Brake pads are a component that wears out over time on your car. That is, they are intended to wear out and be renewed. If your car has disc brakes, this is a simple procedure that takes just a few supplies.
Hydraulic pressure, in essence, presses a piston against the brake pads contained within the brake caliper.
The caliper is free-hanging, allowing the pressure from the pads to be delivered uniformly to either side of the disc brakes to slow or stop the tire.
The rotor is linked to and rotates with the tire and hub. The resistance of repetitive braking wears out the disc brakes. The rotor also wears out, but the pads wear out significantly quicker.
If you hear any screeching or scraping noises when riding and using your brakes, it is a solid indication that your disc brakes are worn and need to be replaced.
Step By Step Guide Renewing Disc-brake Pads
Removing The Tire
Before you begin, check sure your car is parked on level ground and that your handbrake is engaged. This prevents your car from rolling off the jack, which might be harmful.
If you don’t have a ground jack or a breakers bar that fits your wheel’s lug nuts, you may use the scissors jack and tire iron that comes with your vehicle…they’ll suffice.
If you’re using a breaker bar with a wrench, make sure it’s a good size for the lug nuts, or you may round off the corners, making removal harder.
I suggest getting a pair of jack supports in any scenario since they are rather inexpensive and provide considerably more security for you while your car is lifted off the ground.
When you jack up the car, use your tire iron or breaker bar to loosen the lug nuts on the wheels. This is considerably simpler and more secure while the automobile is firmly on the ground because it may take some force to loosen them.
If you’re having trouble, consider positioning yourself such that you can utilize your own body mass to assist release the lug nuts.
Opening Piston And Removing Old Brakes
To get to the brake pads, we have to open the caliper. The caliper is held in place by two screws. To spin the caliper away from the rotor, you need to unscrew one of them.
Because the brake line is normally short, you’ll want to loosen the bottom bolt and rotate the caliper up. On some automobiles, the caliper will naturally stay in the open position.
On this car, though, it tried to close again, so I had to keep it open by hand. If you don’t have a buddy, you may use a short bungee cord to hold the caliper aloft.
When the bolt is removed, the caliper should spin up. For this approach, you can use the brake grease or a brake caliper grease. To prevent the caliper bolt bushing from rotating, you may use a secondary wrench.
If it spins with the bolt, you were still not freeing it. Some disc brakes contain little rivets on the rear that just might snag on the piston’s edge.
If this occurs and you are unable to spin the caliper, you might have to pressure the piston using a wrench, screwdriver, c-clamp, or another tool to clear the rivets.
Before crushing the piston, release the bleeder screw on the rear of the caliper to avoid injuring hydraulic systems.
Installing New Disc-Brake Pads
We are now ready to install new brake pads. There are usually two holes, and one is on top and the other on the bottom, into which little tabs on either side of the pads fit.
Seat one tab in the bottom notch, then twist the pads into position and push the upper tab into its notch, as seen in the photographs.
Rep on the inner disc brake and brake light circuit. The interior and exterior pads can sometimes be unique and have different forms or iron tabs.
Just make sure you install the pads in the exact order you saw them when you began. The inner and outer pads on this particular car were similar.
Caliper To Be Closed
You are now ready to close the caliper with the new pads in place. Please return it to its original position by rotating it down.
To fit over the new thick brake pads, you may need to push in the caliper bolt bushing and jiggle the caliper in or out.
Once the caliper and wheel is aligned, replace the bolt and tighten it again. You may have to use a second wrench to keep the bushings in place while twisting the bolt.
Putting Up The Wheel Again
Reinstall the tire on the hub by aligning the hub screws with the wheel apertures. If you can no longer have enough height to put the wheel on, you might have to re-elevate the car with the jack.
Tighten the lug nuts manually to secure the tire to the hub. You may use a tire iron or break bar to twist them up a little more here if you like.
Tighten the bolts by rotating between opposite lug nuts. This ensures that the tire is placed flat against the hub. Instead, it may sway and cause damage to your car while you are driving.
FAQs
When should I have my brake discs replaced?
If the automobile is pretty new and the discs still have a lot of life left in them, the brake discs would not need to be replaced. If the discs are excessively worn or heavily damaged, they must be replaced immediately.
How many miles do brake discs last?
Usually, brake discs will last more than 50,000 miles in general, although a lot of factors impact longevity. If you keep them well maintained and drive responsibly, you might get up to 80,000 miles out of a single pair!
Bottom Line
You must inspect and ensure that the braking system is working properly. Enter your car and start the engine, but keep the handbrake on and the vehicle in neutral.
When you press the brake pedal, this should travel all the way down to the ground with little resistance. This is typical because when we pressed the piston to a more open spot, we drove the hydraulic power back to the master cylinder.
To recover brake pressure, you will have to pump the brake pedal six to 10 times. When you feel the pressure again on your brake pedal, remove the handbrake, shift into gear, and go gently.
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