On crucial element in your safety while driving is your ability to stop your vehicle. If your vehicle is beginning to make a whining noise every time you stop it may be time for you to change your brake pads. This may sound like a challenging job but it is really not too difficult if you follow ten simple steps.
Before you set out to change your brake pads you will need to go to your local auto parts store and buy the appropriate pair of brake pads for your vehicle. These will vary in price and each vehicle typically has several options to choose from. Never go with the cheapest because they will be made with poorer quality as opposed to the more expensive kind. If you don’t want to spend the money for the most expensive then you can go with the middle of the road. However, you get what you pay for and these are your brakes that are being considered.
Once you have the brake pads find a shady spot and get your tire iron, jack, jack, stands, a c-clamp, wheel chalks, a wrench set, and some rags. To change out the brake pads on your vehicle follow these ten simple steps:
- Safety First: Take your wheel chalks and be sure that you place them firmly under your rear tires.
- Loosen the Wheel: Grab your tire iron and break loose the lug nuts on one of your front wheels so that they become free. You will always want to do this before the car is jacked up in the air.
- Jack it Up: Once the lug nuts are loose you can go ahead and jack up the car so that tire is a couple of inches off of the ground. Be sure that you put your jack stands in place before you go any further.
- Take the Wheel Off: With your jack stands in place take all of the lug nuts off and remove the wheel.
Now you will be looking directly at the disc brake assembly. The big round part is the rotor and off to the side (three o’clock) you will see the brake caliper and the brake pads within.
- Remove the Caliper: The brake caliper is usually held on by two long bolts; one on the top and one on the bottom. Find the size wrench you need and break loose the bolts then take them off completely. Once the bolts are off you will be able to slide the caliper off and you will see the old pads.
- Remove the Old Pads: You can now remove the old pads and while you are doing this pay attention to any clips or pins that may need to be put back in place with the new pads. Now match up the new pads with the old ones to determine which two pads you will be using for the side you are working on.
- Compress the Piston: Before you can go any further you have to fully compress the piston on the brake caliper. You will see the piston as it is cylindrical and will jut out just a bit. To compress the piston, simply take the old brake pad, place it over the piston, and use your c-clamp to tighten down the piston. Keep going until the piston is flush in the caliper.
- Put in the New Pads: Now is the time to place the new pads in place and slide the caliper back into position to be reattached. The new brake pads should fit snugly over the rotor and if you find that you cannot get the caliper in place because of clearance then it probably means that you haven’t compressed the piston fully.
- Tighten the Caliper: Once the caliper is in place with the new brake pads place the two bolts back into their corresponding holes and then tighten them up.
- Replace the Wheel: Once everything is back in its place you simply have to put the wheel back on, tighten the lug nuts somewhat, remove the jack stands, lower the jack and tighten the lug nuts all the way.
After you have finished with the one side, simply repeat the steps on the other side. After you are all finished be sure to pump on your brakes to make sure that you have adequate pressure. Once that is established, remove the wheel chalks and take your vehicle for a spin with its new set of brake pads firmly in place.
