Stopping your vehicle is the most important safety aspect in car maintaince. If your brakes are worn out it increases your stopping distance. Or worse case scenario your brakes fail and you cannot stop or slow down. Most all of today’s cars have disc brakes on them, and the two parts that wear out are the brake pads and the brake rotors.
To begin replacing the pads and rotors you have to park your vehicle on a level surface. You then break loose the lug nuts on the tire that you will be working on the brakes for. Then jack up the car so the tire is off the ground and remove the lug nuts then the tire. You will be able to see all of the brake components, take a mental image because that is what is should look like when you are done. Next you locate the caliber, which is the piece with the brake pads inside. There are two bolts holding this one. Remove those and then slide off the caliber. The brake pads can just be taken out since they are not fastened. Then there is a bracket that holds the pads on. Remove that and then the rotor (the disc) will just slide off.
Inside of the caliber bracket there are metal slides for the pads. Most brake pad kits have new slides included. To change them all you have to do is pop out the old ones with a screwdriver. Sand down the bracket and then squeeze some brake pad lubricant into the sliders. The new rotors will have oil on them to prevent rust. If you do not clean that off it can harm the brake pads so you need to clean them off with some brake cleaner. Slide on the new rotor and bolt on the caliber bracket. Then place the new pads back into the bracket. There are normally two pistons on the brake caliber that push up against the brake pads to crate friction. Since your new pads have more pad to them you need to push back those pistons. To do this you need a larger C-clamp and an old brake pad. Place the pad across the pistons and tighten the clamp until you cannot tighten anymore. Now you can slide the caliber over the pads then bolt it into place. Make sure everything is tight and you can put the tire on with the lug nuts snug then let down the jack and torque the lugs. All finished, when you start the engine pump the brake pedal until it is firm. Also be easy on the brakes for the first few days otherwise they may squeak.
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