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How To Replace Brake Pad
By Jenna Litchfield
Brake pads! We all need them on our cars, they are a very important part in the braking process and with worn brake pads, braking in a serious situation can be come very dangerous so we need to replace them if they get worn.
Brake pads are used to slow your car down, the caliper squeezes the rotor against the other brake pad and friction is created to slow down the car.
Most often or not if you need to replace your brake pads, the wear indicator on the pad will end up touching the break disc and make a squealing sound which I'm sure you will hear because its quite loud.
There is also a little opening if you take the wheel off and look at the brake caliper, you can see how much friction material or how much of the pad is left so you know when to replace them as well.
Ok say you want to replace your front brake pads how do you go about that?
Park your car on a flat level piece of ground, flat is the key word here, you do not want your car rolling back and damaging the brakes when its jacked up or any other part of the car for that matter!
Put some blocks or something of similar weight behind the rear wheels to stop the car rolling however even on a flat bit of ground it can still move and remember to have the cars emergency brake or hand brake on at all times.
And vice versa if you replace the brake pads on the back wheels because even the most sturdy jacks and jack stands have given way at some stage and safety is always first for you and your car when you are replacing anything on a car.
Loosen your nuts on your wheels, then jack the car up and put it on jack stands and take the wheels off as the location of the brake pads are behind the wheel.
The next step in replacing brake pads is to remove the bolts holding the caliper in, slide it out and away from the rotor.
Remove the bolts/clips holding the pads in place, and free them from the caliper.
Now your brake pads should be removed and out for you to examine, how much friction material do you have left on your pads?
If there is hardly any at all, means you definitely need to replace them, and most likely they were making a squealing noise as you brake.
Be careful not to breathe in any break dust when replacing your brake pads, or prolong your hands to the dust, hose down the brakes before replacing anything, and if any brake fluid contacts any car surface quickly wash the surface with plenty of water as it can eat away at the paint.
You will now need to push the piston back to its original site nice and slowly, the piston is like a little arm that pushes the brake pad against the rotor, and makes your car stop.
It is near the engine side of the caliper, about three inches long, to push it back just use the heel of your hand or something stronger like a c clamp to push it back, do not hit the piston back to the original location as it could damage it.
Now you need to install the new brake pads, use high temp grease, which is used to lubricate the back of the brake pad, the lubricant goes between the plate and the back of the brake pad but keep all oil and grease like lubricants off the actual friction material and off the rotor.
Ok reassemble the pad and caliper the exact opposite way you took it off in, clip or bolt the pads back on to the caliper then slide it on to the rotor and then do up the bolts.
The brakes will probably make strange scraping or scratching noises, however it will go away in a few days as the pad wears a little.
So that is how you replace your brake pads, so it is essential that you check your pads and see if they need replacing every so often and to see how much they have worn down.
And remember if you cannot attempt to replace the brake pads yourself or if you make a mistake always look to the advice or the services of a qualified mechanic to help you replace your brake pads.
And consult your cars manual if available, always practice safety first in all aspects of car maintenance and replacement.
See Also:
More information on auto parts
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