Importance of Brakes

The brakes are the most important part of a car in a safety sense because they are the sole part of the car that you have to rely on to stop you in any event. You could not drive a car without the brakes working because there is no other way to stop, other than the handbrake, but this is considered dangerous and would not work very well. So it is very important that you get your brakes tested thoroughly, ensuring the brake pads and calipers are working correctly.

Checking Your Brakes

Most people tend to forget about their brakes and wait until the car is due for a service before they are checked, but this is not the safest method and brakes should be constantly monitored while you are driving your car. The correct information is vital if you want to carry out maintenance checks on your brakes yourself. For example, complicated-sounding vital brake maintenance, such as changing the brakes pads, is not actually as difficult as you may think and you can carry it out yourself with a few tips.

Here is a simple step-by-step guide to get you underway:

• The first thing you need to ensure before taking on the project is that you have the correct equipment for the job. This will include a hammer, pliers, jack, jack stands, wire brush, screwdriver, high temp lubricant, wrenches, rubber gloves and of course a replacement brake pad, which should be checked to ensure it is the correct one for your vehicle.
• Once you are sure you have the correct equipment for your make and model of car (refer to the user manual to check this) and that you have the correct and necessary safety gear on, or available to you you can begin changing the pads.
• The first, and problem most complicated step is to drain off about half of the brake fluid that is in the brake cylinder and catch it in a sealed container that can be disposed of in the correct method. Brake fluid cannot be re-used so do not put it back into the cyclinder after you have finished.
• The next step is to use a lug wrench to loosen the lug bolts, but they must not be completely removed, just loosed enough for you to be able to work with.
• Now you must jack up the vehicle ones side at a time making sure that you support the jack with a jack stand. The vehicle should be on good stable, solid ground whilst doing this, otherwise it could slip off the jack causing you injury.
• The lug bolts can now be completely removed
• The next step is to remove the calipers off of the car. This step differs depending on the vehicle you own so it is best to adhere to the directions found in your cars' manual.
• Once you have the caliper removed you can take the brake pad out of the caliper and using the wire brush, give the inside of the caliper a good clean to remove any dirt and rust. As brakes operate best when clean use a little water to remove any debris remaining and leave to dry before continuing.
• Before putting the brake pads back in, some require 'crimping' with a hammer, otherwise they will tend to 'squeal' when placed back into the caliper and used. To help prevent this squealing, place a little high temperature grease on the back of the pads making sure not to get any on the front of the pad.
• Once you have replaced the pad, put the caliper back into place and tighten all the nuts and bolts you undid to get it out making sure you do not over tighten any of them. Finally replace the wheel and refill the brake cylinder with brake fluid and you are finished.