GIVE ME A BRAKE! PART TWO

Saturday and Sunday in South Carolina

Changing brake pads prior to the two day High Performance Driver Education this coming weekend in South Carolina, the "Sinko de Mayo"! In part one Brian and I changed the front pads, (OK, Brian changed them and I supervised) along with an upgrade to DOT 4 brake fluid. Today I managed to do the rear brake pads myself, with the extra special bonus of buying a new tool! More importantly, I learned why I needed this tool, thanks to a quick search for an instructional video on line.

Jack Stands = Safe

Safety is important in anything you do with a car, either driving or working on it, so I used two jack stands under the rear of the car.

1 of 2 bolts

After taking off the rear wheels, I just needed a 13mm wrench to remove the FIAT brakes, with two bolts on each brake.

Old pads still in place, plenty of material, but...

The old brake pads were worn a bit, but not down to almost nothing like the front pads. All cars use more braking in the front, something about the laws of physics applies to this, so I probably would have been fine with the rear pads. But, I figured why not have a full set, all new pads  and fluid, so that the two days on the track will be safe.

New EBC Yellow Stuff pads

After putting the new pads in place, I had to push the piston back into the brakes, so I learned the hard way that many cars have rear brake pistons that rotate. In other words, you need to rotate the piston as you push it back in, unlike the front where a big old "C" clamp will push that baby right back in.

New and old, more pad material = better braking

After a quick trip to the auto parts store, and spending approximately a dozen dollars, I had the right tool! It looks like a little dice, and just snaps on your 3/8 inch socket. From there, you just ratchet that evil piston back into its underground lair where it should be, and then bolt up the brakes. Hey, I even did a test drive to make sure the brakes worked, and lived to tell the tale. After checking the brake fluid, I think I'm all set for Carolina Motor Sports Park this weekend.

The evil rotating brake piston (round part with 4 'arms')

The Tool of the Day!

Williamsburg Car Show Italian Style

FERRARI F355

Last time we highlighted the cool British cars from the car show up near Williamsburg Virginia, so this time let's turn our focus to the south of Europe, and show you the Italian highlights we spotted. Believe it or not, we didn't take any photos of our own NMS FIAT Abarth, but we spotted three other FIAT 500s in the show, and two more in the parking lot, so that was great!

FIAT has returned to the US and more recently the Alfa Romeo brand has also returned, so if you're looking for an Italian car that costs less than Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Maserati, the FIAT and Alfa folks have you covered! You can click on any of the blog photos and get a better look too.

FIAT 500 ABARTH

FIAT 500 "NEW 500"

ALFA ROMEO GTV

ALFA ROMEO GTV

ALFA WITH FUEL INJECTION

ALFA ROMEO BADGE

ALFA ROMEO 4 LEAF CLOVER 

ALFA ROMEO GTV

ALFA ROMEO

ALFA SPIDER

FERRARI F355

FUNNIEST LICENSE PLATE OF THE YEAR!

GIVE ME A BRAKE! PART ONE

EBC Yellow Stuff Brake Pad in place

In part one of our GIVE ME A BRAKE series, I've ordered some new brake pads for all four corners of the FIAT Abarth. Nothing really wrong with the current pads for every day driving and auto-crossing, BUT, this weekend we're heading to the track for a weekend, and I've been advised that it's a BAD THING to have your brakes give up the ghost...while driving....at high speed....around solid objects....on Earth.  I guess that safety thing is important after all!

So, after researching various brake pad makers on line, talking to people that know more than I do (Hmm, that would be just about everyone), asking the collected wisdom of the FIAT500USAForum.com and looking at every auto parts store in the local area, I ordered some EBC Yellowstuff pads direct from EBC. This company is based in England, and like most brake pad makers, they have a range of pads that work for normal, high speed, autocross, track, and everything in between. The Yellow pads are a few steps above the everyday stuff, but not quite the full 100% all-out track racing pads.

The pads were in stock, but in different parts of the country! So it seems that my brake pads that shipped from Florida arrived first, and the rears that were shipped from VEGAS BABY are almost here. Yesterday on Sunday, Brian and I watched the Russian Grand Prix from about 8-10am, then we hit the garage and put the front pads on, and bled the brakes. Long story short, Brian did the actual labor, and I supervised! So, the FIAT is in great shape now, with brand new brake pads on the front, DOT 4 brake fluid, and in a few days will also get new rear brake pads.

It was probably really good timing on these pads, because the original pads were very worn down in the front, and Brian estimates they would not have lasted the first day on the track. Of course on the track a car is braking a lot more often, a whole lot harder, and your average every day brakes are not built for repeated braking from high speeds, over and over as in lapping on a track. Your front brakes do the bulk of the work in your every day car too, so this was nice to get the fronts replaced first. With 52,000 miles, and 3+ full seasons of autocross on the stock pads, I'd say I got my money's worth out of those.

That wraps up episode number one. Coming up next, we'll throw the rear pads on the FIAT and start driving them a bit to get them bedded in and ready to go on track. Taking off the current original pads will give us a chance to check out the rotors, pads, and see how things are looking all around the suspension too, so we'll show you SHOCKING PHOTOS of how worn the old pads were, and how AWESOME the new EBC pads are!