Rear Brake Job - 6th Gen

I recently went through servicing the brakes, front and rear. This is part of routine maintenance, but I was taking care of a some squealing in this case.

 

This isn't intended as a DIY, just meant for those who have done brakes and want to see what the rears look like on this car. Not going through how to lift and support the car, etc. The front is a typical front disc brake setup, so not getting into that. Pictures were taken after the job was done - didn't think of it.

 

A couple of things you'll want to know for the rears with the electronic parking brake. First, I STRONGLY recommend disconnecting the battery - it sucks and will reset some stuff (maintenance screen for example), but I wouldn't mess with that. FSM confirms this is necessary. Alternative is to have a Subaru Computer...yeah....

 

Next, you will want a 14mm for the caliper mounting brackets and a 7mm hex for the caliper slide pin bolts. There is a little rubber cover to pop off the caliper pin bolts to access them (flat head screwdriver).

 

Before removing the caliper, it may be worth removing the one bolt that holds the brake hose in place. There is limited movement of the caliper without taking off that bolt. I did it without freeing it up, but the FSM says to remove it. Also, you will want to disconnect the electronic parking brake harness on the bottom of the caliper (sorry I didn't get it pictured, but just a pinch/pull connector).

 

To compress the piston, you will not be able to just compress or use a dice-style tool. You will need a legit disc brake pad caliper service tool kit to rotate the piston back in. Mine is from Harbor Freight. If I remember correctly, it was the size 7 that was needed.

 

There is also the retention clip on the caliper. I just used a flat-head to remove and pliers to put them back on and gently hammered it back into place so it seated nicely. I took a picture there so you can see the orientation if needed.

 

I didn't replace pads or rotors. This is with about 25K miles on them.

 

Hope this helps the next person. Really a simple job considering the electronic parking brake. BMW's version of this is insane!

This may end up being a stupid question but if you didn't change anything why did you do this?

Secondly, since brakes are covered by warranty, if you needed any work done, why not have the dealer do it?

Very curious.

First 2 sentences of my post:

 

"I recently went through servicing the brakes, front and rear. This is part of routine maintenance, but I was taking care of a some squealing in this case."

 

I'm going to bring my car to the dealer to take care of some squealing? They are going to service the brakes for free just because I ask? How many visits before they "hear it"? No thanks... The whole job took less time than a round-trip to the dealer anyway.

 

Hope this helps you in the future, particularly at 40k miles when you need to do them. 4k outside of basic warranty.

Edited February 19, 2016 by spect2k

First 2 sentences of my post:

 

"I recently went through servicing the brakes, front and rear. This is part of routine maintenance, but I was taking care of a some squealing in this case."

 

I'm going to bring my car to the dealer to take care of some squealing? They are going to service the brakes for free just because I ask? How many visits before they "hear it"? No thanks... The whole job took less time than a round-trip to the dealer anyway.

 

Hope this helps you in the future, particularly at 40k miles when you need to do them. 4k outside of basic warranty.

 

Yes, I'd think squealing would be reason to have it looked at under warranty. Regardless, you did it yourself and that's cool too.

 

Your first two sentences are completely negated by your 24th sentence. Again I ask, if you didn't replace any negatively worn components then why did you take it apart? What did you do to correct your squeal?

Or would you simply prefer to burn more energy trying to be funny vs answering the question?

Not sure how I negated myself. I'm all ears...

 

Dealer isn't going to do the same quality job I will. Flat rate techs aren't going to take the time to do the same detail that I will. For many of us, we take pride in doing it right, not just what's easy.

 

I did the work to get rid of the squeal. I thought I said that. I investigated a bit further when I was in there out of mechanical curiosity and to be helpful to others when they go in that may not feel as comfortable pioneering this work without the experience from others.

 

Does that answer your question?

To get rid of the squeal, I lubricated the slide pins (silicone paste), cleaned up the pads, lubricated the contact points there (grease). Ran some sand paper over the pads and rotors. Cleaned out any debris with brake cleaner. Retracted the piston is bit to make sure it was moving freely. In general, just cleaned and lubricated things. Squeal is gone. Hope that helps.

Not sure how I negated myself. I'm all ears...

 

Dealer isn't going to do the same quality job I will. Flat rate techs aren't going to take the time to do the same detail that I will. For many of us, we take pride in doing it right, not just what's easy.

 

I did the work to get rid of the squeal. I thought I said that. I investigated a bit further when I was in there out of mechanical curiosity and to be helpful to others when they go in that may not feel as comfortable pioneering this work without the experience from others.

 

Does that answer your question?

 

No, it doesn't.

 

To get rid of the squeal, I lubricated the slide pins (silicone paste), cleaned up the pads, lubricated the contact points there (grease). Ran some sand paper over the pads and rotors. Cleaned out any debris with brake cleaner. Retracted the piston is bit to make sure it was moving freely. In general, just cleaned and lubricated things. Squeal is gone. Hope that helps.

 

This, however, does. Thank you for elaborating in detail. Now readers know what you found and what you did to correct the problem.

Glad it helped, but all I did is just basic routine brake maintenance. That isn't in any way the purpose of the thread. I'm not sure where your attitude is coming from, but again, glad it worked out. I wasn't even trying to be funny earlier, just ironic that things go wrong or need work seemingly immediately after warranty.

 

Consider looking for brake maintenance advice in the appropriate thread. I would hope others looking to learn how to work on a general braking system would not find this thread. This was just about showing the components of the rear brakes for those experienced with working on brakes and never saw the Legacy's setup. I even stated this wasn't supposed to be a DIY. Anyway, air is cleared now.

Glad it helped, but all I did is just basic routine brake maintenance. That isn't in any way the purpose of the thread. I'm not sure where your attitude is coming from, but again, glad it worked out. I wasn't even trying to be funny earlier, just ironic that things go wrong or need work seemingly immediately after warranty.

 

Consider looking for brake maintenance advice in the appropriate thread. I would hope others looking to learn how to work on a general braking system would not find this thread. This was just about showing the components of the rear brakes for those experienced with working on brakes and never saw the Legacy's setup. I even stated this wasn't supposed to be a DIY. Anyway, air is cleared now.

This is a Big Help for the New Electronic Brake System.. Thanks and don't worry about other people's comments.. [emoji106]

 

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Glad it helped, but all I did is just basic routine brake maintenance. That isn't in any way the purpose of the thread. I'm not sure where your attitude is coming from, but again, glad it worked out. I wasn't even trying to be funny earlier, just ironic that things go wrong or need work seemingly immediately after warranty.

 

Consider looking for brake maintenance advice in the appropriate thread. I would hope others looking to learn how to work on a general braking system would not find this thread. This was just about showing the components of the rear brakes for those experienced with working on brakes and never saw the Legacy's setup. I even stated this wasn't supposed to be a DIY. Anyway, air is cleared now.

 

My slight attitude and my comment about you trying to be funny came from your wishes that my own car needs brake work just after the warranty is out. Is that really how one should answer a question?

That's water under the bridge, I'm not hurt nor do I believe you should care if I am or not. Maybe we just had a simple misunderstanding but regardless it worked out.

 

For the topic of discussion, I'm experienced in brake repair but will freely admit that up until the salesman told me about the "hill hold" button, I had never heard of an electric parking brake in my entire career. Your thread and pics have helped some with that and I'm grateful for your effort to reveal the system.

Something I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, beyond repairing the brakes when something wears out I've never heard of routine maintenance on brakes. The information you provided showed me there can be things done to help the longevity of the parts other than simply waiting to hear the wear indicators start wailing. Indeed I feel like this thread should be a part of the maintenance section. Whether or not you intended to supply the information to start with I feel what's here is valuable and will be referenced in the future.

Actually, brake maintenance is part of the routine maintenance schedule.

 

Our 03 Outback was well maintained, but because it had such low mileage and went on longer maintenance service intervals, the slide surface on one of the front calipers rusted, preventing proper operation and prematurely wearing out the inner pad. Ended up totally wiping out the rotor and caliper. Ka-ching!

 

Checking the caliper and cleaning/lubricating the pins and slides are key, and highly recommended by Subaru.

Properly lubricating everything when doing the brakes should prevent any noises or issues. Guide pins usually get rusty due to torn boots that allow water in. Of course things happen over time like a rattling clip or squeaks due to brake dust but a simple inspection of the brakes is all you really need to do.

When I do brakes I usually replace all hardware and rubber boots and the sliders get a coating of teflon based water resistant grease. Never had a problem.

For the Legacy I still need to read through the maintenance schedule so I can be sure to keep up with it, the goal being to protect the warranty. If the service is recommended as said above, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, I'll perform it myself or have it done and keep records.

Actually, brake maintenance is part of the routine maintenance schedule.

 

Our 03 Outback was well maintained, but because it had such low mileage and went on longer maintenance service intervals, the slide surface on one of the front calipers rusted, preventing proper operation and prematurely wearing out the inner pad. Ended up totally wiping out the rotor and caliper. Ka-ching!

...

 

Same thing happened to my 2009 legacy. Commuted on train for years and the poor gal sat for most of the week. Eventually a rear caliper stuck from dirt, rust accumulation, lack of cleaning etc, and destroyed the new rotors that only had 12k miles on them [4yrs]. ka-ching. I will now be cleaning my brakes periodically.

Good post! Helpful. Thanks.

Bumping this thread to re-visit the electronic parking brake issue on the rear caliper.

 

First off, OP thank you for tackling this and posting photos. I know you can properly turn a wrench and from your SO flank drive 14mm, I see that you have quality tools. As such, your experience and opinion is worth 1,000 times more than some of the limpwrists on this forum who criticize but cant turn a wrench.

 

Now, to the issue at hand. Did you see any issue with manually retracting the pistons without using the 'Subaru Select Monitor' to set the brakes in maintenance mode?

 

Ive seen on other forums that the posters were unable to retract the caliper by hand and were concerned about forcing the piston and/or damaging the electronic parking brake actuator. Did you experience any issues afterward?

 

Thanks again, OP.

If it were my car, I would use a scan tool. Do it manually at your own risk.

... I would use a scan tool.

 

Not many of us have access to the Subaru-proprietary SSM tool that's required. Do you?

I know this is a video of a BMW, but I wonder if it's possible to do something like this with a torx bit. Unbolt the e-brake motor from the back of the caliper, then use a torx bit to manually reverse the ebrake plunger, or whatever it is, making it easier and presumably safer to push the piston back in.

 

If it were my car, I would use a scan tool. Do it manually at your own risk.

 

So do you think Subaru corporate, knowing hundreds of thousands of these cars would go to places like Midas and Quick - e- Lube, where Gomez would smash the piston back in like he does with countless 95 Camry's, proceeded to release to the market such a massive liability issue? You dont think they figured many many of these cars would end up at independent shops, retail lube joints, and driveways for a pad slap and they said, "Aww **** em, let em eat cake unless they have the multi thousand dollar Subaru scan tool and software?"

Anyway, these electronic brakes have been on the market on Subarus for about 4 years now. I guarantee you that many of these cars have had brake jobs done at places other than the dealer. I dont see a raft of stories or cautionary tales on the internet about rear brakes failing when they were retracted manually.

 

Hopefully, OP can update. Ill take his input over others' conjecture.

Hey guys - I've actually since traded in the legacy for a truck, so no longer with the car. I did put 25k on the rear pads after doing the work with no issues. I also went back there once after doing the work to lubricate the system - all looked good.

 

I no longer have it in front of me, but the factory service manual specifies two ways to retract the pistons, (1) with a factory scan tool and (2) without the scan tool in the way that I did it. After putting the system back together and reconnecting the power harness, the first parking brake actuation took slightly longer than usual and sounded like it was recalibrating. Perfect after that.

 

Hope it helps!

Hey guys - I've actually since traded in the legacy for a truck, so no longer with the car. I did put 25k on the rear pads after doing the work with no issues. I also went back there once after doing the work to lubricate the system - all looked good.

 

I no longer have it in front of me, but the factory service manual specifies two ways to retract the pistons, (1) with a factory scan tool and (2) without the scan tool in the way that I did it. After putting the system back together and reconnecting the power harness, the first parking brake actuation took slightly longer than usual and sounded like it was recalibrating. Perfect after that.

 

Hope it helps!

 

Perfect - thank you!

Funny you should ask. I tried doing a 2015 today and could not enter the maintenance mode, but I have been able to do earlier models. My scanner is due for software update but it costs 1k.

Can we use a 3.6r rear calipers to replace 2.5 rear calipers?or are they same calipers?