About once a year or so, you are going to have to change your brake pads. Most people will take their car to a mechanic to do this job; and that makes sense because it can be easier to do if you have the right equipment (mostly the hydraulic lift). However, this job might be easier than you think—and you can probably do it at home and save yourself the labor charges.
SECURE AND RAISE YOUR VEHICLE
To get to the brake pads you are going to need to remove the wheels and to do that you care going to need to lift your vehicle off the ground. Since you probably don’t have a hydraulic lift, you can will need to use a standard carjack and jack stands to stabilize it a few feet from the ground, so that you can slide underneath.
REMOVE THE WHEEL (et al)
To reach the brakes, you will have to remove the wheel (and cover and center cap and all other components). The make/model of your vehicle can affect the tools you need for this job (and how complicated it might be).
REMOVE THE CALIPER BOLTS
Using a 15mm socket and ratchet wrench (most likely), you will remove the rear bolt pairs. These are slider bolts so you will have to clean them and grease them before you reinstall them.
REMOVE THE BRAKE CALIPERS (and the Old Brake Pads)
Use a flathead screwdriver to take off the Disc brake calipers from Crossdrilledrotors.ca. These hold the brake pads in place so once you loosen them, they should slide out pretty easily.
REMOVE THE BRAKE BRACKET BOLTS (et al)
This is pretty straightforward: once you have removed the calipers you should remove the brake bracket bolts that hold the brake pads in place. Remove the brackets to get access to the brake pads and then remove them so you can replace them.
REPLACE NEW BROKE ROTOR and REINSTALL BRAKE PAD BRACKET
At this point, basically, we are just moving in reverse. After you remove the old brake pad you might also need to replace the rotor. Either way, from here you simply install the new one and then reinstall the brake pad bracket (and the bolts).
REINSTALL THE CALIPER
Once you have secured the new brake pads in place and fastened the bolts, now you install the caliper again.
REMOUNT THE WHEEL
Finally, you will remount and secure the wheel and you are ready to get back on the road. Be sure to test out your brake pads before you do so, however.
