Greg H.

I read P-car and I searched but I can't find the answer. I'm going to do my first brake job in the next day or two and I would like to know where the anti-squeal thingies go, besides on the back of the pad. There doesn't seem to be any marks to line them up with. Do I stick them in the pistons and slide the pads in?

Second, any tricks I may want to keep in mind that aren't in the DIY? I'm replacing the front rotors at the same time and will bleed everything when done. I'm only replacing the front pads since they are at about 20% and the rears are at 50%. Is that ok or should I spring for a rear set of pads? Thanks,

Greg H.

mooty

50% rear pad should be good, unless you are tracking.

i don't know what's in the DIY you read. with regard to the spyders, i too the pads out first. the spyders are still lodged in the piston. you can feel it with your fingers. carefully pick them out of piston with tweezer or your fingernail and then take them out.

AFAIR, there were no alignment marks on the pads. i just stick the spyders (after removing the protector for the adhesive backing) into the pistons (two on each side, not same size), push it in so it's flush with pistons (of course, assuming your pushed the pistons all the way out already) and then slide in the pads, you are done. bleed and pump the brake.

TheOtherEric

The part of the DIY instructions I didn't understand is that before removing your old pads, you need to take a thin paint scraper and push it down in between the shims and the brake pads to break them apart (due to the anti-squeal goop). Otherwise you'll pull and pull on the pads and they won't come out until you break the anti-squeal disks in two.

viperbob

The antisquel pads have metal fingers (or legs like a spider) that fit into the piston. When installing, you put them into the proper piston (making sure the piston is completely depressed) first and then insert the pad.

When removing your factory pads, you'll find that the spiders are glued to the backing plate of the pad. If you intend to do a brake job and have new spiders, the easiest thing to do I've found is to just remove the two bolts holding the caliper on and then take the old pads out with the spiders attached. I even do it this way if I intend to save the spiders. I prefer to remove the spiders in a vise rather than in my nice brake calipers.

Tom W

Why bother with the spiders at all? Neither of my cars has them and I have no squeal. They make pad changes between street and track a real PITA. Without the spiders (and without the sensors) I can swap wheels and pads in about an hour.

Ray Calvo

I'll go along with Tom W; these were an absolute PITA to remove, and I couldn't see an easy way to install them on new pads. Besides, I figured they'd do nothing but contribute to a spongy brake pedal. So in the garbage they went.

Whenever I change pads, I spray the brake pad backing plates with aftermarket anti-squeal spray. Stock Textar pads are squealless with this approach, and I can change pads on all 4 wheels in a little over 45 minutes (993 is about the easiest car I've ever had for changing pads).

Greg H.

Thanks guys. Since I was replacing the rotors, the calipers had to come off anyway and I took the spiders off the ViperBob method. Like a lot of things, this turned out to be pretty simple after I got into it. I was also successful in reusing the sensors. I suppose the fact the sensors were untouched means I didn't really need brakes... Oh well, I had the parts.
Tomorrow night, oil change.

Greg H.