My next question. Brakes this time.

[Kevin M]

Thinking I'm going to need new brakes soon. I'm at 50,000 and have never had them worked on. Had them estimated at 30 K and they said they had 65 % pad left both front and back. Got a little Christmas money. So three questions.

1. Pads. I don't autocross or anything, but I think some high quality pads might one day save my front end, so I could put some money into those. Low dust preferably.

2. Rotors. Do I need better than stock, do they make much of a difference for daily driving (Trans Am type daily driving admittedly)?

3. Assuming I buy some new pads or even rotors, who would you suggest put them on. Won't be me, but will a chain store suffice or do I need a Hi-Perf store?

This will be going on a 98 T/A Vert w/ stock rims and Firestone SZ50s. Got to spend money on my suspension, so I'm thinking $500 total for this. Any ideas would help. Thanks all, K

[tabahr]

Why not DIY? It is SIMPLE to do.

If it were me, I'd pull of the front tires and inspect the rotors. See if they are badly scored or grooved. Are they warped? does the car vibrate and the pedal pulsate when stopping?

If this is the first brakejob the car has had, everything works properly and the rotors look good, I just re-use them. Slap in some new pads and I'm on my way. I dont even have them resurfaced. This might not be the recommended way of doing it, but i've done dozens of brake jobs this way, they perform properly and of my friends complain. (plus they like the price)

Stock rotors are cheap, if they are really high milage, warped or badly grooved I'll replace them. If it were me, I'd have new pads in it in under an hour for less than $90. I would inspect the rears, but I'd bet they are still fine. Rear disc brakes last a long time.

all you need for tools is a jack, lugwrench, large C-clamp, and a allen or torx socket to remove the caliper bolts.

1) Jack up the car, remove the tire.
2) Remove the 2 caliper bolts, clean them, coat them lightly in wheel bearing grease and set them aside
3) Remove the caliper and make note of the positioning of the pads. Do not allow the caliper to hang from the hose. Some people use a coat hanger wire to make a hook for it, I just balance it ontop the spindle.
4) pull out the pads
5) use the large clamp to push the caliper pistin(s) all the way in.
6) put in new pads, and reassemble.

All done!! it really is a piece of cake. You'll save hundreds of dollars. You'll save enough to justify buying the tools if you don't already own them.

[Christopherrr]

definately do it yourself...from a scale of 1-10 (10 being hardest), replacing pads is a 1. If you can twist a lug wrench, you're good to go.

Tabahr is right on this on...even replacing the rotors is a snap.

Oh yeah, instead of removing both caliper bolts, I just remove the lower one and swing the caliper out. 1. it's one less bolt to remove. 2. you don't have to worry about it hanging from the hose, and 3. makes the job even faster.

it's a snap...after you do it yourself and gain some confidence..you can tackle your spark-plugs! Now that's fun!

Also, Hawk pads are the norm in the board...you can get the over the shelf stuff...but believe me, you'll be wanting more. Have some Reybestus (spell check) and they stink, got em from Advance auto parts (couldn't wait on shipping for the Hawks). They literally pour brake dust and don't bite well either.

Next time, I'm ordering the Hawk Pads along with some PowerSlot rotors...have fun. Later