yeah i have come to find that most things on the evo are really easy to change i assume since its supposed to b a rally race car that things need to be easier to work on fast? i dont know but i got all my springs in and installed in 2 hours...

 

So do the 03's come with the sensor for the wearing brakes? If not how do you know when you need new brake pads?

 

from what i have read on here the 03's do not have a sensor they have a "squeeler" like a small peice of metel that touchs when they get low and squeeks but when the fluid is low its a good sign 2. becuase it is a closed system... so when the pads are at thier fullest the fluid should b at its max or close to.. thats just what i have read

 

Well recently i've been hearing a squeek every now and then, should I wait untill the squeek is more of a constant or how does this squeeler work? lol

 

honestly the only real way ur gonna know if they need to be replaced or not is to take them out and look.... keep in mind its better to replace them b4 they go metel on metel and mess up ur rotors causing you to need new rotors also...

 

You don't need to take anything out to check. Just look through the wheel, at the caliper. Then look at the pad inside the caliper. If there is very little pad between the backing plate and rotor, you probably need new pads soon.

Low brake fluid is a good indicator too.

 

^^ Ok, thanks i'll go give it a look

 

All this debate on wether the '03's have the electronic brake pad sensor... Do ANY of the Evo's have the sensor that makes the "BRAKE" indicator light up?

 

I had this problem, and it was low brake fluid. its really easy to check. I filled mine back up and havent gottena light since. Hope this works for you

 

Next time you, and all the guys who have filled up the brake fluid resevoir, change your pads out, you're gonna have a crazy amount of excess brake fluid in the resevoir. As the pads wear down, the fluid level goes down in the resevoir, because more fluid is required to push the pads. If you add more fluid, then replace the pads, theres gonna be too much fluid. You'll have all the original fluid (the right amount) plus whatever you added (excess). Unless you have a brake line leak or something, don't fill the resevoir up...

 

Draining the extra fluid is no big deal - I don't see a problem or understand why some of you are so excited over it. You should bleed the brakes anyway when changing pads (for most people this turns out to be every 20K miles). If you dont want to bleed, just take a syringe and take some fluid out.

The reason I added fluid is because I wanted to get as much life out of the expensive pads as I could and was tired of seeing the brake light flash each time I braked.

For those that don't know how to check pad thickeness: just look. This pic taken with wheels on the car. You ca easily tell the pad thickness. I have another few months on these pads... (Yes, to do it properly, you need to take the wheel off to check the innner pad thickness too but this is a quick 10 second inspection that will give you a good indication of your situation)

 

The brake warning light is gone after I changed the brake pads...
It took me almost 6 hours to change the pads... ferodo DS2500... no squaks.... hehee....
The pad change is really easy...... i just took my sweet time.. it is my 2nd time ever and 1st time on the evo...
Now I just need to break-in the pads slowly.....

 

dreamevo...you'll get better performance out of the pads sooner if you bed them in. Check out Stoptech's website for info on the process. I promise, it works.

Another note, if you hear the squeelers it is definitely time to change your brake pads.