Hey guys, Chis Fix here. Today I'm going to give you my Top Ten tips for changing brake pads and rotors.
This video isn't going to go in depth about changing brake pads and rotors.
I have a few really good in depth brake videos for both disc brakes and drum brakes.
And I'll put a link to those in the description.
This videos is really about sharing my top tips that people typically overlook while changing their brakes.
Tip number 1: Remember to work with your car, not against it.
When you're working on your brakes, it can be difficult to get your breaker bar
Or even a ratchet
onto the bolts in the back here.
So to get the bolts out holding the caliper on:
turn the steering wheel!
It gives you more access and makes your life a lot easier!
Now look at the difference here.
You can easily access the bolts here
and the caliper braket bolts right behind there.
Tip number 2 is don't forget to grease
the guide pins.
Remove the little rubber boot...
And then take a towel and clean it off.
And then you want to make sure that you use silicone paste
on these.
Silicone won't damage the rubber boot.
Greasing the guide pins is a commonly forgotten thing
to do.
And I have a video all about this
and I even show
how it can cause uneven brake pad wear.
And it's just that easy.
Now these will slide freely.
Make sure you do the bottom...
And the top!
Tip number 3:
After getting the caliper braket bolts out,
and you take your caliper off,
Never let the caliper dangle by the brake line!
You're putting way too much stress and pressure on this
and the brake line is not designed to
hold the weight of the caliper.
So instead of letting it dangle,
what I like to do is I like to get a bungee cord, or a rope,
And the hang the brake caliper somewhere, such as
on the shock.
And now the brake isn't just dangling there, all the pressure is on the bungee cord.
And there's no pressure on the brake line itself.
Tip number 4:
Make sure you clean the brake rotor off with brake clean
before you install it.
You can see the oily coating on the brake rotors
which they use to prevent them from rusting.
You want to remove that coating.
So take your brake clean,
spray it on the surface,
and wipe it down with a towel.
And look at all that oil we removed!
Don't forget to do the other side as well!
Look at that!
Now this is ready to go on the vehicle.
Top tip number 5: before you put that brake rotor on,
get a wire brush, and clean the hub right over here.
If there's rust buildup over here, but not as much over here,
the brake rotor could sit unevenly.
and that'll cause the brakes to warp.
But if you use a wire brush, and brush all the rust off,
so it's nice and smooth and even all around,
you won't have that problem.
Another thing to do is add Anti-Seize
right to the hub face
here,
and here!
With the Anti-Seize on here,
it'll make taking that rotor off
really easy the next time you change your brakes
so it doesn't get rust-welded to the hub.
Now we can put our brake rotor on!
You can see with our brake rotor on, it doesn't want to sit evenly
on the hub.
Tip number 6
is grab a lug nut,
push the rotor so it's flat against the face of the hub,
and screw that lug nut down,
all the way.
Now, your rotor won't move.
This'll help you a lot when you bolt the brake caliper back on.
Tip number 7:
before you use your brake tool,
to compress that piston in,
get a paper towel,
and clean around the rubber boot here
And then peel this rubber boot back to expose the brake piston surface
and clean all the brake dust on the piston behind the boot.
Because the piston's going to be compressed back into the caliper,
you don't want to force all that dirt and debis back into the caliper.
Where it's going to contaminate the brake fluid,
and maybe even damage a seal.
Which would cause a leak over time.
A plain towel, or even a towel with some brake cleaner on it,
will do the job.
In my case, these are pretty clean because I do this every brake job,
but yours might take some more time to clean.
Alright, once you clean the dust behind the rubber boot,
You can compress that piston!
Tip number 8:
When compressing the piston,
crack the bleeder valve located right here.
I'm using my one-man bleeder which prevents air from getting in the system.
You can see the old brake fluid getting force out,
As the piston's getting compressed.
This brake fluid right at the caliper
gets the hottest and breaks down the quickest.
So this process helps get some of that old brake fluid out.
And you can add some new brake fluid to the master cylinder when you're all done.
And once that brake piston's almost completely pushed in,
tighten the bleeder valve as you continue to compress the piston.
Not only will you remove some of that old brake fluid,
But you're also going to use the bleeder valve
which will keep it from seizing up.
And it won't snap off in the future.
So a little bit of use keeps that free and moving!
Top tip number 9:
When installing new brake pads,
make sure you get brake pads with wear indicators.
That's this little clip right here.
This is actually an old brake pad.
And you can see, the wear indicator sticks out
just a little.
So when your brake pads wear down to about ten to twenty percent left,
This will squeak against the rotor.
So when you're driving around and you hear a constant squeaking noise,
both while pressing the brakes, and even when you don't press the brakes,
you know it's time to replace your pads.
This is a great saftey feature because if you don't have wear indicators,
you might not realize your brakes are dangerously low.
And, as you can see, this brake pad without the wear indicator
is worn down all the way to the backing plate.
Which could be very dangerous!
So make sure your brakes have wear indicators!
For a few extra bucks, it's completely worth it!
Alright, your brakes are all done.
Top tip number 10: When you're done with everything,
hit the rotors with brake clean one more time,
to get al that dirt off.
oil and dirt is one of the main causes your brand new
brakes mighit squeak and make noise.
You might not even notice, but your hands are dirty.
And they could've contaminated the rotor surface.
So just to be safe, clean it off!
And those are my top ten brake job tips!
And I want to hear some of yours, so make sure you comment below!
So hopefully this video was helpful,
If it was, remember to give it a thumbs up!
Also, if you're not subscribed, consider subscribing.
Up on the screen are a couple of brake videos that I've done
show you how to change the brakes.
You can click on the screen,
Or find the links to those videos in the description.
Also in the description,
are the links to any products I've used in this video.