First time brake change, any advice?
#1
First time brake change, any advice?
Going to attempt to change my brake pads and rotors for the first time. Found a video for the fronts, piece of cake (just remove a set of bolts for both caliper and rotor). Anything different with the rears? Anything I should know ahead of time with this job?
Thanks guys!!
FYI: I'm planning to just use all Duralast stuff from Autozone (cmax gold for the front pads).
Thanks guys!!
FYI: I'm planning to just use all Duralast stuff from Autozone (cmax gold for the front pads).
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#15
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#16
Save the manuals!
iTrader: (5)
The best advice I can give for your "first time" is to only do one side at a time. If something gets messed up, you can look at the other side of the car to see how things go back together.
Check the boot on the inside part of the rear brake backing plate. Is it torn? If so, you may want to replace this to keep dirt from getting in the parking brake mechanism. If you do this, it's a little more involved and there are other precautions you'll need to take. (Like doing this with the rotor bolted in place, so your parking brake mechanism doesn't come apart.)
The Delco pads come with all new hardware except for the pins. They just have the hardware that fits on to the calipers.
#17
What kind of car is this? What year? There is a big pitfall with the later model F-Bodies in that the parking brake needs to be adjusted for new rear rotors. This can ONLY be done with the brakes off the car as the procedure requires taking the rotor on/off to do a test fit. You can search to find this procedure on this site.
I also went ahead and ordered the Duralast stuff, since Autozone had an online promotion that offered free shipping and 20% off of my entire purchase! Too good of a deal to pass up.
#19
Save the manuals!
iTrader: (5)
Oops, I should have stated that in my first post. It's a 1999 Trans Am. So it sound like I dodged this bullet then?
Great idea!
I also went ahead and ordered the Duralast stuff, since Autozone had an online promotion that offered free shipping and 20% off of my entire purchase! Too good of a deal to pass up.
Great idea!
I also went ahead and ordered the Duralast stuff, since Autozone had an online promotion that offered free shipping and 20% off of my entire purchase! Too good of a deal to pass up.
OK - More tips:
The caliper pad replacement is pretty straight forward and easy to do. When you do them on this car, you will want to:
- Take care to lubricate every part where there is metal on metal contact. Be sure to use brake pad grease on the shoe or shoe hardware where metal parts of the pad touch metal parts of the caliper. (Like the sides of the shoe where its slides along the caliper, etc.) Any place where there is metal-to-metal contact is a potential squeal and needs grease.
- Pay close attention to the slider pins. As noted above, its best if you can get new ones as the originals will get flat-spotted and out of round. They should move freely back and forth in the caliper bracket. Best to take them out of the bracket entirely, clean them up with alcohol or brake cleaner, and then lube them liberally with grease before inserting in the bracket. Post-lube, you should notice they move much easier. This is critical for maximum braking power and the inner/outer pads wearing the same.
By all means - you should get a hold of a torque wrench and properly torque the bolts. If you don't.... the bolts can vibrate out under use and then... bad things happen. (Same goes for your lug nuts!) When you lose a wheel/brake caliper, there is no backup and these are kind of important things. The proper torques:
Wheel Lug Nuts: 100 lb-ft (or 140 N-m)
Caliper Bracket to Car Bolts (Larger bolts): 74 lb-ft (or 100 N-m)
Caliper to Caliper Bracket Bolts (Smaller bolts): 23 lb-ft (or 31 N-m)
I also recommend red loctite on the small caliper to caliper bracket bolts. I noticed it on my bolts that came from the factory, although the GM repair manual makes no mention of its application.
The rears are the same except for the parking brake adjustment. Please advise if you can't find that procedure. Likewise, if you have problems doing the adjustment and need to rebuild and lubricate the parking brake - that's a much more difficult thing to do and probably worthy of another thread.