[Dr.Naren]

I got Dixcel Japan Extra Cruise rear pads from AM Racing Delhi. The seller imported it from Japan and it was delivered to my place within 10 days after placing the order. These pads are supposed to have better initial bite, low dust and safe on discs. The pricing was Rs. 5500, this is slightly lesser than OE pads. I will get EBC green stuff (front) and Dixcel EC pads (rear) installed during 40k km service .


Quoting some info from Dixcel Japan website

Made for cruising on the street and highway with better brake performance

Longer pad life compared to OEM

Low level of brake dust and brake noise

Helps for a longer disc life

The friction surface of the brake pads are scorched to improve the bedding-in process

Mechanical brake pad sensors are installed (Only for models which originally come with sensors)

http://www.dixcel.co.jp/en/pad/pad_ec.html

[Dr.Naren]

Dixcel Rear brake pads installed!

I got Dixcel EC rear pads installed today. It was done at our friendly Maruti dealer. They had not installed rear pads for S-Cross till date, so they took some time to understand about pushing back the rear caliper piston. It doesn't go back with compression. We have to rotate it clockwise and the piston goes in.

Rear caliper piston

Dixcel pads in, used the shims from old OE pads


Only 1 rear pad was worn out badly, rest had 25 percent life

OE brand is NBK (imported and priced ~Rs.6000)

Bill : Rs. 510 (Rear brake pad change labour + 250 ml MGP brake fluid - bleeding was done)

I will follow the bedding in procedure as recommended by Dixcel. I might not be able to appreciate significant differences or give proper feedback on Dixcel pads as rear brake pads contribute very little in overall stopping power. Brake dust level should be much lesser with Dixcel. There was no dust on my finger after rubbing it over the pads .

The front pads are OE and they have more than 50 percent life left. I will wait for them to wear out and then install EBC Green stuff.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

[b]It was done at our friendly Maruti dealer. They had not installed rear pads for S-Cross till date, so they took some time to understand about pushing back the rear caliper piston. It doesn't go back with compression. We have to rotate it clockwise and the piston goes in.

Just a couple of hints to any BHPian whose car(s) has/have rear disc brakes. Rear caliper pistons have to be screwed in using a special tool. One can make do with needle nose pliers but using a wind-back tool prevents any accidental damage to the piston boot and is way easier to use. A damaged piston boot necessitates replacing either the boot, when spares are available, or in some cases the entire caliper. I have seen mechanics trying to force the piston in or even hammering it which will damage the caliper assembly.

The catch here is the piston on one side may have to be turned clockwise and the other side turned anticlockwise. I just replaced my car's brake pads and rotors yesterday on all 4 wheels Luckily I had the proper tools for a job as described above and could easily reset the rear pistons back into the caliper bore. Get the right tools saves time, effort and helps in doing a perfect job.

PS - Sorry guys, no pics to share except 1 pic with new rear rotors. Haven't put it up here as it would be OT for this thread. My hands were grimy as this was a semi DIY. Couldn't take pics. I call it semi DIY because I needed assistance from the FNG mechanic as I have mild back problems.

PPS - This is the kit I have Caliper wind back tool A great investment but I bought my kit from Amazon not eBay.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by R2D2

PPS - This is the kit I have Caliper wind back tool A great investment but I bought my kit from Amazon not eBay.

Yes, this is the actual tool. Maruti has only few cars with rear brake pads (S-Cross and Baleno RS which are on sale now). It's good if all dealers invest on this simple kit. Today they had to check service manual and did it the same way as this video.

https://youtu.be/pmzuVdNntYQ

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Yes, this is the actual tool. Maruti has only few cars with rear brake pads (S-Cross and Baleno RS which are on sale now). It's good if all dealers invest on this simple kit. Today they had to check service manual and did it the same way as this video.

As mentioned earlier that method is pretty clumsy. If you notice at 2:08 the locking pliers slip from the groove in the piston. If those pliers had hit the rubber boot it is bye-bye boot. It is, at the least, a major inconvenience to replace it and at worse the caliper needs to be replaced. In contrast this is how the wind back tool would work:

https://youtu.be/Q_PNsH6SOjc

Makes this job a real piece of cake. BTW some auto hardware stores in the US let you borrow this tool for the day if you buy parts from them.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by R2D2

As mentioned earlier that method is pretty clumsy. If you notice at 2:08 the locking pliers slip from the groove in the piston. If those pliers had hit the rubber boot it is bye-bye boot. It is, at the least, a major inconvenience to replace it and at worse the caliper needs to be replaced. In contrast this is how the wind back tool would work:

Yes, that's true. The tool is foolproof . Works manager was telling me that they have to get bleeding machine which costs 1 lakh , I will advice him to get this simple kit first .

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Yes, that's true. The tool is foolproof . Works manager was telling me that they have to get bleeding machine which costs 1 lakh , I will advice him to get this simple kit first .

For a MASS this tool kit is less than pocket change. They probably need to see it in action. But most will say 'Saar kaam ho jaata hai plier se"!

The chap who helped me was curiously looking at the rear calipers, pressing it in with a screwdriver when I said loudly "WHOA!! Hang on bhai!!" and proceeded to show him the tool kit.

Showed him how it works and let him loose on the 2nd caliper where he got stuck. Why? The damn thing went in anti clockwise. Out came the 2nd ACW plunger and I showed him the procedure again. I can guarantee you if I wasn't there monitoring him he'd have messed up my calipers that cost about 10K each.

This is the advantage of giving the car to the ASC I don't have to bother about a thing! With FNGs I need to monitor them every step of the way.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by R2D2

For a MASS this tool kit is less than pocket change. They probably need to see it in action. But most will say 'Saar kaam ho jaata hai plier se"!

Knowing this guy Naren's previous history, if it so happened that they damaged his calipers, I guess he would have got a new set of calipers, discs, pads and what not replaced under warranty So it shouldn't be much of a concern. On the other hand, the mechanics in our country are far behind in keeping up with advancements in technology in cars. Both with respect to tools as well as skills since most go by their previous experience, which doesnt always help with the newer cars.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Knowing this guy Naren's previous history, if it so happened that they damaged his calipers, I guess he would have got a new set of calipers, discs, pads and what not replaced under warranty.

That's one advantage of getting all the works done at authorised service centre. I have good rapport with most of the Maruti service centres, I just want them to be transparent about the works done and also allow me to be with the car whenever I wish to.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Knowing this guy Naren's previous history, if it so happened that they damaged his calipers, I guess he would have got a new set of calipers, discs, pads and what not replaced under warranty So it shouldn't be much of a concern. On the other hand, the mechanics in our country are far behind in keeping up with advancements in technology in cars. Both with respect to tools as well as skills since most go by their previous experience, which doesnt always help with the newer cars.

Luckily Naren's car is under warranty and he has the luxury of letting things get ruined accidentally by whoever works on the car. But my car is nearing 10 years old and these parts aren't exactly inexpensive even through Boodmo et al. On the other hand the dealership will quote eye water prices.

Every FNG mechanic thinks he's the bee's knees when it comes to repairing bikes/cars. This guy who helped me when advised to use a torque wrench told me 'Saar, main theek se tight karunga. Fikar na karein!' But the reason he hesitated? Coz he doesn't know how to use a TW! Neither did he know how to use the caliper push back tool. I can't really blame him as the poor guy has probably been not been educated past primary school and would find it tough to get a job with a dealership. But THIS is also the reason I swear by Toyota's ASC. No untrained fellows working on (or experimenting) with my car. Plus there's a neck to catch if something goes wrong.

Anyways, I checked the torque values myself and was satisfied. I need to re-torque all the bolts (caliper pin, caliper carrier) after the new brake rotors/pads are bedded in. That should be about a month from now.

[R2D2]

I've been doing a lot of research (research is something I do daily for reasons to be explained in due course) on these rear disc brake calipers in systems where the e-brake or parking brake is also built in i.e. no drum brakes in a disc setup.

This is what I noticed - in brake systems where the caliper pistons have opposing push back/in directions the drivers side caliper is screwed in clockwise and passenger side is screwed in anti-clockwise.

So take for e.g. an Corolla Altis - in India the RHS piston will go in CW and passenger side will go in ACW. In a LHD country like the US/Canada/EU the opposite holds true.

One more critical point that I seemed to have missed out when I did the brake DIY: Any "nubs" on the centre of brake pad shim must line up with the notches/grooves in the piston otherwise it will not be able to contact the pad backing plate as a flat surface. More pressure will build up on the nub(s) causing less than optimal braking. Over a period of time this will cause an uneven wear pattern which may necessitate replacing affected parts.

My car's brakes are behaving normally but I need to now take off the caliper assembly only to check this. Darn!!

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by R2D2

So take for e.g. an Corolla Altis - in India the RHS piston will go in CW and passenger side will go in ACW. In a LHD country like the US/Canada/EU the opposite holds true.

I think in my S-Cross, the passenger side rear caliper piston went in by rotating clockwise. Maruti service guys were trying LHS first and I do remember them saying that it went in after rotating clockwise. Not sure about the driver side as I was not with the car. I can't clarify with other S-Cross owners also as nobody else changed rear brake pads yet .

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

I think in my S-Cross, the passenger side rear caliper piston went in by rotating clockwise. Maruti service guys were trying LHS first and I do remember them saying that it went in after rotating clockwise. Not sure about the driver side as I was not with the car. I can't clarify with other S-Cross owners also as nobody else changed rear brake pads yet

May be Maruti follows a different policy with their rear calipers. But seriously, how many kms did you get out of your rear brake pads? My car chews through a rear pad set every 20-25K kms. I don't believe in resurfacing rotors given they're reasonably priced in the outside market. New pads + new rotors are ideal IMO but with the hassle of time and effort required to bed them in.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by R2D2

May be Maruti follows a different policy with their rear calipers. But seriously, how many kms did you get out of your rear brake pads? My car chews through a rear pad set every 20-25K kms.

Rear pads lasted 40k km for me. That is really good life for my driving . My friend has run close to 90k km in his Wolf tuned 1.6 and has not changed the rear brake pads yet. We have couple of cars run more than 50k km in our group and all are on first set of rear brake pads. Rear brakes should be contributing very little in S-Cross, the pads are also too small.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Rear pads lasted 40k km for me. That is really good life for my driving . My friend has run close to 90k km in his Wolf tuned 1.6 and has not changed the rear brake pads yet. We have couple of cars run more than 50k km in our group and all are on first set of rear brake pads. Rear brakes should be contributing very little in S-Cross, the pads are also too small.

90K kms?! Wow! That's some brake life!

Next time you want to change/upgrade your brake pads consider installing new rotors even if stock/OEM grade for best results. Used rotors & pads develop uneven surfaces. Scored rotors or uneven rotors (which I had in my car, hence replaced) can be resurfaced but only if they have the min thickness. But given the cost of new ones, heck, just replace them.