I'm about to start my first ever brake job on the 960 tonight. I plan to replace all four corners with new pads and rotors. I'm looking for a bit of advice from the pros and veteran brake masters out there. Anything I should know before I start? Are there any tools I should go out and buy? What sort of things should I look for as I go along?
Thanks in advance.

 

I wonder with brakes it would be better to find a friend that had some experience, as replacing pads is one thing, but replacing all your disks (rotors, sorry) is another. Its at least a day's work, even with the pre-91 900 series. I am not familiar with the post 91 models, but even with the older cars, you have to take the bearings out of the rotors and replace them, re-torquing them correctly so they don't wear out prematurely. If you need to ask the forum on such a major safety issue, I would be very cautious. Do you really need to change the rotors? If you just do the front pads and see how that goes. There are loads of quick video guides on the net, but briefly, you need something like a flare spanner (11mm) so you can undo the bleed nipple and a G-clamp, as well as 13mm spanner to undo the calliper. Undo the calliper bolts (don't break them) then lever the calliper off and support it (save the flexi lines). get the correct pads and the little plastic shims which hold the pads to the pistons (or piston on the later cars). Undo the bleed nipple and use the G clamp to push the piston back far enough to allow the new pads to fit. Fluid will spill, but its better than undoing the cap on the reservoir, which forces dirty fluid back into the system. Close the nipple up, do not overtighten. Then insert the pads. some systems have metal springs on the pads built in which hold them off the rotor. Once the caliper is back together it is essential to pump the pedal until you push the piston forward until it reaches the pads and butts them up against the rotor.

 

If you are vaguely mechanically minded it's an easy enough job.
Make sure you re grease the caliper slide pins, when they stick it causes all sorts of problems

 

Year? Have you inspected the front rubber hoses? If old, they should be replaced. How is your parking brake? Have you checked Brickboard about the Power Flusher?

Lots of Brake Cleaner, PB-Blaster, synthetic grease. DOT 4 Fluid, and a BFH to loosen up old rotors.

 

Yes, definitely check the rubber lines. On my 1990 740, they were badly cracked at the caliper screw in fitting. There are plenty of vendors out there for good stainless lines now, and they're about the same price as rubber lines.
Mikesredheap is right to be concerned and the suggestion if finding someone who knows brakes to at least supervise is a good one.
Most important thing with brakes, if you find something wrong, fix it! Brakes never get better and they are too critical to mess with.
And sorry Henry 10, I mistakenly hit edit instead of reply with quote on your post, so that's why it says I edited it!

 

On the old dual piston calipers, there were two rubber flexi hoses and they last about 15 years, but they do bulge out and fail inspections. The later models had one quite beefy piston and flexi line. I did not know you could get the steel ones, that sounds a great idea. The floating pins on the calipers are a real pain and they do seize. I broke one a couple of years ago and had to make a substitute myself to replace it. If one seizes you get really uneven wear on the pads. Another prob the late 80s early 90s brakes had was the pistons sticking. I used to push them out as far as possible and polish them, then wet them with brake fluid and push them back in and rotate them so the burr or whatever that was causing them to stick was in a different place. This would usually help. New pads were good as the piston would be pushed right back into the bore and this would be beneficial.
As someone said though, with brakes, you have to be sure of what you are doing. Whilst it is great to encourage people to have a go to do their own maintenance and they have to get the experience somehow, if someone familiar with the braking systems can spare the time to check things over, this is safer for everyone.

 

We all did brakes for the first time once. I had no one supervising many moons ago, but had a book with me.

In Arizona, you may not have the rust issues we have here in the NE, so that should make things simpler. I for one, no longer bother with the rubber hoses. I just replace them along with the steel lines attached to it. $ 5-6 for each steel line.

And take into account that you may or may not finish the job when you think you would, so you may not be able to use the car.

 

I finfished the front brakes in under two hours, everything went extremely well. I had no stuck bolts, which is surprising considering how rusted everything was. You don't have to mess with the hub bearings on the '95 960, so it was as easy as popping of the old rotors and replacing them with new.

 

I NEVER open a bleeder screw unless I am bleeding the system after I have opened it. Opening the bleeder screw is an invitation for air to get trapped in the system. Would opening the bleeder make it "easier" to compress the piston? Yes, but it can also invite air into the system, every of you're careful. If you've been adding fluid to your master cylinder (which I also don’t suggest) opening or cracking the cap while you're compressing the pistons is sufficient to let excess fluid escape, and will remind you why not to add fluid unless you have taken it out. My suggestion (if replacing rotors) is to get a good set of metric "allen" sockets for pulling the caliper brackets out.

 

Precisely what I did. I just opened the cap on the master cylinder and layed a rag over it to prevent dirt from getting into the fluid. I compressed the cylinders and a little bit of fluid over flowed. The system was over full because the previous owner added fluid to compensate for worn pads and thin rotors. Started car, compressed brakes 10-15 times, topped up the brake fluid, took her for a test drive.

I reccomend the type of metric hex wrneches that work with your ratchet, it makes it quick job and spares your knuckles some trauma.

 

Nice theory. Don't ever work on ABS equipped cars. Pushing the crud back often ruins the ABS pump.
And seriously, who does a brake job and doesn't bleed the system whilst they are there?

 

I've done thousands of brake jobs without bleeding, or "flushing" as the dealers and hack-shops call it. I've also done thousands of brake jobs that included a bleed or "flush". Personally, I've had pretty good luck with just sucking down the fluid in the master cylinder and putting new fluid in, and then repeating as necessary as it will get dirty again if your fluid is dirty.

 

Never had an issue replacing brake pads and not bleeding the system. The only times I've had to bleed the brake fluid were when it was dirty.