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How hard is it to replace rotors, brake pads, and or calipers?

jimbob200521

jimbob200521

Diamond Member
I'm trying to become more mechanical with my new car, you know, do more myself. Something I would like to do is upgrade the rotors and/or brake pads (which I don't think need to be replaced) and/or my calipers. Is there very much to doing this? Also, how hard is it to bleed brake lines?
 
Rotors? Is it a flying car?

Edit, ah americanism... you mean disks right? as in disk brakes?

Changing pads is easy. Disks fairly tricky as you'll need to torque it all up and they're on proper hard. Calipers are easy enough to change, but again you need the correct torque settings. Finally, bleeding is OK, but you need a buddy to do it with. Do you have the right gear? Jacks, axle stands, torque qrench, bleeding kit?

To be honest, mate, I'd not start with brakes on a car if you're thinking of getting 'more mechanical'. It's not an area where you want to make a mistake!!! Put it this way, I used to have a little 50cc bike with disk brakes when I was younger. I dismantled the caliper and cleaned it out OK, but when putting it back together, I overtightened the banjo bolt (didn't have a torque wrench or manual) and threaded the caliper. This means the front brakes were ruined. This sucks even more when you live on the top of a hill and the bike store is all the way down at the bottom, and in the middle of town.
 
If you can loosen nuts and bolts with a wrench or ratchet then you can do it. You'll need 2 people to properly bleed the brakes though.
 
fairly simple if you have disc brakes. havent done drum brakes so i dont know. you might need the brake caliper piston tool which will rotate the rear caliper pistons as they are pushed in. you can rent this tool at autozone. it comes in a red box

also if you are changing calipers, you will need to bleed your brakes or better yet replace brake fluid. if you decide not to replace the calipers, dont bother taking brake line off. take caliper off brake housing and rest it on something strong enough to hold it. make sure you dont stretch the brake lines.

couple things to remember. when your calipers are off, NEVER push the brake pedal. This will damage your pistons. Also when you are pushing the calipers in with that tool, open the master brake reservoir cap in your engine bay. this way excess brake fluid will be able to overflow if needed. but make sure you cap it back up right away and definitely before you touch the brake pedal

and finally. once you have everything put back together, make sure you pump the brake pedal a couple times before driving anywhere. this will allow the piston to adjust itself to the new pads
 
When you replace your pads, make sure you have a vice or a little C-clamp or something. When you remove your calipers, they'll be set to the thickness of the old pads. Your new pads will be a lot thicker and thus the calipers won't fit onto your rotors without opening them. Use the vice/clamp to force the calipers open a bit so that they'll fit.

 
This is a very simple process. Just remember to put it back together the way you took it apart.

Helps to have two people, as well 🙂
 
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