How to Repair Automotive Brakes

See Our Chilton and Haynes Manuals - Click Here

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.

Keywords: Brakes, brake, pads, caliper, rotor, brake, line, bleeding, tools, automotive, tools, mechanic, chilton, haynes, autodata, eautorepair, do, it, yourself, DIY, pump, lug, nuts, vehicle, jacks, automotive, guides, service, manual, factory, manufacturer