Hello, my name is David. Welcome to my blog. There is nothing I like more than hitting the open road and going for a drive in my car. I have always loved everything to do with automobiles. When I was a boy, I had a collection of 208 different toy cars which I would play with all day long. As soon as I was old enough, I began taking driving lessons and the day I passed was the best day of my life. Although I am not a mechanic, my dad taught me lots of neat tricks so I can keep my car in top condition. I hope you enjoy my blog.
When you take your car to an auto mechanic, you need to ensure that your cheque-book is at the ready. This type of approach to repairs can be a costly one. Yet, you can perform tasks like brake replacement yourself. How do you go about this?
Overcome the Fear Factor
Firstly, you need to overcome the fear factor. Many of the more usual repair jobs you will typically come across in the life of a car are not that difficult to achieve. Furthermore, you will likely be able to find most of the replacement parts at an auto wrecker's yard like Buffalo Motor Wreckers, further consolidating your savings.
Tools That You Need
What type of tools do you have at home? Here are some essential requirements and you can add to these over time, as needed.
Note that when choosing tools, it's best not to go for the cheapest, but the one that is likely to have the firmest grip and the best quality handle. Otherwise, when the going gets hard you're going to break something and have to buy a better quality anyway.
Replacing Brakes
Using your newly acquired tools, how do you go about replacing brakes?
1. Elevate the car using the jack and remove the wheel. Look at the brake caliper which surrounds the disc. There are two bolts, top and bottom. Remove the lower bolt and this allows the caliper to pivot toward you.
2. Next, remove the retaining clips that are holding the brake pads at the top and bottom and slide the pads out.
3. Take the replacement pads and slide them back into place. However, first you will need to retract the pistons. These pistons actually push on the brake pads in order to apply friction to the disks and stop the car. The replacement pads are thicker than the ones you took out and thus you need to adjust for extra space.
4. All you need to do here is get a sturdy piece of wood of the correct dimension and insert into the caliper. Gently but strongly use leverage to push the pistons back.
Note: Keep an eye on the brake fluid reservoir underneath the bonnet as you are pushing the pistons back, as fluid will slowly rise. Ensure the level is not overfull to begin with and this should be okay.
5. Then, all you need to do is to replace the caliper bolt you removed, before replacing the wheel.
Share18 March 2015
