The Importance of Proactive Car Repairs

A sign that you need to change your brake pads is when a brake light appears on your dashboard or you start to hear squealing and crunching sounds when you press down on the brake pedal. If you are thinking about starting to do some of the maintenance work on your car yourself, changing the brake pads is a good thing to know and do. You can normally change the brake pads yourself on most cars in an hour or two. If you are new to doing car mechanic work, here is how you can change the front brake pads on an average car.

Remove Tire

You should replace the brakes on one side of the car at a time. Remove the hubcap on the wheel to expose the lug nuts. Loosen the lug nuts while the car is still on the ground. Once the lug nuts are loosened, jack up the car and set a jack stand under the frame of the car or axle. Lower the car onto the jack stand. The jack stand is safer to use to hold up the car than a regular jack. Remove the lug nuts and take off the wheel.

Remove Brake Pads

You will see a large metal part called a brake caliper that is attached to a round silver wheel called a rotor. The caliper is connected to the rotor with a couple of bolts that you need to remove. On older cars, these bolts could be rusted in place and can be hard to remove. If you are having trouble loosening the bolts, spray a liberal amount of penetrating oil on them and let the oil penetrate the bolts for an hour or two before you try to remove them again.

Lift up and remove the caliper to expose the brackets for the brake pads once you remove the bolts. You will see the brackets for the brake pads once you remove the caliper. Tie the caliper to the big spring you will be able to see inside of the wheel well so it doesn't hang down. A dangling caliper could damage the brake line running to it. The brake pads are set into the bracket with a couple of clips. Push the pads up and out of the clips on the brackets and set them aside.

Installing New Pads

Make sure you buy brake pads made specifically for your car at the auto store. Insert the new pads into the bracket with the metal side facing away from the rotor.

The caliper has two pistons that work in unison to push the pads against the rotor to make the car stop when you press down on the brake pedal. Before you can place the caliper back over the top of the brake brackets and rotor, you need to push the pistons back into the caliper. Take one of the old pads you removed and place on the top of one of the pistons - this will protect the piston from getting damaged while you use a clamp to force the pistons back into the caliper. Place a C-clamp over the brake pad and the body of the caliper. Tighten the C-clamp until the pressure pushes the piston back inside the caliper. Slide the caliper over the brake brackets and rotor, and bolt it back in place.

Lower Car

Put the wheel back on the car and the lug nuts. Tighten the lug nuts before you remove the jack stand and lower the car to the ground. Tighten the lug nuts again after the car has been lowered. Replace the hubcap and go to the other side of the car to repeat this process to change the pads on that side. To find out more, speak with a business like Hudson Goodyear.