How to change brake pads and rotors

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Changing your brake pads and rotors can conserve you a pair hundred bucks and a excursion to the mechanic. Find out how on this episode of Wrenched.

Check out all of our Autoblog Wrenched movies for extra suggestions on how to diagnose, fix, and modify automobiles from professional detailer Larry Kosilla. Though you might be at it, check out out Larry’s other car or truck cleansing and maintenance video collection Autoblog Facts!

Materials Utilized:

Guidance (movie transcript):

[00:00:00] – [Narrator] Transforming your brake pads and rotors can help save you a few hundred bucks and a trip to the mechanic. This is what you will have to have to full the task: brake pads, screwdriver, socket established, brake cleaner, grease, Scotch-Brite pad, gloves, zip ties, breaker bar, rotor, C-clamp, and significant-temp grease. I’m Larry Kosilla, professional detailer and coach for the final 15 a long time. But when it will come to what is less than the hood, I am the university student. Comply with me as experts teach me how to diagnose,

[00:00:30] deal with, and modify autos on Autoblog’s Wrenched. How usually should really you change brake pads and rotors? – Depends on the form of vehicle you drive, the pad material, and how challenging you generate the car or truck. Some of our race cars and trucks go by a established of brake pads in a single day. – [Larry] Some of the treatments you’re about to see will differ from car to automobile. Seek advice from a store handbook or an on-line resource for your unique vehicle. Brake pads have a squealer that tells the driver when substitution is important. Some are metal and make noise,

[00:01:00] though some are electronic and cause a warning gentle. Be confident your substitute pads have this element, as this is vital to your safety. For stage a person, Joe turns the steering wheel to give me simple access to the entrance and back of the brakes. Then, we clear away the slide pins, which maintain the caliper on the rotors. This could have to have an Allen vital, torque, or other specific socket, dependent on your distinct auto. If the pin takes place to be rusty, you can use penetrative oil and a breaker bar, which is basically a more time ratchet,

[00:01:30] offering you far more leverage to effortlessly loosen the bolt. Some calipers have a spring retention clip that may need to be popped off with a screwdriver. Up coming, eliminate the caliper, and use a screwdriver if necessary, in particular if it can be rusted. Then, slide the old brake pads out. It can be a good idea to hook a zip tie by way of the caliper and join it to the shock, so it is not resting solely on the brake strains, which will destruction the rubber and trigger it to leak.

[00:02:00] In buy to get rid of the rotor, you to start with require to absolutely take away the caliper holder with two rear bolts. Now, remove the rotor from the hub, but on some vehicles there is a screw holding it in place, like this one here. At this issue of the rotor won’t occur off, and specifically if you might be not reusing it, you can carefully strike it with a hammer to quickly take out it from the hub.

[00:02:30] Afterwards, scrub the hub with a Scotch-Brite pad or a wire brush. So the new rotor can sit flush on the hat. Ahead of setting up the new rotor, clean it speedily with brake cleanse, to clear away its protecting coating used from the manufacturing facility to guard it in shipping. Then include a little bit of higher-temp grease to avert the rotor from sticking to the hub the future time we change them. Hand tighten a lug nut to hold the rotor in place, or in our case, a screw is employed to maintain the rotor on the hat. Next, cleanse the caliper holder quickly

[00:03:00] with a Scotch-Brite pad, and increase a small bit of grease to the parts where the outer steel shims contact the caliper and the piston. This is completed to assistance minimize squeaking and prospective seizing in the potential. If you happen to be working with initial products that came with the motor vehicle, then your torque specs will be in your manual. However, if you might be making use of aftermarket components, the bolts and the kind of threading may perhaps be unique, so seek advice from your manufacturer for precise torque specs.

[00:03:30] Use grease or superior temp silicone to the slide pins to help them, well, slide in and out easily as the brakes are compressed and unveiled. We are going to will need them in a minute, so place them shut by. Now it really is time to put the new brake pads in the caliper. But considering that the new pads are thicker than the previous pads, we have to have to compress the hydraulic piston back into the caliper, so they in shape properly. You can do this in two different methods.

[00:04:00] Any simple C clamp that suits in the bottom of the piston and only twist, or this cheap piston compressor. Spot the instrument in the caliper, squeeze the take care of, and compress the piston right until it truly is flush towards the housing. By executing this, we have created additional area in the caliper for the new thicker brake pads to match about the rotors. Before installing the new brake pads, incorporate grease to the again of each and every pad prior to positioning it in the caliper for a easy and squeak-absolutely free movement.

[00:04:30] The pad with the steel clip on the back again snaps into the piston linked to the caliper. And sometimes this can consider a little bit of pressure to clip in. Consider to prevent touching the friction aspect of the pads with greasy fingers. With the pads in place, snip the caliper zip tie, and maintain the bodyweight from tugging on the brake line. Carefully put the caliper around the rotor and the other pad. As soon as in spot, install the
slide pins we lubricated previously and torque them down to your vehicle’s spec.

[00:05:00] This is an extremely important move, you will not want the bolts far too unfastened or as well tight. If you are uncertain, simply call your area sections department for suggestions. Some, but not all, calipers have an extra metallic clip to safe the pads and the calipers in place. Similarly, if your motor vehicle has an digital brake pad sensor, like this modern day motor vehicle, clip them in now. As soon as you’ve got concluded all 4 corners, and reinstalled the wheels, be guaranteed to gently use the brakes at to start with when driving, recognized as betting the brakes.

[00:05:30] To do this thoroughly, get the motor vehicle up to 35 miles an hour, and slowly but surely utilize the brakes until finally you get to about 10 miles an hour. Then, speed up to 35 again, and repeat the course of action a few a lot more moments. Prevent challenging braking at first, to keep from glazing the pads and rotors. The target here is to little by little establish up warmth in the rotors and the pad compound, which will lay down a slim layer of film on the rotors floor, for greater performance, and in the long run smoother braking for the daily life of the pads. The brakes of any auto are its most crucial element

[00:06:00] and ought to be supplied special care and notice to make certain the proper safety of its passengers and our fellow drivers on the street. For a lot more how to car repair movies, take a look at autoblog.com/wrenched. I am Larry Kosilla from AmmoNYC.com as constantly, many thanks for watching.