Thread: Help with brake pads

Searched around and couldn't find a lot of info on such an easy thing. I need to change my pads this week, which is always one of the things I've "left to the experts" and paid someone else to do. Now, money is tight, and I need to do it myself. Can anyone find/make a write up on doing so? Today I got as far as getting the bolts that hold the caliper on the knuckle, but couldnt pull the caliper off the rotor. I decided to bolt it all back together and wait until I had some info on it. Do I need any special tools or can I do it with just wrenches and pliers etc, my basic toolbox.

bang the caliper off with your hand. It can be hard sometimes. You need a 14mm wrench and a 17mm wrench (if your replacing the rotor as well) and there is the 14mm bolts that hold in the caliper, once those are out, the caliper will come off. Then the 2 17mm bolts for the caliper bracket which needs to be removed to take off the rotor. You also need a C-clamp or something similar to push the piston back all the way in otherwise it won't go back together with the new pads. Whole job should take you about a hour for the first time and once you get the hang of it, about 20 mins for both sides

Earlier I was able to get this far. The red are the bolts I removed to get there. Do I need to remove the smaller bolts in blue to pull the caliper off the rotor? Problem was, my rotors have a small lip around the outside that didn't wear from the pads, and I cant seem to pull the caliper over that lip.

Don't step on the break pedal while the piston is free or you're gonna have a bad time.

A file will knock that lip down quickly. You can put it in gear and just hold a stone, file or whatever while it turns to speed it up.

yes you can undo the 14mm bolts to help get the rotor off

Do it how I said. Leave the 17mm bolts in there (circled in red) and take out only the blue ones. Once the 2 blue ones are off remove the caliper itself, which it doesn't matter if you have a lip at this point because the caliper should slide off even if the pads are stuck. Give it a nice tug once the blue bolts are off and you'll get it off for sure.

Good idea /\ .

Make sure you clean and grease the slide pins and take a wire brush to the shims that the pads slide on and put a spot of grease on them also . And also scuff up the rotors with some sand paper if they don't have deep grooves if so replace them or have them turned . It's also a good idea to clean the hub surface from rust and the back of the rotor that contacts the hub so you don't get a vibration from the rotor not sitting flat on the hub .