Disclaimer: Recently drilled and slotted rotors have made an appearance for the Fiat cars along with some new performance brake pads for the front wheels. Quality varies on the available rotors. We purchased a set of Brembo rotors from a vendor on eBay for $70. The pads came from Caribou and were around $50 for the fronts. Kris and I thought we would do the spiders and see what all the fuss was about.

Spider brakes are pretty good stock and really don't need improvement with modern pad materials and regular maintenance. This article is to show what we've done primarily to detail the front suspension and very little in the way of performance. One of the advantages of the ceramic pads is that they are not supposed to dust as much as the organic version. We have found this to be pretty much true. The dust that we've noticed is much lighter in color and easy to clean off. The slotted rotors produce a bit of swishing noise when the brakes are applied. We've been told that this will go away, but after 1K miles, the noise is still there. It's not loud but noticeable.

Bleeding and fluid: If you haven't been through the brake system for a while, now would be a good time to flush the fluid and make sure the bleeder screws are free. Bleeder screws are the biggest problem that I've had with Fiat brakes. To get them open I use a 7point deep socket and soak them with PB Blaster the day before I try opening them. If they round off or break, I generally get them removed by my parts store. It's the best $5.00 I've ever spent. Anti seize on the threads and replacing the rubber caps will stop this from happening in the future.

We use DOT 5 fluid and change it every couple of years. I do the rear PS side first and then the DS and the the PS front and finally the DS front when bleeding. There is a bleeder on the compensating valve on the rear brakes that will need attention only when you replace it. Otherwise if you have good pedal, you can ignore it. BTW, have the car supported on jack stands when bleeding the rear breaks otherwise the compensator will not let you do a complete job. The fluid reservoirs are small and require that you check them often when bleeding. A mity vac tool is handy here as is some help with the pedal. The pedal should be pretty hard and close to the top if everything is in good condition. With the car running, you should have more free play, but still a hard pedal when you meet resistance.

Getting Started: Here is where we begin on the front brake. There is nothing wrong with what is here except that we wanted to upgrade the rotors to drilled and slotted and install some EBC green ceramic pads to frankly dress up and modernize the brake system. We began by putting the whole car up on jack stands and toured the bottom of the car to check for any new leaks or problems.

We plan to strip the brake calipers and rotors, and repaint the wheel wells with black paint.

Removal: Getting the brake components off the spiders is pretty easy as brake jobs go. There are four small pins that hold steel slides on the top and bottom of the calipers. Once removed, the slides can be gently tapped out of their slots allowing the caliper to be wiggled free from the steel carrier. Before we removed the caliper, we decided that this was the time to begin with some of the cleaning, so we mounted a coarse 3m plastic media wheel into an old 1/4" electric drill and began cleaning the aluminum caliper and leveling some of the casting marks to bring it to a satin finish. After using the coarse wheel, we used the blue medium grit wheel to remove some of the scratches. Then we used a dremel with flexible shaft and polishing buff to bring out the natural shine of the aluminum.

After removing the polished calipers, you have to remove the two wheel locating pins that are between the wheel bolt holes if your car still has them. Next you have to remove the caliper carrier by removing the two 15mm short bolts at the top and bottom of the carrier. Be sure to retain the washers as these keep the bolts from contacting the rotor upon re-assembly, and then the rotors come off by lightly tapping them with a hammer while you pull them straight off the hub. Two of our rotors were badly rusted onto the hubs but came off after a bit of determined tapping and pulling.

After removing the calipers you will want to retract the pistons so your new pads will have room. We use a simple large C-clamp for the front wheels and gently compress the piston into the caliper. We also inspect the flat lands where the steel slide ride to make sure the calipers are free to slide on the carrier. Bad brake jobs will make defects that must be removed with a file or your pads will wear un-evenly. If you notice any leakage around the caliper, it should be rebuilt. Kits are available through most vendors. Follow the instructions carefully. I never hone aluminum calipers, if the cylinders look bad discard them.

The rear brakes are similar to the fronts in every way except that you must remove the splash shield to get to the carrier bolts. The emergency cable makes the removal a bit stiffer, but basically its the same process.

The rear calipers are retracted by screwing in the piston with a large flat object. We use a flat file and turn it in clockwise. If your piston doesn't retract, replace the caliper. Also the slot should be aligned across the wheel to install the rear pads, otherwise the caliper won't be able to slide over the bump on the rear pads when you go to reinstall the caliper.

Rear pads are thinner than front pads and there are no EBC pads available. We used Ferodo semi metallic pads on the back and they work well with the EBC greens on the front.

We carefully put on the new rotors (being careful about the rotation. Drilled and slotted rotors should only be put on the side they are designed for), painted carriers, EBC pads and calipers. After installation, the rotors should turn freely and there should be no binding. Now is a great time to lube the emergency brake cable and adjust it if necessary.

We freely admit that 90% of the project was to improve appearance, we really haven't noticed much difference in the brake feel or performance over the Ferodo pads and stock rotors that we had before. Neither of these cars are raced, or driven for a long time down hill, but they do attract a lot of attention on the street and at local car shows, and it's nice that suppliers have remembered the little spiders for their upgraded brake kits.