Hey guys ChrisFix here and today I'm going to show you
how to replace your windshield wiper brakes in your vehicle.
Now in this case we're going to be using my Mustang but don't worry the process is very
similar for most makes and models out there, if not almost identical so after you're done
watching this video you'll know how to replace the wiper brakes in your vehicle.
So just want to show you real quick,
the wiper brakes are located right at the base of the windshield wiper stock,
you can see actually the brake rotor right there and the other wiper brake rotor is right there.
And the reason why you can see them on my vehicle is because I took the dust boots off,
it helps give it a little bit more airflow to cool them down.
It's just like a performance mod, but on your vehicle if it's stock
it probably has those dust boots so you won't be able to see them.
Don't worry they're there, trust me, you just have to take off this cowl,
take off those dust boots, and you'll be able to get to them.
Now you know where the wiper brakes are but how do you know if they're going bad?
Well in this case there are three common symptoms: the first one you can see clearly right here,
the resting position is incorrect. So the wiper resting position is
up on the windshield and that it's not good,
and it's because the brakes aren't stopping it in the right spot,
it should be down further, resting right over here.
Now the second symptom of bad wiper brakes is if the wipers go too far,
so the brakes aren't slowing the wipers down, you can see right there it's hitting this a-pillar
which is going to damage the paint which isn't good so if your wipers are going too far like that
that means your wiper brakes are probably worn out.
And the third and final common symptom of having bad wiper brakes is when you
go to use your wipers and they go across the glass, they screech or they squeak...
Most people think this is a bad wiper blade but it's actually incorrect it's the wiper brake pads.
The little wear indicators on them make noise to let you know they need to be replaced.
Not every car has wiper brake pads with wear indicators so sometimes they won't squeak,
but it's just another common symptom to let you guys know you need wiper brakes.
So now you know all the common symptoms let me show you how to replace the wiper
brakes and here are all the tools and products you're gonna need.
Now as always we're using common hand tools that
way you guys could get this job done at home, yourself, no problem at all.
So if your mechanic is telling you "Hey, wiper brake pads are really difficult to
replace" or "they're really expensive to replace"
run, he is lying to you, he's trying to scam you and that's exactly why I'm making this video.
So you guys can get this done yourself now when you're replacing these brake
pads yourself you want to make sure you get high-end windshield wiper brake pad sets.
So this is a really good kit I got from NRS brakes.
They make high-end brake pad sets for vehicles so their wiper brakes are amazing as well.
And as you can see it says right there it restores the wiper rest location
which is important because that's our problem.
For this kit I went with all season wiper brakes,
which works in both the snow and the rain.
And this kit is also a universal kit, as I said, almost all the wiper brake pads are the same for
most makes and models the only difference is going to be on high-end cars that go really quickly.
Like supercars, Lambos, Ferraris, stuff like that...
They use bigger brakes because they need more
braking force to keep those wipers down at high speeds.
You can also see it says it eliminates squeaking and it has a 30% longer life which is good.
That way you don't have to replace these all the time .
Plus as you can see right above the barcode,
these are made in the good old United States of America
bringing back manufacturing and jobs to the United States one wiper brake pad set at a time.
So you can see why it's so important to go with a a good brake pad set,
and right here is everything that comes with one kit,
and you need one kit for every wiper blade
so we have our brake caliper, we have our two brake pads,
a brake rotor, and some brake hardware.
We have springs, screws, nuts and bolts... stuff like that
that could easily get lost because they're so small.
And that's everything you're gonna need so those are all the tools and products.
I'll be sure to include everything in the description so you can easily find it let's
get our safety glasses on and let me show you how to replace the wiper brakes on your vehicle and
the first thing we need to do is we need to get under this cow so that we could get to the brakes
so let's remove our wiper blades and removing the blades is pretty simple just fold this blade up
like that and then at the base of the wiper blade there is a button that you want to push outwards
like that and then you just grab the bottom of the wiper blade you lift up and you give it a little
wiggle and it should come right off so same thing with the other wiper lift it up pressing that
little button and wiggle it out good now let's remove the wiper shroud and you want to be careful
here to make sure you don't crack it well that was damaged anyway so we'll just install a new one so
let's just pop this one out and check it out now we have access to our wiper brake assemblies and
our brake rotors look to be in pretty decent shape a little warm but not bad the brake calipers look
great so we'll have to open this up and check the brake pads and the same thing with the passenger
side you can see our brake rotor looks to be in pretty good shape here our brake caliper is in
great shape we're just gonna have to check those brake pads but before we go and open anything up
you can see all this dirt and debris here let's clean that out because that's something that could
get into the brakes and cause them to squeak so we want to make sure that is nice and clean so I'm
just using a brush to loosen up the dirt and then sucking it up with a vacuum so with all the dirt
and debris removed and this all cleaned up now let me show you how to replace the brake pads first
we need to get this wiper sprocket off so get some locking pliers and clamp down and then pry
this off carefully good and you can see there are splines here that spline to the shaft so we need
to remove this in order to get the brake rotor off so with that removed now we can remove these two
screws here that hold this caliper together so we can get the pads and rotor off but before we
do that when we unscrew this there's going to be small brake pads screws Springs all things that we
could easily lose in the depth of our wiper area so what I like to do is I like to get a towel and
spread it out that way if anything drops it drops into our towel and not into the abyss now let's
unscrew these two bolts using a three millimeter Allen wrench now let's crack this bolt loose good
and loosen it up the rest of the way and make sure we don't drop it and then we'll do the same exact
thing for the other bolt loosen it up the rest of the way and there we go now the top of the
caliper comes off and then next we have our brake pad which could come off and check it out you can
see how worn down the brake pad is it barely has any pad material left and those black marks
signify that this has been overheated so it's a good thing we're replacing it next we could take
our brake rotor off that just slides right off like that and then we need to be very careful
here you can see there's a spring there and a spring there that's very small on these pins we
need to make sure we don't lose those I'm going to take the spring off take that other spray ring off
then we can remove the pin and remove that other pin and now our second brake pad could come out so
out with the old worn out wiper brakes and in with the new ones and look at that difference
there now to install the new brake pads first we have to put these locator pins in then we could
slide our brake pad over those locator pins making sure the pad material is facing up then we need to
very carefully get these springs on the locator pins then we can add our brake rotor and finally
we could add our second brake pad making sure the pad material is facing down get on those locator
pins just like that you can see the spring pushes these two brake pads apart that way it doesn't
have parasitic drag on these wiper arms and now we'll get our caliper on beautiful then let's
tighten down these two bolts by hand don't over tighten them and then we need to torque these down
to eight foot pounds or 96 inch pounds which is very important so these brake pads are secure and
one last thing to install is the wiper sprocket so line up the splines and then lightly tap it
into place good so what with our entire windshield wiper brake pad assembly completely done on this
side let's move over to the passenger side and do this one so first let's clamp onto the wiper
sprocket and pop this off then we could unscrew the bolts holding the caliper in ah wait a second
almost forgot the towel and without the towel you know for sure something would have dropped down
there okay now we could remove this bolt then we could loosen and remove the other bolt as well and
you can see the caliper hats coming off with it next we could remove the brake pad then the brake
rotor and then the two Springs that are on the locator pins and finally let's Slide the other
worn brake pad off so out with the old and in with the new then we can get the Springs back on the
pins good get that rotor back on and then we could get the second pad on and finally let's get the
caliper hat on and hand tighten both bolts to hold it in now we can torque down the bolts to spec
good and the last thing to do is line up the wiper sprocket and carefully tap it in so the splines
mesh good so now both the passenger side and the driver's side wiper brake assemblies have brand
new brake pads in there let's go get our wiper cowl on there get our wiper blades installed and
try it out so out with the old and in with the new and let's get this in place and carefully
snap it in on the driver's side like so and then let's get the passenger side tucked in as well
and finally let's install the wiper blade so we could test these out and remember these
wiper blades need to be clocked in the correct position we don't want them to be up like this
we want them to be down like that so let's get this in place and try to line it up and beautiful
now we could do the other one as well get this lined up perfect all right so the moment you
guys have been waiting for do the wiper blades work properly after replacing the wiper brakes
perfect that is exactly what we want to see not only are they going up they aren't touching the
a-pillar like they were in the past check this out perfect clearance that is right on there
those bricks are spot on we're coming down to the correct resting position here as well which is
exactly what we want so that is a job well done as always I hope this video was helpful oh well who's
that check it out what's going on dude I wasn't expecting you here perfect timing how you doing
Chris I've been out on the road in the US for a while just finishing up the road trip but my
wiper blades aren't going down all right well this is good timing because I just finished a video on
how to fix this common problem so I'll take care of that for you but first let me end my video here
so that's everything you need to know on how to replace wiper brakes now I need to go fix smee's
car so we can finish up his American road trip safely so I hope you guys enjoyed the video if it
was helpful remember to give it a thumbs up and consider sharing it with your friends who don't
know how to replace their wiper brakes that way they could learn how and as always all the tools
and products are linked down in the description so you could easily find it oh yeah April Fools