edit: this was my FIRST time I had ever taken off even the wheels myself! lol so you can understand that any newbie can attempt this... hopefully you will get the guts to do it yourself! I used motorvate.ca to get a good idea on what to do.

well I was always *****ing about my brakes squeeling... then I decided to change the pads. I went out and bought raybestos quiet stops, bought all the necessary tools/stuff (C-clamp $1.50 and anti-squeel glue $3.99). I took off the front tires, and took off the caliper (10 min, only have to remove 2 nuts).

I slide off the brake pads and the shims and to my surprise i have well over a half the pads left! I didn't want to waste it so i used brake cleaner and cleaned off the back of the pads and shims. I then applied the anti-squeel glue, put them back and OMFG, the front brakes don't squeel!! It's so simple! I know I was afraid to do this because messing w/ the brakes is nerve wrecking, but it is quite simple.. hardest part is taking off the wheel lol.

As for the rear brakes... they still squeel. I discovered that those pads don't have shims at all. I need to go out and get a pair of shims and more anti-squeel glue and hopefully I will be set to go. I urge all of you guys to check this out! I have a bunch of pictures of what I was attempting (posted earlier for painting calipers) and hopefully the ppl who haven't tried this before would get a better idea of what is involved. That anti-squeel glue really made the difference!

only 2 things i really needed:


to your left, you can see the back of the brakepads w/ blue anti-squeel compound... and in my other hand is the shim



Eventually these pics will not become available to see on the forums (stupid yahoo photos thing)... so check out the whole album. We got photo happy, but you will get the jist of it

click on "3.21.03 max brake-calipers" under spring break:
http://nadir-photos.2ya.com

 

yeah dude i've taken my brakes apart completely about 3 times already, and each time i cleaned everything out with brake cleaner, and put mad anti squeel goo everywhere, but they still squeak. it might be my cheap Bendix pads, and also my mechanic said my rotors were scored on the edges and need resurfacing...

so basically i'm gonna wait till my pads wear out, then i'm gonna buy some quiet stops, and resurface my rotors. but then again, i might not have my max by that time