How I Do Brake Jobs
My goal of doing a brake job is to do it right the first time. I absolutely hate a job coming back because I cut a corner.
Before continuing on, the write up assumes you've done a brake job before. To keep the write up short, I’m just going to highlight procedures and tricks I do when I do a brake job.
Tips
- Look up all torque specs
- Lug nuts
- Caliper bracket bolts
- Caliper bolts
- Purchase the following
- Plastic gloves - this allows you to put on a clean set when dealing with the new clean parts.
- Brake cleaner
- Use a snow flying saucer to catch all spray
- New quality pads or shoes
- New hardware
- New springs, if applicable
- Quart of new brake fluid
- Either new rotors or have the existing rotors turned
- High temp grease, used to lubricate caliper bolts
- I suggest using the proper brake tools for the job
- Use solid core wire attached to spring to hold up caliper. You don't want to have the caliper hang by a brake line.
- Use a Turkey Baster to remove as much brake fluid from master cylinder as possible and then fill with new fluid from a new bottle.
- Bleed all axles, starting at furthest wheel from master cylinder which is usually the passenger rear. Brake fluid should look like creme soda not coke.
- Use anti-seize on caliper bracket bolts
- In the good old days, I always rebuilt the calipers. I can't find rebuild kits anymore.
- If possible, replace all rubber components
- Torque all bolts to proper torque specifications
- Before pushing pistons back, clean them
- When pushing back pistons, compress them straight back, parallel to cylinder walls.
- If doing drum brakes, lubricate all of the appropriate surfaces with high temp brake grease.
- Wire brush all brackets, removing rust and dust, and then rise with brake clean.
- Detail caliper bolts and caliper to ensure smooth movement. Then use high temp grease on bolts to lubricate them.
Bring Backs
Yes. I have had bring backs. But never on my cars because I follow the tips above. So then why did I have bring backs? The owner of the car wanted to save a couple bucks and did not follow my recommendations. Once they go against anything in the tip list, I nicely indicate that if there is a squeak or roughness or warpage that I am not responsible. I then explain what could happen. Unfortunately, I'm usually right; it's only because I've done many brake jobs.
I have had the most disagreements with:
- Machining or replacing rotors/drums, meaning they just change pads (lame)
- Replacing hardware
- Purchasing lower quality components