[glopez5]

Had my ss 1le for 4 years this May, sitting at about 43k miles on stock rotors and pads. Honestly, the stock brembo pads could of gone another 10k in my opinion, the rotors though had a lip. That's with no track days.

I went with the power stop z26 pads and ac delco rotors.

My .02 if you decide to diy and solo:

1. Impact gun would have been nice.

2. Make sure you have different size breaker bars. I found the front 18mm caliper bolts were on there insanely torqued. The driver side top 18mm bolt was probably the hardest, I had to lay on the grown and use my legs to push on the breaker bar to finally get the bolt loose.

3. Punchout set from harbor freights worked perfect for hitting the caliper pins. I had already used them before in the past when I was trying to figure out why my pads squealed so much
https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...set-93111.html

4. The rotor bolt is a t30 and at least on mine they were really easy to take out, almost no effort.


Project took me all day, I took my time and had to do it all solo. It really wasn't hard i've done rotors and pads countless times on other cars, but never had to struggle like this to break the bolts lose.

I'll try to post some pics in the morning.




Pics:

Rear pads after 43k miles


Z26 Front compared to stock with 40k. Was expecting new pads to have more meat. Front old, rear new

[MatthewAMEL]

Did you replace the caliper bolts? Keep in mind the OEM bolts are TTY.

And you are correct about impact tools. They make the job much easier. No breaker bars needed.

Screaming Chicken and Advance Auto have replacement bolts that are not TTY, so they can be reused.

[glopez5]

I did not know that, sounds like I'll probably have to jack car up again soon and replace each one. Do you know the part number at advance auto?

[cdrptrks]

Originally Posted by MatthewAMEL

Did you replace the caliper bolts? Keep in mind the OEM bolts are TTY.

And you are correct about impact tools. They make the job much easier. No breaker bars needed.

Screaming Chicken and Advance Auto have replacement bolts that are not TTY, so they can be reused.

The shop manual does not say to discard the caliper bolts after removing them. It says you can reuse them with new red threadlocker (see attached screenshot). If you buy replacement bolts, they come with dried red threadlocker pre-applied. The factory applied threadlocker is the reason they are so hard to remove. I bought the Harbor Freight Bauer electric impact for this job and it would not break my bolt loose even after heating it with a small handheld propane torch for a few minutes beforehand although it claims 1050 ft. lbs. bolt breakaway torque. But I had to use an impact rated 1/2" U-joint to get the right angle which reduced the amount of torque reaching the bolt. I took it to a local shop and their air impact also didn't break it loose but they only tried it for a few seconds and I don't know what air pressure they were using. Standing under the car with it on the alignment rack they were able to get enough leverage to break it loose with a long breaker bar.

To the OP, if you didn't use red threadlocker it is probably best to remove the bolts one at a time and add it, then re-torque. At the minimum I would at least recommend marking the caliper bolts with a sharpie or paint pen so you can check to see if they start to come loose over time. I suspect the threadlocker is mostly for people who track the car which generates way more heat and vibration than street driving but better safe than sorry. The shop manual calls for you to torque the front caliper bolts to 111 lb ft + 15-30 degrees.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=21

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=594067

See post #2: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=575808

[cdb95z28]

cdrptrks is correct the caliper bolts are not torque to yield, they are torque to angle. There is a difference.

I've never had difficulty removing calipers bolts from my Gen5 SS 1LE, A 1/2" breaker bar does the trick. FWIW the Gen5 and Gen6 front caliper bolts are the same thread spec. I avoid impact tools on critical fasteners because that hammering action is not good for the fastener in the long run. Just turn the steering to have easier access to the bolts.

Here is the torque values from a 2022 service manual but they are applicable to other year Gen6 SS 1LE:

BRAKE SYSTEM FASTENER TORQUES.pdf