going to show you how to replace your

brake pads and rotors on your car or

your truck. And we'll be replacing the

brake pads on my mustang which is

perfect, because the brake setup on this

car is going to be similar, if not

identical, to most other makes and models.

And this video is going to be a complete

guide so if you're a beginner and you've

never changed the brakes before, after

watching this video you'll know

everything you need to do to be able to

replace the brakes yourself. This is also

a good guide for a refresher if you've

done brakes before or if you're an

expert.

I'm gonna be including tips and tricks

to anyone watching could perform a

complete and thorough brake job. And the

last thing i want to say for everybody

who's doing this for the first time,

don't be afraid to change your own

breaks! I know the most nerve-racking

thing is the fear that if you do

something wrong you're not gonna have

brakes to stop your car, but let me tell

you. The brake systems on cars are

actually pretty simple and it's hard to

mess up, so give it a shot. You're going

to save a ton of money, you're going to

learn something new and you're going to

feel proud that you're able to fix your

own car. And before we begin I want to

thank Advanced Auto for helping out and

supplying the brake pads and rotors for

the video. Alright! So let's begin.

The tools I'll be using for this job are all

common hand tools. You need a simple

socket set, a breaker bar, a torque wrench,

a metal wire brush, and the only

specialized tool is this brake piston

compressor which is inexpensive and you

can pick this up when you pick up your

brake pads and rotors. And i also want to

include: have a large hammer like this

which will help knock the rotors off if

they're stuck. And also have a pry bar or

flat head screwdriver like this which

will help pry open the caliper. You're

also going to need to get your tires off

the ground, so i'll be using a jack and

jack stands. And those are all the tools

you're going to need. As for consumables

you're gonna need some copper anti-seize,

silicon paste, brake cleaner and thread

locker. And finally you'll need some

brake pads and rotors. I prefer getting

ceramic brake pads, they are a little

more expensive but they have less dust

and they tend to last longer compared to

the semi-metallic pads. And make sure

when you get your brake pads

it includes the brake hardware which is

important for doing the complete brake

job. And for rotors i like using a

regular blank rotor. While drilled and

slotted rotors are nice they will eat up

your brake pads a lot quicker so for the

street this is perfect. And that's all

you need, so let's begin!!

There are four simple steps to changing

your brake pads and rotors.

First you want to safely lift

the car off the ground and then remove

the wheel. Second remove the brake pads

unbolt the caliper and remove the rotor.

Third put the new rotor on, reattach the

caliper and install the new brake pads.

And then fourth, put the wheel on, lower

the car to the ground and go test those brakes.

So let's get started!

Since we're replacing the front brakes,

the first thing you're going to want to

do is lift the front end off the ground,

but before we do that, you're going to

want to grab your wheel chock, in this

case i'm using a piece of wood, and

chock off the rear wheel so your car

won't move. And before we left the tires

off the ground we want to crack all the

lug nuts so they're loose, because if

you're trying to do this with the tires

off the ground, the wheels just gonna

spin. If you're not sure where to jack up

your car from, go check out the owners

manual. In here they give you

instructions and show you exactly where

they recommend you jack the car up from.

Since you replace brake pads in pairs,

we're gonna be doing both front brake

pads, so I like jacking the car from the

middle so both tires raise up at the

same time. And the best way to lift up

both front tires is by jacking it up

from the front crossmember. This is a

thick piece of metal and supports the

whole front suspension. And with the car

in the air

slide your jack stand underneath the car

and I try to just stick my arms

underneath the car when i moved the jack

stand. Don't put your whole body under

the car. You don't want to be under the

car until the car is securely set onto

the jack stands. Now we're looking for a

place to put your jack stands.

This right here is the floorboard. If you

put it here, your jack will go right

through the floor into your car. What

you're looking for, is you want to find a

thick piece of metal frame just like

this right here and you can find the

same exact spot on the other side. And

after both jack stands are in place

slowly lower the car down so that the

jack stands securely support the car. And

just add some backup,

I like to set up the jack so there's

some light pressure on that cross member.

And the last thing I like to do is give

the car a good shake and make sure that

it's stable and doesn't move. And with

the car safely lifted off the ground we

could remove the lug nuts and remove the

wheel. And another thing I like to do for

extra safety is slide that wheel

underneath the frame. That way in

worst-case scenario you have something

solid there and the car won't drop all

the way down.

Alright! So now we have access to our

brakes so now we want to remove the old

brake pads and our old rotor and in

order to do that we need to get access

to the bolt behind the caliper here. But

we want to work with the car

and make the job that much easier. So get

in the car and turn the steering wheel

so the bolts to the caliper are more

accessible. And now it's that much easier

to get to the bolts. The first thing

we're going to do is we're going to

remove the brake pads and in order to do

that we're going to go and remove this

bolt right down here which is going to

allow our caliper to pivot upward like a

clamshell. Then we could pull the pads out.

Normally these bolts use a regular

socket but in this case we have a torx

bolt, so we're using a T50 torx. And I

start off with a breaker bar every time

just so you can break these bolts loose

easily. And then once you use your

breaker bar to break the bolt loose, you

can use a regular ratchet to loosen it

up the rest of the way and it'll come

right out. And you can see the blue

loctite on the thread so we'll be sure

to add some when we screw this in later on

Now we could pry open our caliper which

might take a little force, and then

remove our old brake pads and they'll

come right out just like that.

So for this brake caliper we just had to

remove that one bolt right down here, but

on other brake calipers there's also

another bolt right up here that you

could remove to take this whole

clamshell off. In this case all you have

to do is lift this up like that and the

caliper slides right out. And with the

caliper removed you don't want the

caliper to just dangle by the brake line

because that's how you damage your brake

line. So, instead, you want to try to find

a place to put your caliper where it's out

of the way and there's no pressure on

the brake line. If you don't have a nice

place to leave the brake caliper like that

you could also use a bungee cord or rope

or something to hang it up. All right!

Next, we want to remove this caliper

bracket so we could pull the old brake

rotor off, and to remove the caliper

bracket we want to go behind the knuckle

and you can see there's a bolt right up

here and a bolt right down here holding

this bracket in, that we need to remove,

In this case it's a 15mm bolt,

and again start off with your breaker

bar so you can easily break these loose.

These are going to be the tightest bolts,

so they're going to be the toughest to

break loose and again after we're done

cracking the bolts loose with our

breaker bar, we could loosen them the

rest of the way with are shorter ratchet.

And that's one and that will remove the

bottom with no bolts holding it in, the

caliper bracket slides right out.

Now we're going to remove the brake

rotor and you want to make sure that the

brake rotor isn't being held in by a

screw. In this case there's nothing

holding it in,

so you could try wiggling it off but

just as i figured it's rusted to the hub.

So to remove the rotor we're going to be

using a large hammer and you want to use

a pretty good amount of

force and hit the outside edge of the

rotor spinning the rotor as you go, until

it breaks loose.

Just like that. And if you take a look at the

back of the rotor you could see it's all

rusty in here, which just rust wields

itself right to the hub. Now with our old

rotor off we want this surface right

here to be smooth and relatively

rust-free. Doesn't have to be perfect but

we want a good flat surface, so grab your

metal wire brush or sandpaper and start

removing the rust from the hub surface.

It's also a good idea to use eye

protection and a dust mask while you're

doing this. You want to have a smooth

surface for your new brake rotor, so come

out flush against the hub. And after we

sand the whole surface we want to grab a

bucket, grab our brake cleaner and spray

it down. And since we're cleaning things

up, now's a good time to clean up our

caliper bracket. Awesome! With everything

sanded down we could add our new brakes.

But you guys know how I like to go over

the top with my cars, so I cleaned up the

suspension a little bit, so i just