In this article I will describe how to do a professional brake job.

In this article I will describe how to do a professional brake job. The first thing you should do if you have never worked on this car is to read the manual. Buy the manual from either an auto parts store or buy a subscription to an online manual such as alldatadiy or mitchell1diy. If you are new to working on cars please take a minute to look at information on the general workings of cars 

The steps are mostly the same for all front disc brakes. First chock the rear wheels and set the parking brake. Now break the lug nuts loose: do not remove the lug nuts until the vehicle is in the air and supported with jack stands. The next step is to jack up the car support it with jack stands (use only real jack stands no concrete blocks, wood etc.) spin the lug nuts off and get to the good stuff.

Now you can see the brakes. Use a micrometer to measure the rotor and see if it can be resurfaced, if so take them to a shop and have them resurfaced, if not buy some shinny new ones. If you are on a budget and your rotors are in specification you can take you finger nail and rub it across the rotor. If your nail doesn't catch you don't need resurface them. Only do this for your own cars! Always resurface or replace a customer’s rotors.

To remove the calipers first take a screwdriver a pry between the pad and the rotor, this will loosen the caliper. If your car has pistons on both sides you will need two screwdrivers (one on each side). With double calipers, or cars without abs, it is best to go ahead and push the pistons all of the way in now.

When working on ABS brakes follow these steps to return the caliper piston. Check the fluid level in the master cylinder, top off if needed. Open the bleeder on the caliper and squeeze the piston back in using a large c-clamp. Leave the inside pad on the piston so you can press in the center of the pad and the back of the caliper. Be sure to close the bleeder before removing the c-clamp.

Next look for bolts on the back side, remove them and pull the caliper of. Do not let the caliper hang by the brake line! Use a bungee cord to hang the caliper from the spring. Now you can remove the brake pads. If you are working with the rotor remove the caliper bracket also.

If you bought new rotors or machined them you should clean them with soap and hot water or with brake cleaner. Any grease, oil or metal can cause problems.

Clean the caliper mounting bracket where the pads slid until it is shinny metal. Now put a thin layer of anti seize lubricant here. Be very careful not to get any on the pads or rotor. Remove the caliper slide pins. Clean all of the old grease off of the caliper slide pins and apply new Caliper Slide Grease.

Replace the rotors and the caliper mounting bracket. Again be extremely careful not to get any grease on the pads or rotor! Slide the caliper over the new pads, and replace the caliper slide pins.

Now double check the torque on all of the bolts. Make sure the master cylinder is full, that there is no grease on the rotor and that all the pads are in correctly. Start the car, and pump the pedal until it is stiff. If it doesn’t become stiff, you may need to bleed the brakes. Replace the wheels and torque the lug nuts to manufacture specifications. If you don’t torque them correctly if can warp the rotors, and ruin your professional job.

Now for the test drive. Make sure you have a good working pedal before moving, and know where your emergency brake is just in case. Be careful for the first hundred miles, and try to avoid any hard braking because the pads need to braze to the rotors.

 -Robert Cheatham