Brake job lessons learned / questions

[.22lr]

I decided that my long history of attempting to kill my entire family through laziness had come to an end. Said another way, I finally got around to doing pads and rotors on our 2009 Rav 4 and 2011 Ford Fusion.

Pad wear in the Ford was a bit extreme (in the rear i had brake shoes only). And in the Rav4 (which carries my wife and kids) pad wear was 70%... The Toyota pads had been saved from wear due to non contact with the rotors. Non contact meaning 50% pitting, grooves cut into the rotor surface, and other family risking insanity.

Both cars recieved Raybestos long life rotors and Akebono ProAct pads.

Lessons learned:
- never question if a fastener needs anti-seize, it does.
- have more than 1 container of anti-seize available.
- mating surfaces and anti-seize can be great friends.
- brake cleaner removes anti-seize
- a 4 lb Estwing masonry hammer works great as a quick tool to remove a stuck rotor
- Light radial hits to a stuck rotor work better than perpendicular.
- the Estwing is great, but in cases where hitting rotors with hammers doesn't help, a rotor puller is pretty nifty.
- Rotor pullers will pull the rear rotor off a Rav4... Even with the emergency brake set...
- prior to using a rotor puller, check the status of the emergency brake...
- the emergency brake on a 2009 Rav4 is tolerant of a lot of abuse.

Questions:
I need to bleed the system of old fluid as a questionable pocket tester indicated higher than desired water content. I am a father of young childern so I'll be doing this solo. Based on the above, I'm looking at vacuum bleed systems:
-which vacuum bleed system makes sense for solo use, with the caveat all tools should be bought with long life as a primary focus.
- Anyone remember which brand makes their dot 5.1 fluid in two different colors? I always found the color thing useful while doing bleeds, and now i can't remember the brand.


That's it.

[kevm14]

- Rotor pullers will pull the rear rotor off a Rav4... Even with the emergency brake set...
- prior to using a rotor puller, check the status of the emergency brake...
- the emergency brake on a 2009 Rav4 is tolerant of a lot of abuse.

lol, nice job.

Questions:
I need to bleed the system of old fluid as a questionable pocket tester indicated higher than desired water content. I am a father of young childern so I'll be doing this solo. Based on the above, I'm looking at vacuum bleed systems:
-which vacuum bleed system makes sense for solo use, with the caveat all tools should be bought with long life as a primary focus.

Mityvac with the reservoir should be available at any car parts store. That said, I really recommend pressure bleeding with a helper in the car. If you want to decrease the time you are making your wife do something she doesn't want to do/doesn't have time to do, you can use the vacuum bleeder to pull most of the air out of the system, and pull the new fluid through. Then you can just do like 5 pumps at each corner to finish the job. That's what I would do. If you REALLY want to minimize her involvement, then try doing a full flush/bleed with the Mityvac, and test drive the car. A lot more time for you (especially if the pedal doesn't feel right and you have to jack it back up and pull the wheels) but it may turn out fine and then you're done.

- Anyone remember which brand makes their dot 5.1 fluid in two different colors? I always found the color thing useful while doing bleeds, and now i can't remember the brand.

Are you sure DOT 5.1 is specified?

The best brake fluid that I know of, that also comes in different colors, and is compatible with DOT 3/4/5.1, is the ATE stuff:
Amber: http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.j ... rake+Fluid
Blue: whoops. Check out this hilarity: http://hooniverse.com/2013/08/16/brakin ... tribution/

Looks like your choices are clear or amber, as per FMVSS. At this time I don't see a quick option for the same fluid that comes in two different colors. But if you have clear now, just get the ATE amber stuff.

[.22lr]

Ordered. Thanks.

[.22lr]

Just because.

FB_IMG_1451968586217.jpg

[kevm14]

Disturbingly, it is not totally unheard of to wear down the rotor so far that the outer cheek is gone and it's into the cooling vanes.

Warning: graphic content.

Destroyed%20Rotor.jpg

Anyway, in juuuuust a few more miles, this will be ready for a brake job (there are still some visible cooling vanes, or as they are correctly termed, wear indicators).