MR2 Mk3 front brakes renewal

well I finally went ahead and did it!

Quote from toyota was £320, and with money freeflowing out my hands at the moment I need to save some cash if I can. So DIY it is.

front discs , pads and fitting kit bought from some very helpful people at Brakes International the Bolton branch, wasnt sure but recommended by Allan , so if theres a problem I can blame him ;-)
On a side note the customer service was superb.

All in , a frankly ridiculous £72 ! , (and I will be taking the fitting kit back -£13 which is just 4 spring clips I reused old ones).
Quality seems fine , some nice shiny discs , and generic pads (box didnt list MR2 but listed several Yaris models)

Onto the DIY
Found a guide at
Toyota Owners Club fitting guide which at least shows you what to expect.

It clearly shows the rubber pad and metal pad you need to unclip from each old pad an refit to your new pads.
The pad supports are what you get in the fitting kit (4 of in 1 kit),I re-used the old ones , but its up to you.
Dont worry there are NO fixing screws holding the disc to the hub, so it will eventually come off , but it may need some persuading in the form of a large 'impliment'
The discs were wrecked on the inside surface (outer visible through wheel surface looked fine), the inner pad was also down to 2mm material left.

Remember towipe the disc surface to remove the oil and ensuring you dont get any dirt inbetween the important mating surfaces (which may cause vibration etc)

Good cleanup, copper grease used sparingly in the right places (dont overdo it , it will just make a mess).

I would check that the sliders in the carrier work , mine were seized, but quickly freed off with a bit of movement.

I also took the opportunity to clean up the caliper with a wire brush and paint it with satin black smoothrite (yeah I know its not high temp, but from prev experience I know with a good surface prep it works well). Remember and get satin as gloss is a bit too bling lol

If you are feeling keen then its also a good chance to clean the inside edges of the wheels and get some polish on them, visually it can make a huge difference :-)

[pics of old discs to follow]

Push brake pedal to take up slack , then after waiting for the caliper paint to dry I took the car out to gently bed in the brakes. Just some light pedal pressure so far , but what a difference :-)
Will give them about 100 miles then attempt a few big stops to really bed them in.

All in all I took my time and it (so far) has worked out well.
Next job is to get the rear wheels off now and paint those calipers too.

A very simple job that almost anyone could tackle , and the price is right :-)