Changing Brake Pads
Whether your vehicle is a super car, reaching speeds well beyond 200 mph, or a sensible daily commuter, one of the most important components of your vehicle is your brakes. The ability to stop your vehicle before ramming head on in to another is much more important than being able to pass a slower moving car. Brakes should never be neglected, especially when it comes time to changing them.
If you have ever gotten a quote on the cost to change your brake pads/rotors, you might be shocked initially at the charge, but remember that this cost is much less detrimental than what it would cost you in money, pain and anguish if you were suffer an accident related to faulty brakes. With that said, you do not have to bear the entire burden of the cost because in general, you can save more than 50% of the cost by changing your brake pads yourself.
When is it time to change my brake pads? Brake pads wear over time because they are squeezed on to a spinning disc with a great amount of pressure in order for your vehicle to stop. This friction causes the brake pad to get thinner and thinner. There are 2 ways to tell when it is time to change your brake pads.
- Visual inspection – a simple inspection of your brake pads and how thick they are is a good way to tell they are worn down. If your brake pads are anything less than ¼ inch thick, it is time to start thinking about changing them. If they are down to only 1/8 inch, then you really need to change them before they do damage to other brake components that will need to be replaced as a result.
- Audible warning – many brake pads have mechanisms built in to them designed to screech once they wear down to a certain point. If you hear a consistent screeching when you apply your brakes, then you should be changing your brake pads soon. If you hear a metal scraping sound, then your brake pads are beyond the point of replacement already and you are actually doing damage to other brake components. You should get your brakes replaced immediately.
Purchase a good set of brake pads. There are many choices out there in today’s aftermarket sector, but if you are unsure of what is good, you can always purchase another set of stock brake pads/rotors from your local dealership. There is no need to get something that would be overkill for your specific vehicle, but try to maintain something that is at least as good as your stock OEM brakes. Just think, with the money you will save from reading this article and changing your brakes yourself, you can afford to buy some better brake pads!
Steps to replacing your own brake pads/rotors (these are generic steps practical for most vehicles):
- Park your vehicle on level ground and make sure you let the brake components cool down first if you have driven it recently.
- Start with one side of your vehicle and loosen the lug nuts on your wheels just enough so that they spin freely. If your vehicle has a wheel lock on them, then you will need to use the wheel lock key that fits over the special lug nut whenever you loosen or tighten it.
- Using a hydraulic floor jack or your vehicle’s emergency crank jack (usually found a compartment within your vehicles trunk), jack up your vehicle enough so that the tire lifts off the ground completely. Use jack stands to keep your vehicle up as it is dangerous to do any work on your vehicle with just a floor jack elevating your vehicle.
Remove the lug nuts completely and then take the wheel off to reveal the caliper, rotor and brake assembly behind it. If your wheel seems stuck to the hub and will not come off, then it may have rusted together. You may need to smack the tire with a rubber mallet to dislodge the wheel from the hub. Careful not to dent your alloy rims if your vehicle has them.- Remove the caliper spring and/or bolts so that you can lift the top portion of the caliper off to expose the brake pads in between (the bottom portion is generally mounted to the brake assembly, if not the whole caliper may need to be removed and then taken apart to access the brake pads). Be careful, as you lift the top portion of the caliper off, the brake pads may slip out and scrape your rotor.
- Slide out the original brake pads from the caliper if they are still in there.
- Use your brake cleaner to clean up any dirty components. Spray down the dirty parts, wipe away the excess with a clean cloth and then let them air dry.
- Insert the new brake pads into the caliper.
Before you do this, you may need to compress the caliper piston (a metal circle in the middle of the caliper on the side closer to the vehicle) in order to make room for your new brake pad. The piston may be protruding out too much because the original brake pad is worn down and thus the opening between the piston and caliper wall is now too thin for the new thicker brake pad you wish to install. In order to make room for the new brake pad, you may have to compress the caliper piston inward a little. Turn it clockwise to compress the piston inwards until it is flush with the caliper wall.
- If you do not have the special caliper piston tool that has prong(s) on it to fit onto the divot(s) of the caliper piston head, then you can generally go to an auto parts store and rent it for free – you just pay a deposit on the tool and then they refund you your deposit when you return the tool. You can also do this by using a C clamp and laying a small piece of wood or flat material over the piston head (so that you don’t damage it while applying pressure) and then just tighten the clamp until the piston is flush with the caliper wall.
- Loosen the cap on the master brake fluid reservoir before compressing the caliper piston as this may relieve some pressure to allow it to compress inwards easier. Also, if you are working on your rear brakes then you should release the hand brake first before doing this as the hand brake applies the rear brakes.
If you need to replace your rotor as well, all you have to do is remove the bolts holding the bottom portion of the caliper which holds the rotor to the brake assembly and then the rotor slides out of the hub easily. If the rotor has rusted to the wheel hub, then gently tap it with a rubber mallet on the circumference to dislodge it.
Reassemble everything in the reverse order until you are back to where you started.- Replace the brake pads on the other side of the vehicle with the same steps above.
- If you are replacing your rear brake pads, then you should pump your hand brake a few times to recalibrate the caliper pistons to a ready position. Four to six full pumps should do.
- Test drive your vehicle cautiously with the new brake pads to ensure they are working properly. Start with a few gradual stops from 10 – 20 mph and then a few gradual stops from 20 – 40 mph and then a few hard stops within various speed intervals. Sometimes after installing new brake pads, you will get a faint scratching or scraping sound. This generally goes away after a few days of normal driving.
- Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!
