Photo Essay - Brembo Brake Fluid Flushing

[PhilMeUp]

Other threads that you might want to read before/after reading this one:

http://www.fordxr6tu...tandard-brakes/

http://www.fordxr6tu...e-fluid-tester/

http://www.fordxr6tu...age__p__1120730

http://www.fordxr6tu...age__p__1116643

I fitted a Brembo brake system to my taxi in September last year (ie 2011). Why? Because the standard brake setup overheats quite easily when worked hard (eg frequent downhill braking) and fades. I did a bunch of homework on braking options for Falcons and found that a Brembo setup was pretty much the premier option but too expensive to justify. When some brand new calipers turned up on eBay a few weeks later at a price too good to ignore, I ended up starting along a path from being under-braked to overkill.

The braking system on this taxi now comprises of:

- 6 piston front calipers

- 4 piston rear calipers

- DBA5000 355mm x 32mm front disc rotors

- FPV 330mm x 32mm rear disc rotors

- Goodridge braided brake lines

- Hawk Performance ceramic brake pads

- PBR Super Dot 4 brake fluid

- Speed bleeders (ie brake bleed nipples with a small one-way valve inside, that means that fluid can come out, but no air goes back in. This makes it much easier to bleed or flush brake fluid.)

It would be a fairly safe assumption that this car now has the best brakes of any taxi in Australia.

Brake fluid is one of the most over-looked things in a car or motorbike. People do all sorts of things to improve the performance or output of the engine, suspension, gearbox, exhaust and other things. They might even put bigger brakes on their car (like I have). But, very few people realise that over time, brake fluid absorbs water moisture. Eventually, the brakes become weaker because of this, and during hard braking (when there is a large heat build-up), the brakes can fade to a dangerous level.

Water boils when it's hot, so that is one of the reasons why we use brake fluid (ie higher boiling point). Water boils into steam when it gets hot enough. If that happens and you're pushing hard on the brake pedal, the force gets absorbed by the compressing steam instead of being transferred to the brake calipers. You then have brake fade and possibly a crash.

So, these days I flush the brake fluid in my taxi very regularly to ensure that I have the best braking performance possible. I've flushed the fluid plenty of times on the previous standard brakes, but this was the first time I had done so with the Brembo setup.

The inside of the brake fluid reservoir cap - plenty of crap there. I pulled the rubber out and cleaned the whole lot with CRC Brake Cleaner.

My Wurth Brake Fluid Tester was showing that my brake fluid didn't contain an alarming level of moisture, but enough to justify flushing the fluid. I was also curious how much difference in brake pedal pressure there would be between this and fresh fluid.

The tester has five lights - one green, two orange and two red. Here I've got the one green and two orange, so it's not time to panic yet (ie two red lights) but is the perfect time to flush the fluid.

Whenever I get the wheels off the car I always take advantage of being able to clean them properly. It's the one time that I have equal access to the entire rim, instead of having to reach down into corners when the wheels are on the car. I use BT18 cleaner in a weed sprayer bottle and a brush, both of which can be bought from any Bunnings or hardware shop. Spray the CT18, rub the brush everywhere and rinse it off with a hose.

This photo also shows that my wheel cleaning skills (ie bloody fussy) are significantly better than my gardening skills (which are completely non-existent).

Here's the first one to flush - the passenger side rear caliper. You can see how the Brembo calipers have got two bleed nipples on each caliper - an inner and an outer one. You flush the inner ones first.

Thanks to the speed bleeders that I have, flushing brake fluid is a very simple one-person job. After trying lots of places in Australia without success, I resorted to getting these sent via mail order from the US last year, and after working with brakes with these things in place I'll have them on every car that I own for the rest of my life. It just makes it so easy to flush fluid on your own (in any environment, including a front yard) and ensures that no air can get back into the system.

For each nipple I put the hose on, loosened the nipple and gave the brake pedal 15 pumps. Why 15? Just a number that I came up with and figured would be plenty to ensure that enough fluid went through to flush out the old stuff.

Once I had done the first caliper I realised that although the caliper was still fairly clean, I now had access to clean it even better. Likewise for the Koni Red shock absorber. So, an application of CT18 and brush got rid of the brake dust, followed by rinsing it all off with the hose (ie low pressure water).

Having done the rear passenger caliper, it was off to the driver's side caliper. By now I had decided to try a ratchet spanner instead of the conventional one. The head on the ratchet spanner is a lot bigger but still fits between the nipple and Brembo caliper, and meant that I could turn the nipple more. I also found that I could then use my right hand to turn the ratchet spanner back and forth, and hold the hose over the nipple with my left hand (ie the nipple head would rotate inside the hose). This was to minimise brake fluid coming out of the nipple and onto the caliper.

After flushing each caliper I poked my camera into the wheel arch and took a photo of the brake pads. This was to have a record of how quickly the pads are wearing - this stuff was all fitted about four months ago, so I'm not yet sure how often I'll be going through brake pads. By taking photos, I'll know how much the pads have worn at particular dates and learn how quickly they wear. As we can see in this photo, the rear pads have almost zero wear, so I can expect them to last a considerable time.

All hail the mighty front Brembo and DBA5000! Photos don't show just how damn good this stuff looks in real life. When I was originally putting all this stuff together I had already found a set of front and rear secondhand disc rotors, but then found a secondhand pair of front DBA5000 rotors at a brake parts place. I initially wasn't sure if they were suitable for my car, but a Google search for the part number that night confirmed that they were indeed DBA5000 rotors for a BA/BF Falcon.

This was at 2am. Knowing that the brake parts guy hates computers with a passion (so email wasn't an option), I handwrote a note saying that I definitely wanted the discs, went to the brake shop and pushed it under the front door. I didn't waste any time getting there the next day. One of the advantages of the two piece design (ie aluminium in the middle) is that it dissipates heat quicker, thus keeping the bearing hubs cooler.

I'm using Hawk Performance ceramic pads on all four wheels, but at the front driver's side wheel one of the sound/vibration absorbing plates has come loose from the rest of the brake pad. No big deal, but I didn't have time to sort that out right now. I'm not entirely sure what to do yet, but I'm guessing that I'll pull the pad out and glue the plate back on.

With the Hawk ceramic pads, I had read that some people were having issues with brake noise, but I have had no noise issues whatsoever. They still put out quite a bit of brake dust, but it's more of a reddish-brown colour instead of the usual black, so it's not as obvious on the wheels. I generally clean my wheels twice a week - I have a thing about clean wheels on cars, and the chrome wheels just look awesome on this car when everything is all clean and shiny.

Photo of the inner nipple on one of the front Brembo calipers. I'm a tad miffed about the scratch on my beloved Brembo caliper (bottom of the photo) - the wheels have plenty of clearance so maybe a stone or something got caught between a wheel spoke at the caliper. I spilled a bit of brake fluid on this one but wasn't fussed because I cleaned each caliper after flushing the fluid.

Here's a photo showing part of the front lower control arm and the front lower control arm bush. When you brake hard, all the weight of the car gets transferred onto that bush. I assassinate front lower control arm bushes. They are evil, and must be punished. With a pair of six piston Brembo calipers on this 1,700kg car I am now doing that on a regular basis. I suspect that I'm going to end up replace that bush on a regular basis, thanks to my lead-foot habits with braking.

Having flushed all four calipers the light was starting to fade and it was time to wrap it all up. A quick dunk of the brake fluid tester confirmed that I now had no water moisture in the reservoir.

Here's one of the photos that I took of the front calipers and pads, showing that they are roughly about half way through their expected life. My records show that the front calipers and pads were fitted on the car on 5th September 2011, which is now 147 days ago. The car has done 48,685km in that time, so that would indicate that I'll get roughly 100,000km out of a set of front pads.

Here's the fluid that came out of the car. The stuff in the orange juice bottle is what came out of the brake fluid reservoir. There's quite a bit there because I made sure that the fluid in the reservoir is perfectly clean before I start flushing it through the rest of the brake system. I drain the reservoir with a 60mL syringe (get them from any place that sells stuff for horses), put fresh fluid in, swirl it around with my fingers (with a rubber glove on) and then repeat once or twice more. The Gatorade bottle is the fluid that came out of the calipers. I did 15 full pumps of the brake pedal for each of the eight brake nipples and that filled the bottle perfectly.

Now it was time to use the Snap-on TECH3FR250 torque wrench that I bought via eBay last year. I used to tighten up wheels nuts as tight as possible before I learned that doing so was only putting excess pressure on the disc rotors and thus contributing towards brake shudder. This torque wrench is digital and retails in Australia for around $600-700. Getting a near-new one from eBay in the US cost me $A284 delivered.

I now tighten up my wheel nuts to the level which is specified by the manufacturer, which is 125Nm. I could have bought a smaller torque wrench, but I also wanted something big enough that could do the front bearing hubs some day - they require tightening to 300Nm, which is within the limits of the TECH3FR250.

If you're having issues with brake shudder then do some homework on the Snap-on digital torque wrenches and buy one. With these ones, you use the + and - buttons to set the torque in whatever units that you want. You can alternate between various metric and imperial units with the U button. When you get close to the set torque the handle vibrates, and makes a beep when you get to the pre-set torque setting.

I concluded this task by giving the engine bay a quick clean with CT18 and water. Yes, this car has done 454,000km and the engine bay still looks like new. Whenever someone (ie mechanic) does anything with my car for the first time they think that it's just been converted to a taxi. No, it's not far off half a million kilometres now. This car became a taxi when it was originally bought new, back in 2007.

With washing the engine bay, there's a trick to it that I've just about got sorted out by now. There is the rocker cover (ie the green bit on an LPG Falcon) and there is the coil cover (ie the black plastic bit that goes on top of the rocker cover).

When washing the engine bay, water can get in under the black plastic and into the spark plug and coil area, resulting in the engine running on less than six cylinders. Then you have to pull the plugs and coils out to dry them. Not particularly hard, but the bolt at the very back is a bugger to get to (I leave that one out these days).

There's a rubber gasket that goes between the coil cover and rocker cover - I replaced that with a new one a few months ago (ie fresh, soft rubber) to make sure that I have a good seal.

With rinsing the engine bay, I wave the hose in a U-shaped motion to minimise the amount of water that goes onto the coil cover. I use a garden hose for this - NOT a high pressure hose, such as what is at a car wash.

Looking at this photo makes me want to go and replace the coolant reservoir bottle. I had a bunch of trouble on an Easter weekend one time with a taxi that had a crack in the bottle and was squirting coolant out. I ended up stopping at service stations every hour and topping it up with tap water so that I could get through the weekend. The resulting red burn marks on my right arm were quite impressive. If you have a BA or BF Falcon and your bottle is looking old, consider replacing it with a new (or newer) one.

So, after doing all this, was there a noticeable difference in braking performance? Yes, there is definitely a better response when applying the brake pedal. It's not a huge difference, but I can pick it because I drive the car so much and know it extremely well. And, for at least the new few months, I'll know that the braking system has been been checked, maintained and is working at full effectiveness.

When that panic moment happens, such as someone driving through a red traffic light at 4am or a drunk person running across the road in front of me and falling over, I'll be able to slam that brake pedal down and immediately focus on steering the car, instead of pushing the pedal and wondering what is going to happen next.

Doing all this took about an hour and a half, and I wasn't rushing. It's amazing how much easier it is to do things like this in daylight. In the past I've done things like this late at night (ie 2-4am) and often in the rain. Or, gone to a carwash and done it there (ie shelter from the rain). Working on a car in daylight was one hell of a novelty today.

When I started this task I realised that I really wasn't in the mood for this, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. This is mainly because of the speed bleeders and how easy it is to flush fluid through without having to undo and tighten up the bleed nipples constantly.

As a routine precaution, I replaced the top and bottom radiator hoses when summer was starting. Just as well - the bottom one was bulging a lot and wasn't far from bursting. I would recommend that BA/BF Falcon owners do that at the start of each summer.

With the drive belt, you can see the smallish pulley at the front, just under the green rocker cover (ie it's got the shiny bolt head). That's the idle pulley. When you hear Falcon engines rattling, it's often the bearings in that pulley that are making the noise. It's fairly easy to replace. You don't have to replace the bolt at the same time - that's just what I was given when I ordered the part.

As mentioned at the start, there are some other threads on here that explain about some of the parts that I use now. The speed bleeders in particular make it easy to bleed/flush brake fluid. So, if you haven't fallen asleep yet, keep on reading at:

http://www.fordxr6tu...tandard-brakes/

http://www.fordxr6tu...e-fluid-tester/

http://www.fordxr6tu...age__p__1120730

http://www.fordxr6tu...age__p__1116643

[JETURBO]

dude what a write up thankyou for sharing with us in such detail

[Dillz]

This guys on fire..

We'd be lucky if our taxis even have breaks.

[JETURBO]

yeh at the start I thought u were joking about the taxi thing hahah I take it u own and opperate your own cab and good onya for having a decent ride/safety if u have to be in it 8hrs plus a day

[hrick]

Great write-up, pics and info

[Ciaran]

^ This is definitely not the case.

Just like your other brembo write up, awesome stuff mate.

I do like the sounds of those speed bleeders and they're quite cheap!

MORE OF THESE THREADS!

[g6t]

cabies do 12hour shifts.

[JGP]

Great work, cheers!

[PookeyMaster]

Wow, that's an awesome writeup mate. Thanks for going to all the effort for the rest of our benefit

Do you have an eBay link for the torque wrench and the brake fluid tester if you got it off eBay as well?

How much do ceramic brakes set you back if you dont mind me asking? I've always thought they were pretty expensive...

[PhilMeUp]

Wow, that's an awesome writeup mate. Thanks for going to all the effort for the rest of our benefit

Thanks, you’re welcome. A few years ago, when I first saw someone post a bunch of photos of them working on a car or bike, I thought that they had only dragged out the job and taken more time. These days, I realise that although it does take some time to take photos, it puts something out there that other people can look at in the future. I’m not an expert mechanic, but stuff like this is very simple to do, especially once there’s a photo guide to show how it’s done.

Do you have an eBay link for the torque wrench and the brake fluid tester if you got it off eBay as well?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280723127789?item=280723127789

That link works now, but will expire in the future. Anyone looking for a torque wrench should search for TECH3FR250 (which can also handle the torque requirement for front bearing hubs) or TECH2FR100 (for general use). Postage for my TECH3FR250 came to $US51.

How much do ceramic brakes set you back if you dont mind me asking? I've always thought they were pretty expensive...

Nah, the ceramic pads just put out less dust, but will have less bite. For the six piston front calipers, the pads part number is HB616Z.607. For the rear pads, the part number is B194Z.665. You can buy them overseas easily enough, but they are also available in Australia, including Race Brakes Sydney. I bought mine from Jegs.com - the front pads were $US179.99 and the rear ones $US111.99. Postage was a killer (they are very heavy), but my main reason for buying them overseas was that I wanted to get a bunch of speed bleeders and couldn’t find them in Australia. I probably didn’t save any money on the pads, but the speed bleeders were something that I wanted very, very, very badly. And, sure enough, bleeding brakes and flushing fluid is now an extremely easy job that I can do on my own in the front yard at night.

This week I also ordered a GiroDisc brake pad spreader, for $US225 plus $US65 post (total of $US290). That’s a heap of money for something I’ll probably only use a couple of times a year, but I can’t see any any other way of easily pushing the pistons back in on the Brembo calipers. And, when I do work on those calipers, I need to be able to do it fast.

http://www.girodisc.com/Caliper-piston-spreader_p_5970.html