DIY under 20min Brake flush
 

Im getting the car ready for the track and brake flush was on the agenda for today and trying to figure out if I need to do brakes.

Here are the front and rear brakes with 1/4" and 3/8" of pad left respectively.

How thick are the pads when new?
I'm supposed to have 50% or less wear for the tech inspection.

What do you think? Do I replace them now to pass the inspection?

Front
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l...ront092912.JPG

Rear
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...rear092912.JPG



Here is the movie of the Brake flush, my first time to show how easy it is.
5 minutes per tire or less.....nice! Pumped the Blue fluid to replace the gold colored stuff. Used about 1/2 liter of fluid.

brake flush - YouTube

Those pads look to be >50% all the way around. My WAG would be that your ~60% on the front and ~80% on the back.

Thanks for the vid!

BTW, not that it matters, but there's no need to loosen the lugs in opposing pairs as is the case when tightening. Also, the standard Porsche jack can be a knuckle buster (don't ask how I know). The best way I've found to use it is to hold the outer handle firmly in place so that it is perfectly (as close as possible) aligned with the jack drive. Allowing as little movement as possible about the X and Y axis rotate the inner handle around the outer (like it's orbiting). This will help to avoid bloody knuckles and will transmit the most energy to the jack. Man, I've had way too many flats... If you going to do more DIY, look into an inexpensive hydraulic floor jack. Save you compact jack for when you really need it!

Fronts are too thin, IMHO. Rears are fine. I'm assuming these are stock pads. My fronts are about as worn as yours after 2 track days and I will replace them before the next track day. At that thickness, you can overheat the pads and also, if you have been on the track before, they will not have the bite of new pads.

Mintex are great pads and dirt cheap, spend $60 and get some new fronts.

JB,

You do know there are two bleeder valves per wheel, right?
Or, do you feel that doing just the outer valve is good enough?

I think someone needs to get some caliper paint.

Really?.......Drat, I should have read the maintenance manual.

I better find out where they are and complete the bleeding/flush properly...thanks.

Yes, I need a floor jack. Time for a visit to Harbor Freight.

The stock jack works but the effort required is tiring as it has a lot of resistance.

It would have been easier if I had not used a piece of lumber under the jack.

The calipers were quite dirty with brake dust but are beautifully painted with an almost 3D effect. The flash made them look absolutely bizarre due to the depth and gloss.

It was so hot outside in the blistering sun I did not bother to clean the calipers and the rims. Even hotter in the garage hence the outside work.

You take the bad with the good in Califronia, but I'll enjoy the good in January with the top down :D

Having been Canadian I don't miss the cold at all and would rather sweat in the heat and take a plunge in the lake than have to try and work with gloves in the garage.

You won't have trouble finding it.
BTW, will you be bleeding the clutch?
Both the brake system and the clutch share same fluid.
The clutch bleeder valve is not easy to get to but you still have left over brake fluid.

Brake flush:
1. Buy a turkey baster.
2. Suck up fluid from reservoir
3. Add new fluid.
4. Release your to lazy to finish, and call it good.
5. Repeat after 20-50 miles of driving and say "Good enough..." lol

DONE! lol

(I'm totally joking, HOWEVER, I do know people that do this with there personal cars and always seem to have clean fluid..... lol)

Hmmmmm, did not know that about the clutch sharing the brake fluid, I'll have to look for the clutch bleed screw, Just one???

I found the Brake pad specs. My Fronts are 1/4"(6.4mm) and Rears 3/8"(9.5mm) so 53% and 90% respectively.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z...rake_specs.JPG

So my WAG was pretty close.:cool: :D

That video should probably not be listed as a DIY on YouTube.

I'll redo it to include the second bleed screw as well.

If I can get the tire on right away it will probably still be under 5 mins.

In the mean time I'll edit the comment to say I missed the second bleed nipple on the video.

You might also want to mention about the bleeding of the clutch, too.

You might get the wheel on faster if you use the alignment post from your tool kit. A good impact gun would shave some time as you wouldn't have to break the bolts loose with a breaker bar first. Also, as you are making a DIY vid, maybe you should include torquing the lug bolts to the correct spec (96 ft-lbs) when re-installing the wheel.

Not being critical, just making what I hope are helpful suggestions.

Good vid but don't you need to bleed the inside pistons too?

EDIT; sorry just noticed this has already been covered.

James

This is all good feedback as I'm new to Porsche and want to do it right.

Learning lots already that was not obvious.

-2nd brake bleed nipple
-96 ft-lbs (1152 in-lbs on my torque wrench)
-Clutch bleeding sharing the brake fluid reservior.
-Wheel alignment post (So that is what that thing is for)

Just came back from lunch with a Floor Jack on sale and some jack stands.

Just noticed an optical effect that you can put to good use when evaluating the conditon of your brake rotors.

In this picture the reflection of the yellow tape measure shows where the rotor is not worn evenly because the reflection of the straight edge of the tape is showing a major dip, which of course the tape does not have.

Therefore the surface of the rotor changes from perfectly level at this point, probably in this case because the brake pads are not wearing evenly all the way
to the edge of the rotor.

Interesting!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...cal_effect.jpg