Installing Brakes, anybody know how easy it is? Options

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Does anybody know how easy it is to install new brake rotors and pads on your own? I was just curious as to whether its a pretty straightfoward DIY job, or if you needed any expensive tools and training to do it.

[Charlie97L]

the only tricky thing is you need to bleed the brake system afterwards, which is either a 2 person job, or if you go to the dealer carefully, should be like 40.00 for them to do it.

it's not too hard. get a chilton's if you don't have one, you need jack stands MUST MUST have these, you can work on the car like this with it just jacked up, open ended wrenches, and brake fluid.

[GeEkBoY]

Just got done my rears and everything went wrong. If you are only replacing your pads and rotors, then you do not need to disconect your brake lines from the calipers and won't therfore need to bleed the brakes.
Bleeding brakes is easy, but you have to have a second person to help. The problem I had was the rust. One of the calipers siezed on a slider pin. The bolt broke off and and could not get the boken bold segment out, tried to drill it out and screwed it up, so I had to buy the caliper mounting bracket. There is a blue silicon package you can buy for breaks that you use to bond the pads to the caliper. This reduces squealling. There is also break grease that you will have to get. You need to re-lube the slider pins that the caliper slides on or else they will seize up. be careful not to get any grease on any brake surfaces. Compressing the piston in the caliper should not be that hard unless it has seized, a C-clamp works well for that.

If nothing is seized, it is easy, else it is tough. Try and get a freind to help out who has done disk brakes before.

If you need to do the rear parking break (the drum inside the rotors) it is very tricky the first time and takes some dexterity.

good luck

[Mynzeyes]

something i didn't notice on here...if it's been a while, and your rotors are not loose when you take your wheel off, you need to get it off...naturally, but it's not as easy as it seems...you can bang on it w/ a hammer if you really want...seeing as how you aren't gonna use it anymore...but the EASY way is to get a bolt that will thread into that little hole you will see near the studs for the wheel...when you thred a bolt in there, it presses against something inside of there, popping the rotor off w/ VERY minimal effort . so in the time it takes you to get a hammer, and wail on the rotor for a good 10-15mins, you could just as easily, or actually EASIER, find a bolt and do it the right and easy way

-John-

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Thanks for the responses guys......So youre saying that i wont have to bleed my brakes as long as i dont take the calipers off, or will i have to bleed them after i put the new brake pads on to adjust them properly??

[Junior]

You never need to bleed the brakes unless you disconnect the brake line, which you won't need to do. Its always best to see it done once before you try it yourself. But its not that hard to change pads and rotors

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Aight, thanks....im pretty sure i could pull it off, and one of my friends can give me a hand too. Im gonna pick up a Chiltons this week too, i would imagine that would help a little.

[aaronc222]

The Chiltons and Haynes manuals for our cars suck, but it will help a little.

Brakes are the next easiest thing to oil/spark plugs/plug wires. My first time took about 30 minutes per wheel, now I can do it in 10-15(on the front, drums still take 30-45 each). Just make sure you use quality parts and double check that all bolts are tightened back properly. You don't want to slam on the brakes at 50+ only to have the caliper come loose.