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2006 Saab 93 9-3 Brake Pad & Rotor Replacement - Part II

Replacing the brake pads and rotors on a 2006 Saab 93 SportCombi. Auto repair is easy.

2006 Saab 93 9-3 Brake Pads and Rotors Replacement - Part I of ...

How to replace the rear brake pads and rotors of a 2006 Saab 93 9-3.

NEOBROTHERS SAAB RACE CAR, BIG BRAKE UPGRADE

THESE ARE A NEW BRAKE UPGRADE KIT FROM NEOBROTHERS WHICH COMPRISES OF NEX 6 POT FRONT CALIPERS AND 355 MM DISCS, REAR 4 POT CALIPERS WITH 330 MM ...

I’ve lost that loving feeling

Remember that SW2?  That unicorn of the Saturn world, the twin-cam 5-speed wagon that I was so glad to have finally found?  Well, it’s…  Still working, still my winter car and all that. But, you know how they say you should never meet your heroes?  You probably should never meet your unicorns, either.

Just as I got used to having ABS, it stopped working.  No biggie – I’ve driven cars without anti-lock brakes my whole life, so I can adjust.  I drove it in the Cumberland Motor Club’s first ever rallycross event a few weeks ago, and was… underwhelmed.  It seemed that no matter what I did, the car would understeer.  Go into a turn, understeer.  Left foot brake, understeer.  Accelerate, understeer.  It just… wasn’t fun.  That and the muffler broke off, but it was no big deal to clamp it back on where it had previously been poorly welded.

And then I saw the front subframe.  UG LEE.  Rusty.  Very rusty.  Not only rusty, but portions of it appear to be… not there anymore.  This explains some minor but quirky handling characteristics I’ve noticed – more torque steer than Apollo, for instance, which had much more power than this car.  My girlfriend doesn’t like driving this car.  It doesn’t fit her well, and she feels too disconnected from the road through the steering.  Maybe she’s too used to the Miata.

And then there was the rear brake job from hell.  Now, brakes are something I can handle.  Even better, this car has rear discs, so when the right rear started grinding unexpectedly, a pad and rotor swap should be easy, right?  Wrong.  The caliper bolts were seized, leading to the inner pad wearing down to bare metal while the outer pad is still at full thickness.  I needed an impact wrench to remove the bolts.  I had to cut one of the caliper bracket bolts in half to remove it.  The brake line broke.  Got a replacement, and then the brake line further up the stream broke while trying to remove the first one that broke.  At this point I gave up and had it towed to a friend’s shop to finish the job.  A simple frickin brake job.  Which he did successfully complete, though not before breaking a bolt or two of his own along the way.  But the rear brakes are back in full working order at this point, though.

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