LS460 - Brakes and Brake Bleeding.

I've been feeling a slight pulsation in the brakes ever since I got it but I was waiting to finish up the suspension maintenance before I tackle the brakes. Mainly because I did not want the calipers getting marred up during the removal and installation of the suspension components. I went with the stoptech cryo treated rotors for this car as well and the Akebono pads. My favorite brake setup has been the cryo treated rotors and the Hawk HPS pads with stainless steel lines. Since Hawk HPS did not make pads for the LS I went with the Akebono which I like too.  I also could not find stainless steel lines for the LS, I've found companies that make it for the rears but not the front. I didn't want to go with the custom brake lines right so I just stuck to the OEM brake lines. If you would like to know more about the cryo treating process, this is a good read: Cryo.

The parts I ordered:

Amsoil Brake fluid (BFLVCN-EA) 6 pints

Front Brake Pad Fitment Kit - OEM - (04947-50120)

Rear Brake Pad Fitment Kit  - OEM - (04948-50060)

Front Left Disc Brake Rotor - Stoptech 126.44148CSL

Front Right Disc Brake Rotor - Stoptech 126.44148CSR

Rear Left Disc Brake Rotor - Stoptech 126.44149CSL - 

Rear Right Disc Brake Rotor - Stoptech 126.44149CSR

Akebono Front brake pads - ACT1282

Akebono Rear brake pads - ACT1283

I wanted to pick a color for the brake calipers and possibly use that as accent colors later on for the car. So asked a friend of mine to mix up some shades of green and do a spray out card. Thanks Jeremy! With the color picked I started disassembly.

Prior to disassembly here are a couple of steps I did.

1. Disengage the parking brake.

2. Using techstream I zeroed down accumulator pressure.

3. Disabled electronic controlled brakes.

4. Disconnect battery.

Zeroing down accumulator pressure and disabling ECB is only temporary and will reset when the car starts up again. My thought process was to zero down and disable the ECB to reduce the pressure in the actuator and brake lines so that when the brake lines are disconnected from the calipers there won't be as much fluid that squirts out. Disconnected the battery so the actuator wont re initialize until I was ready. 

 Front rotors

Rear rotors

I used a 3M ear plug to blug up the brake lines. I also used saran wrap on the brake fluid reservoir and capped it to prevent as much air from getting into the system as possible. The ear plugs swell up with brake fluid and I didn't see any fluid drip out. I had it this way for two days while the calipers were out getting prepped and painted. 

Calipers stripped, cleaned and prepped for paint.

Used etching primer for extra bite so paint can adhere better.

Paint!! 

I measured the calipers and used some holographic oil slick vinyl to cut some decals. I put a small arch in the decal just to flow with the caliper better. That's my air tank which I had painted along with the calipers. Very happy with the end results.

Reassembly.

Once assembled, I wanted to do a full brake fluid flush. Below is the procedure I used using techstream. Once the battery is reconnected did the zero down and ECB invalid process again because when the car is put into acc mode everything resets. MAKE SURE THERE IS A BATTERY CHARGER CONNECTED!!! Brake bleeding uses a lot of power and the last thing you want is the battery to die during this process. 

With everything assembled and bled I made sure that the brakes were working by trying to move forward and backwards with the brake applied. Thankfully it was. Now to bed in the rotors and pads. Definitely smoked the rotors and pads during this process. 

Brakes feel awesome and no more pulsation! Happy happy! 

-AJ Abraham

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