Anybody who either owns or drives a vehicle on a regular basis understands the importance of keeping the
brakes well maintained and changing them on a consistent schedule. Many people
choose to pay the hiked up fees that come along with having their brakes changed
by a mechanic, but the process of changing brakes on a vehicle is a task that
most people with limited experience using tools can complete at home.
When making the decision to start a brake repair job you first want to slightly loosen the lug nuts, lift
your auto with a common floor jack and then completely remove the lug nuts and
tires and begin the initial inspection. It is important to determine whether you
have an all disk braking system or one that brings together drums and disks. If
you are having difficulty determining the type of brakes equipped on your
vehicle, there are many resources at your disposal including Chilton’s and
Haynes manuals, Autodata, online eAutoRepair, as well as factory written service
manuals.
After figuring out the type of brake system your vehicle has, you will want to remove the mounting
bolts holding the calipers in place and then take the calipers off of the
rotors. If you clamp the calipers back then you can remove the brake pads and go
to your local auto parts store to pick up your replacement parts. Simply put the
new brake pads in place release the caliper and replace the mounting bolts. Once
you have the rotors back in their secure position you can put the tire back on
and pump the brakes to ensure that they are set against the rotors and bleed the
brake line.
Of course there are many different types of brakes and the procedure can be different depending on the
manufacturer of your vehicle. It is important to reference automotive guides as
mentioned above to guarantee you are doing everything correctly. With a little
bit of practice you will be able to forget about those times you paid the
premium for a mechanic to do a job that was an easy do-it-yourself task all
along.
