rev up your engines, today I'm going to show you how to fix a very common
problem in a car, it happens to all of us at some time, you hit your brakes hard and
that makes your steering wheel shake back and forth while you're stopping and
the most common cause of that is warped brake rotors, so I'm going to show you
how to check for warped rotors and how to replace them yourself when they're
bad, now the first thing you want to check it's the front end so jack the car
up and in this case it's a Lexus, so in the middle of the frame here in
the front you can Jack the whole front end up, now normally wobbling when
braking is caused by warped rotors but sometimes front end problem do that so
check that before you do the brake job, so grab the tire and three o'clock and 9
o'clock and see if it plays any play, this doesn't have any play here, then
grab it at 12 o'clock at 6 o'clock and see what happens
in this case there was no play either way so this side of the front end
is pretty solid then do the same thing on the other side, this side doesn't have
any play either so we'll take the wheel off and check the brake rotors, off goes the
wheel, now to inspect the rotor you have to measure it in various parts and the
easiest way to do that, is just take the brake caliper off, so in this case we
get a 14 millimeter socket and unbolt it, the bottom bolt comes off then the
caliper will slip right off and you can pull it to the side, then you can pull the two brake
pads off and you can measure the rotor, now you can feel if they're really
warped but you're better to use a measuring device to see if it's warped
now as a professional mechanic I have $500 sets of fancy micrometer to measure it
but really you go to a hardware store get one of these outside calipers for 19
bucks and they work perfectly fine for your purposes and what you do is this
you measure at different parts but if you turn it and measure different widths
then you find that now there's more play that means that the rotor is warped because
it should be the same exact width the whole way around, which of course is what
I thought in the first place, but really you're better to measure stuff than just
guess this thing's only 19 bucks you can use it forever
and now get the rotor off we have to take the
whole brake caliper assembly off, so you get a giant bar, stick it on then pull like
mad, now it's coming loose, now I turn the wheel so I can access it better and then
we just finished taking the bolt off and the one on the bottom and off it comes
now the old rotors often stick on so well whack it from the backside to get
it off, off it comes, now the new rotors are often coated with stuff so they
don't rust, so get a can of spray brake cleaner and turn on your big fan cuz
this stuff stinks
then put the new rotor on, then get the caliper bracket, line it up put the two
big bolts in, one on the top and one on the bottom
you got to wiggle them around till they go in a hole right and make sure those
bolts are nice and tight mmm, then comes time for brake pads now there's
millions of different kinds of brake pads out and I always like trying out new
stuff, so I decided to try these new brake pads out
hey I gotta admit they seem to work quite well just make sure you buy the
ultra premium ones, don't ever buy low quality brake pads always buy the best
ones that you want to put on your car, now if you don't want them to squeak you
use some of this brake and caliper grease and you put it on the edges these things
already have anti squeal shim so it doesn't need any on the back but the edges need
it so they slide and don't make noise, then the pads just slip into the little
holes one on one side one on the other, now you have to squeeze the calipers
back in, a lot of guys use a giant pair of pliers, but you can have problems if
you squeeze them in too fast it can mess with your ABS system or ruin your brake
master cylinder, so instead I use this brake caliper retractor kit, hey this
thing costs $19 on Amazon and it's all solid steel it works great for 19 bucks
it will fit any car your ever gonna buy certainly worth it, real easy to use you
just get the device, leave an old brake pad in, slide it here and then you turn
the handle to squeeze the calipers back in and as you turn the handle it
squeezes the Pistons in but nice and slowly so it doesn't do any damage to
your system and once the Pistons are flush with the top you're done, and you
just take it out, off it goes, then the caliper itself just goes in the hole
slides on and you put the bolt back on, then get your 14 millimeter socket and wrench
then you get it nice and tight, then straighten the wheel back up and
put the tire back on
and on it goes, and of course do the other side, you have to do brakes in
pairs so they brake evenly, so next time your car steering wheel starts to shake
when you're braking hard, now you know how to fix it yourself, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!