First brake job!!!

[shoot-straight]

I love this sub forum- I am not a handy person... but am learning. Ive started to really try to do more myself. I credit YouTube for most of this. The how to videos are pretty awesome.

I have Never done a brake job on a car. Never. I have a little equinox which had some terible pulsing. Wanted to give it a shot. Long story short, it went well! First aide took 2 hours, I watched and paused the video at each step- then needed to borrow a bigger breaker bar to pop the caliper bracket bolts. Getting the old rotors off was a chore. Other side took less than an hour including clean up

Sorry i know this post is stupid but I had to tell someone how good it makes me feel to do it myself and not f it up.

 

[gzecc]

Disk brakes are a breeze. Change them often and save your rotors.

 

[bholler]

I love this sub forum- I am not a handy person... but am learning. Ive started to really try to do more myself. I credit YouTube for most of this. The how to videos are pretty awesome.

I have Never done a brake job on a car. Never. I have a little equinox which had some terible pulsing. Wanted to give it a shot. Long story short, it went well! First aide took 2 hours, I watched and paused the video at each step- then needed to borrow a bigger breaker bar to pop the caliper bracket bolts. Getting the old rotors off was a chore. Other side took less than an hour including clean up

Sorry i know this post is stupid but I had to tell someone how good it makes me feel to do it myself and not f it up.

Good for you. Everyone has to start somewhere. Brakes are a pretty simple first job.

 

[johneh]

Rotors are throw away now and cheap.
Years ago where I worked as a Lic Mechanic we were
paid flat rate for everything we did a front brake job
on a gm car was 1 1/2 hours most mechanics that
were any good could do them in less than an hour
now a mechanic is lucky to get .6 of an hour to do front brakes.
Good on you for taking on a job that you have never done
the more you do the better you get. As my Father inlaw used
to say there is no such thing as a big job just a whole lot of little
ones strung together

 

[shoot-straight]

This is one of the first major jobs (major for me) in which I didnt have to run to the store for additional parts! That was a huge win. The good thing was I knew if I needed a new caliper or boot, etc my local place would have it. Everything was in pretty good shape. I absolutely hate having to stop working on anything to wait for parts.

I know a brake job is easy but i honestly don't usually do things like that because I fear of screwing it up and killing myself, others or just having the expensive thing grenade.

Best part of this job was not having to bleed brakes. I have dabbled with some trailer brakes, they are a pain. Bleeding sucks on surge brakes. I did Crack the bleeder when I compressed the caliper piston, but immediately closed it. Test drive went swimmingly. Brakes are nice and firm and no vibration!

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

 

[PaulOinMA]

FordTechMakuloco does great Ford service videos. He mentions cracking the bleeder when pressing in a piston to help get out cooked brake fluid.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I never did brakes until I had a friend do it and watched him a couple of times.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I just replace rotors, too. They're not too expensive, and things are already apart.

 

[bholler]

I just replace rotors, too. They're not too expensive, and things are already apart.

Same here usually. Here in the mountains the rotors are usually pretty well cooked by the time the pads are worn out

 

[PaulOinMA]

I will post a picture of 80k+ rotors from my wife's 2002 New Beetle when a friend replaced them years ago. Outer surface looked o.k. Inside was well past done.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Probably getting a new Escape to replace me wife's 2012 Escape when dealers aren't charging crazy prices.

Then Bronco Sport when the extended warranty is done on my 2014 Escape.

Has electronic parking brake now. Have to deactvate the system before doing rear brakes. Just another thing to keep in mind.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I started doing brakes myself rather than having a friend do them after my wife had her 2012 Escape at the dealer years ago. The dealer quoted almost $700 for front brakes!

$700 for front brakes on an Escape! Yeah, right.

Bought Motorcraft front, vented rotors, pads, and hardware at Rockauto.

 

[ABMax24]

It's a rewarding feeling, and definitely brings some cost benefits too.

Careful though, it almost becomes an addiction after a while, at least it became for me. The local dealers are $165/hr for labor, I can usually buy all the specialty tools I need to do the job and still be money ahead on the first use of those tools, (maybe I'm just addicted to buying new tools). The most intensive job I've done was the injectors on my '02 Duramax when I was 21, took me 3 days, but I didn't have much of a choice, $3k for injectors was hard enough to stomach.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Best is buying a specialty tool for a specific job and having no idea where it is in the garage the second time you need it.

 

[peakbagger]

Modern disk brakes are a major improvement over older designs. Early Subarus had mechanical actuators on the rear disk pistons along with hydraulics. They were a nightmare to rebuild. My Ford Focus pads were a simple as they come. two bolts and the caliper drops out of the way. Even the rotors were set up with threaded hole for jacking off the rotor, no need for a puller, just screw in the right bolt and they come loose.

 

[Sawset]

I absolutely hate having to stop working on anything to wait for parts.

Like when a starter motor went out on the 73 Buick Century when I was in college. No money, no other transportation, in a far away city, bicycle to the parts store with a starter motor (they were not light) in a backpack for the core refund and a new one.

I can usually buy all the specialty tools I need to do the job and still be money ahead on the first use of those tools

A torch set for removing the rusted caliper bolts. All up it was still cheaper than taking it in. By now the set is too old to be reliable.

Even the rotors were set up with threaded hole for jacking off the rotor, no need for a puller

I still have some kind of metric M10 x something fine thread bolts in the bin for pulling calipers. I can't believe I've lost track of which car I used them on, and I also can't believe I'm still hanging onto them.

 

[festerw]

Congrats on a job done well!

Only word of caution is if you're in a climate where road salt is used, skip cracking the bleeder. I've snapped more than one off, then your easy, cheap brake job becomes neither. Not saying it'll happen every time but it's a possibility.

 

[hockeypuck]

I love this sub forum- I am not a handy person... but am learning. Ive started to really try to do more myself. I credit YouTube for most of this. The how to videos are pretty awesome.

I have Never done a brake job on a car. Never. I have a little equinox which had some terible pulsing. Wanted to give it a shot. Long story short, it went well! First aide took 2 hours, I watched and paused the video at each step- then needed to borrow a bigger breaker bar to pop the caliper bracket bolts. Getting the old rotors off was a chore. Other side took less than an hour including clean up

Sorry i know this post is stupid but I had to tell someone how good it makes me feel to do it myself and not f it up.

Getting the old rotors off is always the wildcard in doing breaks. In the future make sure you paint the area where the wheel and rotor touch with anti-seize. This helps with corrosion and should make it an easier removal. I always change the rotors with new pads. As someone said earlier, they are relatively inexpensive and with all the work to get to them, why not do it and potentially add another 20 or 30k before having to do pads again. The other method to getting rotors off is using a large bolt and a couple of washers/nuts. Place the bolt through a caliper bolt hole. Use a nut and washer to back it there and turn the screw. By the way.. your avitar.. you just can't unsee it....

 

[PaulOinMA]

I do the large hammer rotor removal method.

It's at 7 minutes in the following video. Video is excellent if someone hasn't done brakes.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Right after that he has cleaning the hub and applying anti-seize.

 

[zrock]

its good to see people learning how to do things like this.. it also gives you a better understanding on what to look for when buying a veh not that that goes according to plan sometimes..LOL.. I have always pulled my own wrenches but now im getting to the point i no longer want to spend my weekends fixing my old junk reasoning why i purchased a new atv a few years back and a new to me truck a few weeks ago... Well lets just say with 40 plus years of fixing my junk when i purchased this truck i was told by the dealer it had been through the shop and everting was good... Well the exhaust leak they told me was just a gasket between the pipes turned out to be broken manifold bolts. (my fault for taking them at face value) Now booked into a shop i trust to have repaired... Brakes i thought were a little low but they said after several phone calls and pic that the tech that inspected it said they were 40% +.. Still did not trust them so i pulled them to do the work myself.. Front inside pad at 0% rear inside pads 0% and they did not have the tires off they just eyeballed them...

Moral of the story is now that you are gaining experience at your own repairs take the extra 5 min and a flashlight and look around. Always bank on doing brakes on a veh when you get it. I have always changed out everything when i get it just for my pc of mind.

On a side note should be a interesting conversation with the dealers manager tomorrow.. As far as im concerned the tech that did the inspection should be fired..

 

[Ashful]

Congratulations on a job well-done, shoot-straight. Always feels good. Other than one brief stint about 10 years ago, which I ended up regretting, I've always done 100% of my own vehicle maintenance. Yes, YouTube has definitely made learning the peculiarities of each new vehicle much easier, quicker, and less expensive.

I just replace rotors, too. They're not too expensive, and things are already apart.

I'd guess that depends on the car, and your definition of expensive. The front rotors (Mopar 68184587AE) on my sedan list at $1,085/ea, although mopar.com is presently offering about 20% off if you mail order them, rather than buying at full list thru the dealer. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I'd call either "expensive"!

The front pads are only $524 for both sides, with the same 20% discount if you buy them thru mopar.com, about 1/4 the cost of having to replace rotors. Change your pads often, my friends.

 

[PaulOinMA]

And ceramic rotors are thousands each. I think we're generally discussing regular vehicles.

 

[bholler]

Congratulations on a job well-done, shoot-straight. Always feels good. Other than one brief stint about 10 years ago, which I ended up regretting, I've always done 100% of my own vehicle maintenance. Yes, YouTube has definitely made learning the peculiarities of each new vehicle much easier, quicker, and less expensive.


I'd guess that depends on the car, and your definition of expensive. The front rotors (Mopar 68184587AE) on my sedan list at $1,085/ea, although mopar.com is presently offering about 20% off if you mail order them, rather than buying at full list thru the dealer. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I'd call either "expensive"!

The front pads are only $524 for both sides, with the same 20% discount if you buy them thru mopar.com, about 1/4 the cost of having to replace rotors. Change your pads often, my friends.

Where I live especially on the work trucks the problem is overheating and warping rotors. Changing pads often won't help with that.

 

[gfreek]

Cleaning the hub of rust , before rotor install,..I use these

(broken link removed to https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/product/scotch-brite-roloc-pro-brake-hub-cleaning-disc-kit-21758/surface-conditioning-discs)

 

[johneh]

Cleaning the hub of rust , before rotor install,..I use these

I live near a 3M plant that makes Scotch Bright
Get rolls of it free when it is off colour
A role is 1000 ft by 4 ft high The last role
I got was 20 years ago still have a lot left
use it for everything from removing rust to
final sanding on lacquered furniture and washing dishes
used a role cut to 2 ft wide between rows in my garden kept
weeds down and moisture in