Thanks for the video. I am doing a 2021 forester and was worried about the e parking brake. It makes good sense to pull it off so nothing is damaged. Very happy to see this.
4:00 Thank you so much for this, i was really struggling with this and trying to get it off without breaking anything. I have the same little pick and it worked perfectly. IT seems crazy the way that dust boot is designed so it HOLDS dirt and water!
I own a 19 Forester Touring with only 13K miles. It’s going to be awhile before it needs anything done to it. I Love the saddle brown Leather interior. My rear seat passengers enjoy the heated seats and I Love the heated steering wheel. I hate the CVT. If someone would come out with a 6-8spd automatic transmission that would work in my Forester, I’d switch it out in a heartbeat.
Thx for the video. I changed out mine just now. Stock rear brake lasted me 50k miles. The front are still have quite a bit of life left so I’ll leave it alone for now. Next project is to change out the front and rear differential oil.
Just changed out our rear ones at 56k. I thought fronts always wear faster. When I asked Subaru service, they asked if we use cruise control a lot. Seems odd.
Im 6 or nore new subarus in and every one has worn out the rears nearly half the mileage as the fronts. I think it is braking syle. Light braking mostly kicks in the rears and hard braking puts more on he front is my thinking. You can kind of feel the rear pull when you gently brake
@@vgasar @timdemoss3129 1 second ago @vgasar It's because of the Eyesight feature. Everytime you come to close to the car in front of you it uses your brakes to maintain the distance that it is set for. Not thought out very well. It should use the engine or transmission... But thats Subaru for you. I only got 33,000 mile out of my front and back brakes. Really pissed me off.
I've watched several videos on replacing rotors on Subarus and they say don't use the screw holes on the rotors to get them off. They're wrong. I used 3"-8mm-125 pitch bolts and the rotors broke lose with very little effort with a 13mm wrench. So, much easier than any other method.
I can’t see well enough anymore to do the maintenance myself, but our mechanic works on Subaru’s exclusively. 45% of the vehicles on the road in our area are Subaru’s. We live in a very mountainous area of north central Washington state and get 5-7 feet of snow every winter. We’re 5 miles from town (25 miles from the city). We have to plow and maintain our private road ourselves. We Love both our Outback (wife’s car) and my Forester Touring. We drove Toyota’s for 40+ years and even though they were AWD or 4WD we always had to put studded snow tires on every winter. We drove on our factory tires year round until they wore out. We replaced them with Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires. They are Awesome on dry, wet, slushy, snowy, logging and forest roads. My tires were cracking on the sidewalls so when we replaced the tires on my wife’s Outback, we changed the tires on my Forester as well. My wife’s Outback is going in in 2 weeks for her 30K mile service. In 26-27 we’ll sell my wife’s Outback and buy her a new Forester Touring Hybrid. Then in 29-30, I’ll sell my 19 Forester Touring and buy a new Soltera. She will drive the Soltera and I’ll drive her Forester. The hospital where she works offers free charging for staff who drive EVs.
Many thanks. Just a caution, the 7mm allan key used to remove the caliper pins (2:08min) is not a common size. I thought I have a fairly comprehensive set, but alas, no 7mm. 6mm is too small and I nearly stripped the socket and 8mm is too big (imperial doesn't help either). What a bummer. Had to give up and put the wheel back on right after I started. Why did you do this Subaru? Why?!
Great video! I was horrified when I saw you installed the brake pads without putting installing the brake pad hardware first. Then I immediately ran to my garage and saw that my 2022 Forester also only has brake pad hardware on the front brakes. Does anyone know when and why Subaru stopped putting brake pad hardware on their rear brakes?
Thanks for the video, from the video, you just loosen the two 5 mm Hex bolt of the EFB motor and separated it from the caliper. Do you need to do anything else on the actuator other than retracted the piston using the piston retracting tool? I saw some other videos turning the actuator spindle clockwise before using the piston retractor like the way you did in the video. Thanks
That style of piston retractor is spinning it as it pushes it back in. That is why it has those 2 pegs sticking out at 8:50 - those grip to twist. Here is a kit: amzn.to/45a8zxq
Fellow New Englander here! I appreciate the detailed video! The electronic braking system on my 2020 Forester has me worried about doing this on my own even though I've done it before on my old 2016 Forester. Those salty roads, am I right?! The warping rotor is what I'm dealing with now at 65k. Hopefully I can do it half as quick as you did 😅
I think there is a factory defect on these rotors... or they are undersized and prone to warping.. my wife had fronts and rear warp on her at different times within the 3 year warranty. Seems like the inside pads wear quicker, so maybe it's poor caliper design that makes the rotors heat unevenly and warp. Thanks for watching!
Was there a step that you needed to do to put the car into any maintenance mode? I’ve gotten mixed information and normally do all simple brake maintenance myself but don’t want to damage any sensors or mess the computer system up in any way.
The subaru service manual has instructions for when you dont have a Subaru Select Monitor available. It just has you use a brake tool to wind it back in. I went the extra step of removing the motor, but I see now it recommends not doing that and, if you do, to replace the o-ring. Im sure the maintenance mode is preferred in your case if you have the computer. Don't shame me on never using the parking brake on an automatic in a state with flat parking spots. No one uses that around here.
Do you mind explaining the “brake tool to wind it back in”? Is that something different than winding the calipers back in, which you showed on the video?
I am in a bit of a bind - car is off the ground and rear breaks disassembled. I used a wrench from an angle grinder kit to rotate piston back in. It hit an abrupt stop like it had bottomed out. But, I cannot get pads and caliper on. Width of pads and rotor is like 47 mm but the space between piston and other side of caliper is around 37 mm. I cant picture the piston going in another 10 mm and I can't seem to generate the torque to see if there is still travel left in the piston.
Are you sure you have the right brake pads or rotors? That seems far off from fitting. I am not a mechanic so I haven't done enough of these to know what your issue could be.
@@mainelyhobbies Thanks for the response. Rotors are original, just changing pads. Pads are OEM and identical. The boot of the piston does look like it could in further so I am stalling to see if they just needed to be pushed in with channel locks or turned more. One of your commenters stated the last 4 mm need "manual pressure". I'm just wondering if the tool you used can actually 'push' without rotating so you may have pushed them in as well.
My understanding is that if you don't, it is very hard to get the pistons back in and can damage the gears or motor. That black thing is an electric ebrake motor.
Great job when describing tools to take off brake pads do you need special tools to do so. I know this video is old but you mentioned new England. Do you work on other peoples car because I have that car can you do my car I live in chicopee ma
The only special tool was the brake piston tool shown in the video to twist the piston back in. The universal kits are cheap on Amazon. I don't work on other people's cars and I'm a lonnnng 4+ hour each way drive.
I always flush the brake lines and resovior with fresh brake fluid rather than just bleed the brake lines when doing pads because its easy while you are already there with the wheels off and it should be done about as often as brakes need to be replaced in my experience. I would do one or the other with a pad change though.
Getting ready to do this job. One question. Can you be more specific about the bolt you used to remove the rotor? Hood support?? Is that where the struts mount to the hood?? Struts mount to the car??
I meant the radiator support. Under the hood looking at the engine on the right side of the radiator (where the coolant reservoir is) is a small black bracket with a bolt you can easily access.
So wanted to add some info to help someone. I finished this job yesterday on my 2020 Outback. It went fantastic but something to help, the radiator mount bolt didn't fit the rotor with this car(maybe they changed the size??) But I found a bolt that worked perfectly. The bolt attaching the hood support arm to the hood worked perfectly. Thanks again for the info that helped me attempt the job in the first place, great video!!
@brandonsmith4367 thanks! The radiator support bolt also worked for my 2019 WRX and previous 2012 WRX and previous 2017 Forester, but good to know it doesn't work on all models. The outback and legacy are likely setup the same for reference.
Anyone know what the wear limit is on the front and rear pads? We've been told the current thickness on a forester we're looking at buying but don't know how much they are worn relative to new.
Great video. Is it necessary to totally remove the parking brake motor? I guess so to not strip or brake parts in the motor when you mannually retract the caliper?
Pads rotors and make sure your pads come with new caplier pin boots if you want to replace those (or buy a pack of them separate). You'll also need a can of brake parts cleaner, silicone paste for relubing the caliper pin and brake part grease where the pads slide in the caliper. I also used a bottle of brake pad silencer to put on the outside of the pads but that is optional. Rock auto is my favorite place to buy parts.
My new brake pads came with what looks like metal clips. For 2020 forester, they arent the same as the pins you installed, any idea what those are for?
I can't find any pictures googling the 2020 and it seems weird they would change it in 2020 where the 2019 was a new refresh. Any chance they sent you the wrong stuff? You could always take a wheel off and see what's on there now. Checking a single wheel is pretty quick.
I took off the two slide bolts with the 7mm hex head. I got the bolts out and the cable off. Then, the caliper wouldn’t come off. It wouldn’t budge at all. I whacked it with a hammer. It would even move a little. Think the e-parking brake was still engaged? I was wondering if maybe I missed another bolt or something. Totally befuddled. Then it got dark and I had to stop. Any clue?
Did you put the ebrake on at any point like when jacking the car up? I never use it on this car and use wheel chocks when jacking it up. Once you get those two 7mm bolts out and also take off the ebrake motor and the little spring clip.. thats it. If it isnt budging then maybe the brakes have been pumped and are holding pressure? Dont know if you have a brake bleed bottle but you could crack the bleed valve to release pressure (but you would need to bleed that caliper after). Another thought is sometimes the rotors are worn and leave a lip at the top of the rotor and maybe its catching on that... hammer should handle that I would think. Let me know so others can find out if they have the same issue!
@@mainelyhobbies It's possible. I actually "gifted" (sold at a big discount) this car to my daughter (and bought a new 2022 for myself!). So, she drove up. I told her to turn off the parking brake. Not sure if she had it on or not. I'll try again over the weekend if Hurricane Ian gives me a rain free morning here in Delaware. Thanks for the tip on that little motor clip. I'm sure that would have taken me at least a half an hour to get off. I didn't have quite the sand you did, but the simple squeeze and pull (as seen on other videos) was definitely not working.
YES, the parking brake was the problem, the parking brake on this car uses the main rear brakes instead of a separate brake mechanism, so engaging the parking brake will make the caliper clamp down on the rotor and you will not be able to remove it, as you found.
Not necessary, the manual also states you can wind back the calipers as shown in this video if you do not have a Subaru scanner available to put it in service mode.
@@mainelyhobbies So why are you removing the brake motor if the parking brake isn't engaged/initiated? I think the trick with the 12v is to spin the piston back? 🤔
I dont understand my comment above lol. Either method works - take the motor off so you can push and spin the caliper piston in OR hook up 12v to do it then i think the piston just pushes in. I havent tried the 12v way yet. If the ebrake isnt engaged i believe it is still going to keep the caliper piston from retracting fully.
use a bi-directional sacen tool and you do not need to do that. Also if you leave the top bolt in before you takeout the bottom bolt it works better. the 12 mm bolt that holds the brake line works great for taking the rotor off. I would not be blowing the dust every were since it most likely has aspestos in it. use brake cleaner to get rid of that . If you used a bi-directional scan tool that work on the EPB you did was unessary. Holy Crap you don't even torque the bolts Stay away from my car!
