There are times, walking through the isles of the Big Orange Mega Import Tool Store that you say to yourself "Wow! There's a cool tool that I'll only use once in my life." Some people won't buy that tool, break what they're working on and then wish they hadn't tried to cut corners. Such was the case with the brake job on one particular 2006 Accord.
I removed the brake caliper from the bracket first, and hung it on the chassis with some wire. Next came the bolts on the back of the spindle, which held the bracket to the spindle. The rotor was hashed; even if I did believe in turning rotors, this one was scored beyond hope. Seeing it was just sitting on the wheel studs, I attempted to pull it off. One dislocated finger later, I realized that there were Phillips-head screws, hiding under dirty grease and holding the rotor to the hub.
I gave it a token shot with a big screwdriver, but quickly gave up and went with a Phillips fitting on my ratchet. Oops. I stripped the head. Knowing I was in for a date with a drill and tap, I resigned myself to the knowledge that I should have bought that impact screwdriver when I had the chance.
One rainy trip to Big Orange later, and I came home with the impact driver. I set it into the first non-stripped screw, hit the back with my biggest, angriest hammer, and the screw instantly broke loose. The rest went just as easily, though my sense of triumph was lost in the knowledge that I'd be drilling the first one out and replacing it with the $6 screw I'd just bought from Honda.
I installed the new rotors. I knew the screws only needed to be hand-tight, but I used a drop of blue Loctite on the threads just to say I did. I installed the bracket, and tightened its bolts to 80 foot-pounds. After greasing the caliper bolt shanks to ensure smooth operation and even pad wear, I installed the caliper with new pads -- with the original shims and some anti-squeal on the back -- and torqued the caliper pin bolts to 26 foot-pounds. It would have been 37 if the car were a V-6 model.
After doing the other side, I topped off the brake fluid reservoir, installed the wheels and tightening the lugs to 80 foot-pounds.
