Can someone give me a rundown of the steps and tools required to change my front brake pads? Never done a brake job before. Thanks in advance.

 

-use a C-clamp to press the caliper piston in
-loosen bolts the hold caliper on
-take out old pads,put in new 1's
-put the 2 caliper bolts back in and tighten them

push the brakes a couple times to get the piston out of its bore and against the pad. and u should be good 2 go!

 

That pretty much covers it. Changing pads on disc brakes is very straighforward.

 

Your changing the pads without taking the caliper off?
How do the old pads come out? They just pull out or they need to be unclipped?

 

Last question. Do I need to take brake fluid out of the reservoir? If so, how do I do it? Thanks.

 

There shouldn't be any reason to. The main purpose of the reservoir is to provide enough fluid for the caliper pistons to extend as the pads wear. Fill it to the mark when you change pads and you shouldn't ever have to add/remove any again (until you flush the system.) When the reservoir gets low during normal use, that's your clue to check the pads and look for leaks.

 

Take the caliper out. 2 bolts hold it in. The outer pad should fall off and you pull out the inner pad. Crack open the bleeder and compress the piston with a C Clamp and close off the bleeder screw. Insert pads and reinstall. If you want to get fancy, bleed the brakes at the same time. Always a good thing to do every 2 years.

 

Why do you need to open the bleeder, ive never heard of/seen that done before.

 

I have never opened a bleeder yet to compress the pistons on any car I've worked on so far. You can leave it closed and just press them in with a C clamp (make sure to avoid placing it on the rubber brake line) or there is a neat piston tool at Sears and many auto parts stores that will do the same thing with a "dummy pad" and a screw to push the piston in. Not required, but it is available.

Good luck!

 

A C clamp with a metal bar will accomplish the same thing. That evens out the force on the piston.

The reason I open the bleeders and compress the piston is that I want to get the crud that might have settled in the caliper near the bleeder out of the system. That part is most exposed to the piston and a point of entry for any dust. I don't do that anymores because I bleed the brakes whenever I do it. Annually I flush the entire system and clean out the reservior

 

First of all Aklim is right. it takes maybe an hour or two to change all the pads.

Bleeding the brakes also lets any air that might have gotten in to your brake lines out. Its Easy to do if you have two people.

 

also, though not on third gens, if you press the piston back in without opening the bleeder on a car with ABS, you might cause a valve to jamb in the HCU(hydraulic control unit) , meaning expensive repairs(part is $800 +, depending on car)

 

An hour or two? It took an hour to do the pads and change the rotors as well as getting all the stuff out, jacking up the car, and cleaning up. Ontop of that, I had no idea what I was doing, someone who did was there telling me what to do. A shop with a lift and air tools could probably do pads in 15 minutes if they were determined.

 

The shop is there to make money. Those people will take some chances with your car that you might not want. For instance, I take the slide bolts out and clean them with a wire wheel and put some grease on them so they slde easier. I forgot what it is called but some auto parts stores will have them. When they do it at the shop, they don't spend the time to make sure things are what they should be. When I repack the bearings, I clean out all the old grease. They would just jam some grease into the bearings.

 

Completed the job today. Thanks for all the help. A couple of things worth mentioning..a 4" C Clamp doesn't fit..it needs to be 6". The 2 caliper bolts don't have nuts so you need a 3/8 Allen wrench socket. Total cost $50 for the pads, lube and extra tools. Midas wanted $150 to do the job..so basically I saved $100 by asking you guys..