Hi All,
Parts sourced from Nick at Yeovil - 20% forum discount. Discs/pads come in at £225 delivered or there abouts. I also bought a flexible loadspace cover, rear mudflaps and front tow eye cover plus disc pins for £379 delivered. Interestingly the tow eye covers come in at about £15-25 on ebay (yes that tiny bit of plastic on the lower spoiler) and Nick is doing them for £2.28 + VAT!

First problem was how to jack and support the car. In the end we settled for the RRs own scissor jack in the front slot, backed up by axle stand nearby on the chassis, plus another axle stand near front but purely for mishaps!
The scissor jack performed very well despite my concerns. Eventually the front right tyre cleared the ground allowing final turns of nuts to get it off - or so it should but that wheel was quite happy there. Persuaded it to detach with a little trolley jack and a rubber mallet!

Shortly thereafter we realised the job should be easier with the steering turned hard left to expose the caliper which unlike BMWs is on the rear of the wheel. In the furture, and on the opposite side, I would remove the two pins holding the pads in place first with the caliper still on the hub.

The caliper is a solid piece. The two pads slot in to it and are held in place by two pins that vary in cross-section along their length. By inserting a long thin tool and striking with a hammer, the pins should start to shift towards the centre of the car, allowing the spring retainer to fly free (be careful there) and eventually the whole pin pops out the far side. Sounds easy but the pins are filthy and therefore are really tight to get moving. Plenty of WD40, a bit of cleaning and persistance and they shold just hammer out.

My discs were lipped so the pads would not slide out but the pads coupled with a rag and monkey wrench easily push the twin pistons back into the caliper enough to get the pads out.

All the removed components were cleaned and wire-wooled to hopefully make refitting easier.

I needed a breaker bar to get the caliper bolts off - I was planning to replace these (£4.70+VAT each) but as it turned out they just needed a nice clean and they were as new so pleased Nick forgot to order them!
With the steering hard left there is just enough room with a wrench extention/ breaker bar to crack them and remove the caliper - be sure to undo in the right direction and not snap the heads off as I did last year on my peugeot!

We used a pile of bricks in the wheel arch to rest the caliper on and avoid strain on the brake line. The caliper pistons should ideally be pushed back together being careful not to catch the rubber piston lining. Do not forget to undo the brake system resevoir and wrap the top with a clean rag to catch any spillage - this is located at rear offside engine bay.

The disc is held in with a 6mm allen pin. This came off easily but the disc was locked on solid. Again, plenty of WD40, a bit of trolley jack and a lot of whacking with rubber mallet and hammer and the disc eventually relented.

Cleaned up as much as I could given the time and prepared the new kit. Brake cleaner fluid all over the friction surface of the new disc. Plenty of copper grease applied to the hub and new disc offered up. Pushed it into place with wheel nuts and them secured with a new disc pin (the 6mm allen screw).

Caliper was then reapplied with cleaned and re-locktited bolts to a hand tightness. New pads tested for fit and crud in caliper found to be restricting passage. Bit more cleaning/scraping and then copper greased back plate and sides of new pads and they slid in wonderfully with no effort.

Put bottom caliper pin in, apply the spring retainer and then whilst pushing the spring down, hammer the second pin in. Hammer it flush with the inside edge.

Torque up the caliper bolts - I winged it here but I would be stunned if they came out with an extention bar tightening them and locktite!

Copper grease on the wheel mating surface and wheel back on.

We found the trickiest parts to be getting the disc off and working out how to get the pad pins out - we thought that they would be screwed in/locked in place somehow - a lunchtime break to view the internet showed brembo brake with the pins just sliding out!

A pads change in literally wheel off, pins out, pads out, pistons back, new pads in, pins in and wheel on.

On the other side, we progressed alot quicker with the lessons learned. Yes I did crack the wear sensor but it seems not totally so it is plasti-cuffed to itself until I fit a new one.

The best bit is that the brakes work and do not squeal. 500 miles of being gentle with them.

Dealer quotes seemed to be about £480 to do front disc and pads. I would say that even buying all the parts and all the tools/jacks/axle stands you may need, you should still save a healthy amount.

This maybe the only set of discs I ever change on her as one would expect 20,000miles from a set of pads and three sets of pads to a disc but when I next do the pads I will buy new caliper pins.

I always find jobs like these take far longer and turn out to be more of a ballache than the internet/guide say it should be but it is a challenge and certainly not rocket science - plus it saves a fortune knowing I can do it myself!

Hope this helps someone have a go. There is so much info out there on the internet. As long as you can research the task and set aside a bit of time it is very satisfying.

Kind regards,
Ed '96 Volkswagen Polo 1.4CL - SOLD
'00 Audi A3 1.8T - SOLD
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'00 Peugeot 406 HDI estate - 63mpg! - SOLD
'08 Range Rover TDV8 Vogue SE - SOLD
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'07 E61 BMW 530d msport touring - SOLD
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