DIY: Myvi Disc Changing

Hi All,

Again with another DIY journey of mine. This time its still the same car as before which is my wife's 7 year old Myvi. During the absorber change previously (Myvi Absorber Change), I see that the brake pads were worn and should be around time to change as it has been used for around 7 years and 110k km. Light braking returns a judder feel which tells me that this car is also inheriting the common warp disc problem along with many Myvi.  Long story short.... lets get on with it.

Parts you will need.... a pair of new brake pads and a new pair of disc rotor.


Again... jack up the car and remove wheels.... you will notice that I am using a 2 tonne hydraulic jack along with a scissor jack for added safety here as well as I put the tyre under the car. Having a jack failure while being under the car is no joke and should not be taken lightly.


Ok, 1 bolt is visible and another is not..... but you get the idea on where to remove. If I remembered correctly, it is a size 14mm bolt. These two needs to be remove in order to remove the caliper holding the brake pads.


Now.... these two bolts behind the disc is holding the caliper bracket. These are size 17mm bolts and are pretty hard to take out.... careful not to spoil the head else.... its gonna be hell a lot of work to remove these bolts.


Once you have the brake calipers removed, I suggest tying it up higher so that it does not hinder with the rest of the work.


Now.... with the caliper bracket removed.... this is what you will see......


Removed caliper and the brake pads...


Ok..... to remove the disc rotor..... use a mallet and whack the crap out of it.... WILL NOT WORK (cause I tried). To easily and safely remove the rotor.... notice the two highlighted yellow boxes.... just tighten a bolt into it and it will pop out. For easier removal, shoot some WD40 into it before driving the bolt in.


But.... WHAT IF I DO NOT HAVE A BOLT TO REMOVE THE DISC ROTOR...no worries, I did not have any spare bolts as well so..... I stole it from here.... this is the bolt holding the power steering reservoir


Once the disc rotor is removed, you will see the hub. Make sure not to damage the metal piece behind the hub as that is very important for your ABS.


Comparison between the old rotor and the new.....nothing much to see and even if the old rotor is warp... I highly doubt we could see it with our naked eyes.


New disc rotor installed and caliper bracket installed as well.


The thickness difference between a new brake pad and the old,...


Ah yes... compressing back the brakes as it will now not fit in since the new brake pads are way thicker than the old..... I am not going to spend any extra money just to get a brake compressor (which btw cost about RM 2++). So I makeshift one with a piece of wood and also the coil spring compressor that I have.


Once done, install back everything the same way you remove them. This is actually the other side of the car.


Time spend: About 3 hours.
Tools used: Coil spring compressor, cheap RM2 for 20 feet wood, spanners of various sizes, jacks, muscle, water, sweat.
Satisfaction level: Neh.... just routine wear and tear maintenance.

Note:
- A lot of cases documented on the tragedy of failed jacks, be it hydraulic or scissor jacks. Please take extra precaution when working underneath a car,
- Wife driving style does not require performance parts hence the cheaper alternatives was chosen. OEM replacement parts.
- Controversial statement: Brake pads were run in during the test drive by several hard braking and basically torture testing.
- This DIY took a lot longer than I expected cause I forgot how to remove the disc rotor..... then searched youtube and realized what a dumbass I was trying to hammer it out with a mallet.
- WD40 is awesome
- When you install back the wheels, make sure to tighten the nuts properly as this will ensure the disc rotor is installed and hold in place.

So, any feedback/comments are welcome be it good, bad or plain gibberish.

DIY: Changing Myvi absorbers.... solves the kluk kluk sound.

Hi All,

Today I bring to you not a detailing journey of mine but a recent DIY that I did for my wife's Myvi. Car has been driven around for 7 years and it is giving out this "kluk kluk" sound on any uneven roads. That sound annoys me and after much research (not really, just a few read up), and it seems to point to the absorber mounts being worn out. So...... since I am taking out the mounts, might as well change the absorbers as well. More to be told at the end of this journey.

So...... this is the parts you will need. 1 pair rear absorbers, 1 pair front absorbers, 1 pair front absorber mounts and 1 pair rubber spring seat. A tool box with magical tools and wands, scissor jack and the ever so trusty WD40,


First thing to do is to.... remove the wheels. Red box is for nuts that you will need to remove.


Then you will need to remove the wipers and wiper cover in order to access to the two of the nuts on the top mount.


This is the plastic wiper cover. Its held by a few clips. Just pull and it will come out.


Top mount, circled in red is the two nuts you need to remove. Another red circle is a rubber cover that you need to remove to access the back nut. Just push and it will pop out.


Once you got the absorber out (after removing all 4 nuts from bottom and top, you will need to angle around to find a position to remove the absorber from the bottom.). You will need a pneumatic wrench to dismantle the absorbers. Not to say its not possible with a box spanner but it sure makes things faster with a pneumatic wrench


AND........... THIS IS HOW NOT TO OPEN AN ABSORBER..... I opened it without the springs clammed hence it just shot out and luckily hit a wall.


This is the inches of tension from the spring. Had a bit of a hard time compressing it after that...


So... this is the absorber mount that needed replacing. It was basically loose and wobbling around. New one don't even move when you try to twist it.


THIS is HOW we should dismantle the absorber. Coil spring compressor attached to the springs first before removing the top nut holding everything together. I am also arranging it in the order that it was dismantled in case anyone wants to do the same and sorta forgot the order of the assembly.


This is the rubber spring seats. Wasn't really that badly broken but heck.... for RM8 each, I will just change it together. Saves me the effort of doing all over again when it breaks next time,.


A closer look at the already starting to worn out rubber spring seats.


New VS Old absorbers. New one is still compressed by a pin.


After assembling back everything the way it was removed, install it back to the car and WAALAAA, kau tim.


Now.... we move on to the rear absorbers....


OKAY... finish...... fast rite....


Why so fast you may wonder....... cause, you only need to remove this bolt...


And this bolt...


Yeap, rear absorber for Myvi is only held by two bolts. Remove, replace and reinstall. Btw, comparison of Old VS New. You will notice that the old absorber is shorter than the new one. This is because it has collapse as I will call it and does not provide any shock absorbing anymore.


Time spend: About 2 hours in total.
Things used: 100Plus isotonik drink, muscle, box spanners of various sizes, pneumatic wrench, 2.5hp air compressor to operate the pneumatic wrench, coil spring compressor, 2 scissor jack, 1 hydraulic jack.
Satisfaction level: Pretty good when the wifey says.... WEEE no more kluk kluk sound.

Note:
- Some of the tools I used here may not be available at home garage... like the pneumatic wrench, air compressor and coil spring compressor. But you can always purchase it. Hehe.
- I was lucky the Myvi's coil spring is not strong enough to break a hand, just enough to sprang everything all over the place.
- The absorbers were the original replacement... which is Kayaba. Since wifey don't really drive like a mad person, original was best for her. Comfort over performance hence I did not went the aftermarket performance absorbers.
- This was a fun DIY. Easy and straighforward. No need to think much
- I did not use my 3 tonne hydraulic jack for this DIY cause my new house's car porch is slanted a bit too much hence I opt for the scissor jack with a smaller base.
- I would however suggest anyone attempting this DIY to buy A stand and use that instead. There has been reports of hydraulic jacks and scissor jack collapsing while in use.
- Some of you all may ask... won't this DIY affect the alignment and camber..... well, it did not.

So guys and gals (if any), please leave your comments/feedback be it good, bad, gibberish and what not.

Opti-Coated: Blinding White Civic

Hi All,

We now return to you with a brand spanking new white Honda Civic ......(this was done last year in 2013). Only now I manage to back date the posting.

The owner of this car is the brother of the owner of the white VW Golf. He became very interested and excited after seeing his sister's VW Golf and decided to have the car corrected and coated.

Going thru the sister, an appointment was made and so..... the car was delivered to me in the early morning as I requested. Start early... more time to concentrate on the correction and coating.

So... car was delivered to me really really early in the morning.... when the sun was just rising.


The usual road dirt being kicked up by this massive 2.0 powerplant in the front


Woot.... looks almost good enough for coating.... even without washing.... from far that is....


From near..... again the bane of all white cars.... acid rain marks aka zebra marks aka black tears aka ihatethesekindamarks.


More of that around the car.... dirt, zebra marks...... white car is really not easy to maintain.


Door hinge area.... not just dirty... its also... greasy....


I mean.... why overload the hinge with so much grease that it begins to flow out....


Some random dust with water... let this bake under the sun and you get the bane of paintworks.... watermarks...


Okay, lets move on to some cleaning... deep cleaning... after the entire car was given a nice bubble bath with Osren Bubble & Wax..... its time to spray some IronX......


A closer look at the IronX eating away all those metallic unseen unknown gritty dust sticking on the car paint.


You know.... I have been using IronX so many times..... on so many cars.... I still love the effect it produces on white cars...


Which is why I snapped so many photos of it...... but I still HATE the smell.


After much attempt to capture the defects on the car paint... this is what I manage to get.... hopefully you see the damages on the paint.


Water beading....... not really... this is just after washing and deep cleaning... totally rubbish beading... if you even call it beading.... I know some bangla car wash would call these as totally awesome beading... but not me.


Some unknown defect on the chrome door handle......


The usual dirt on the door area....


After a quick wipe with OPC..... sanity restored


The door itself.....


After OPC treatment..


The side skirts... mainly forgotten areas.


A quick clean......


Now...... that the car is clean...we move on to.... correction...... just using a curtain to cover the windscreen from splashes...


After correction.... sorry, did not have any before photos of the paint condition....


As I have totally not taken much photos of the during progress....we will now jump to the coating....And what coating we used.... Optimum Coating.... Pro Edition...... The Longer Lasting One......The More Expensive One...... The....ONE LAR....


After coating..... given 1 hour to cure....... and we get...... sun shot with no flaws...


Check out the whiteness.....


I personally love the whiteness more than the glossness for this shot..


The lower front skirt have its own battle scar..... heck, what's a car without some scar to tell its tale of fast and furious...


Some final shots...


The bottom shot... that is hidden from the sun.... cause I was too lazy to drive the car fully out under the sun ......simply because it was a hot day.


Time spend: around 8 hours if i remembered correctly.
Products used: Osren Dual Action Polish (which has now been discontinued.... I loved that liquid), Lake County White and Black pad, Optimum Power Clean, Osren Bubble and Wax, Opti-Coat aka Opti-Guard, water, elbow grease, sweat.
Satisfaction Level: Epicly lovely.

Notes:
- White cars are not as easy to take care as some may tell you.
- White car may hide swirls but definitely not dirt.
- Acid rain mark can be washed off if you use stronger cleaner.... but make sure its paint safe... some car wash would use dish washing liquid... or worst.... soap powder to get the job done.
- A clean white car.... is always a head turner.... but a hydrophobic clean white car in the rain.... is the owner's pride.

Thank you for taking the time to read thru such a long boring journey. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I had enjoyed detailing the car. Please leave your feedback/comments be it good, bad, gibberish or just utter nonsense.