon]

Onto the brake discs:

Take a Torx30 and remove the single aligning screw:

Since the discs looked to be factory originals, there was a fair amount of swearing at this point. I applied some WD40 liberally. Hit the disc face with a hammer all round. In the end, I rammed this bar behind it and summoned forth the strength of 20 bears. Eventually it ended up 10m up the driveway:

Although I imagine by the time new discs are needed again, it’ll be the least of my worries. I Cleaned, wire brushed and copper slipped the hub for the next poor sod:

Importantly, remember to clean both sides of the new discs with brake cleaner. They put some kind of factory oil on it, I did know at some point why, but wasn’t important enough for me to remember:

Fit the new disc, and replace the aligning screw (once it’s aligned of course):

I’m now ready to fit the new brake pads. Quick comparison old vs new. I don't have wear indicators, so I just cut the sensor cable off as close to the pad as possible:

Apply a thin coat of Ceratec to the backs of the pads and all over the little hook bits (As they are they bits that slide along the calipers and make the squealing sound:

Replace the pads back into the caliper. Keeping in mind, usually the one with bigger clips (or the only one with clips) goes into the piston. The one with no pins or the smaller clips is the outside.

We can now replace the caliper onto the bracket:

Clean up the slider pins with some brake cleaner, then apply a fresh layer of grease so they slide freely:

The slider pins can then be torqued up to 30nm and the rubber caps replaced. Again, if you haven’t already, feel free to turn the steering lock so you can see the back of the caliper:

With everything refitted, go ahead and replace the road wheels:

Torque the wheels up using a torque wrench (for me it was 120nm). Then replace the center cap:

Before you attempt to drive the car anywhere, check the brake fluid level, replace the cap. And pump the brakes several times to push the pads back against the disc. If you don’t do this, the first couple of times you hit the brakes, nothing will happen!!

Grab a beer, sit back and admire.