DIY: Front Disc Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement

[sam o nela]

Okie dokie guys here’s the official Front Brake pad and rotor changing DIY…

Materials needed:
~ 6” C-clamp
~ 12mm and 17mm socket and ratchet
~ Impact screwdriver
~ Rubber mallet
~ Anti-seize
~ Anti-squeal pad gel
~ Breaker bar

STEP 1

Of course you need to raise the car up on to jack stands (don’t ever work on or get under a car supported by only a jack!!). Since you will be taking off the wheels, if you happen to have 4 jack stands, use this time to rotate your tires if you need to…

STEP 2

Remove the cap on the brake fluid reservoir so that the fluid can freely raise when pushed back, but leave the cap on top of the opening (covering the reservoir) to be sure that nothing accidentally gets in there while you’re not looking! Use the C-clamp to press the brake piston into the caliper and ease the removal/installation of the pads.

STEP 3

Once the piston is pressed back, remove the two 12mm bolts that hold the caliper onto the caliper bracket. Once the bolts are removed, support the caliper using a wire or string to hang it and support its weight. IMPORTANT: DO NOT allow the caliper to hang by the brake line as it could possibly stress/damage/break it!! (but of course your already knew that right?)


With the caliper out of the way you can now remove the pads. Here are the old pads compared to the new ones!!

Remember to save the shims to be reused if the new pads didn't come with them. Spread the Anti-squeal between the shim and wherever there is contact with the caliper.

Be sure to cleanup and regrease the slide pins in the caliper bracket as well. Inspect their rubber boots to be sure that the are free of rips or holes that will allow dirt to get in...

STEP 4

Now with the caliper, and pads removed, you must now remove the caliper bracket. It is simply held in place by two 17mm bolts. Depending on their age, they may be VERY stubborn…I would suggest the use of the breaker bar to save your ratchet and your sanity some unneeded stress.


With the bracket removed, you can now focus on the rotor. This is where the impact screwdriver comes in…if you don’t have one, get one…they are available anywhere and cost no more than $10-$20. I can almost guarantee you that these Philips head screws will be in like Flynn and you DO NOT want to strip the heads on these babies! Hit the impact with the mallet and get those screws out like it aint no thang !

With the screws out, you are now free to swing away at the old rotor with the rubber mallet until it comes off (the old rotor that is).

STEP 5
Now with everything ready to go, as they say in the books, installation is the reverse of removal. To make things easier for yourself or the next guy, however, spread some Anti-seize onto all of the bolts before reinstalling them. The Phillips screws for the rotors do not need to go back on.

Finished Product:
BEFORE


AFTER



ENJOY!!

[bravo659]

Nice rotors and colored caliper. Gonna do that to my Legend.
BTW, how hard i have to hit my rotor to remove them. Mine is stubborn, but shouldn't be because I just had them replaced a month ago at Goodyear.

[samo8ty5]

Originally Posted by bravo659

Nice rotors and colored caliper. Gonna do that to my Legend.
BTW, how hard i have to hit my rotor to remove them. Mine is stubborn, but shouldn't be because I just had them replaced a month ago at Goodyear.

Not hard, if the screw that holds to rotor on is stuck then you need to use a hammer and a pick to make the screw loosen, then they should come off easy. I had to do that on my rotors.

[l4zy415]

Great DIY Gabe, what kind of rotors are those? And I'm surprised you painted your calipers that color lol.

[Original Legend 88]

no pics??????

[sam o nela]

Hmmm...they should work...

EDIT: Back up!

Back in the days before wide use of photobucket, I had these hosted at Cardomain...their recent switch to a Java-based photo viewer meant I had to fix the way my pics were linked....all should be good with the world now

[Mikeo]

ya what kind are those? i have been lookin on ebay for some but i dont know what ones to get. i found some that were 130 bucks for all four

[Original Legend 88]

thanks for the DIY!!!
just one question are the new breaks supposed to smell or smoke???
heres my finished product

[l4zy415]

Ya, they're just breaking in. Once you drive around for awhile, it'll stop making that nasty smell. Just be careful not to brake too often with new pads and rotors. They will heat up really quick and braking will make it hard. Give it a week for it to run properly.

[Original Legend 88]

the pads say that there is no breaking in and the disks say that use the pads breaking in requirements