How to change brake pads

lvmustanggt · Apr 5, 2007

Today I took my car to JUST BRAKE to have all pad done for $ 99.99 but when they look at my pad then tell me I need this and that. They want 350 for it , WTF.

I told them to put my car back , they did and I came home. They showed me that my pads are wearing uneven cause last time when i did my springs I didn't use c clamp to compress
piston. I called ford and they want 520 for all 4 brake job.

I don't know how to do brakes , which pad etc. I saw one write up at mustangworld but I am confuse. Any one have good write ups ?

Kilgore Trout · Apr 6, 2007

Get yourself a Haynes manual, do some searches here. You should be good to go. If you run into any issues during the brake job we will help you.

You can probably do this yourselff if you have minimal mechanic skills.

Dusstbuster · Apr 6, 2007

Yeah it's not that hard at all. Besides the wheel I believe there are 4 bolts total holding the caliper to the rotor, maybe even 2...can't remember it's been awhile. Anyways, it's not that involved of a process.

1) Loosen lugs
2) Jack up the corner of car w/ wheel you are working on
3) Remove lugs/wheel
4) Get Hex Key that fits hole or if it's too gunked over like mine was use a socket and possibly a breaker bar
5) Lift caliper off and hang it on some spot in fenderwell or get a bucket that is tall enough to set the caliper on without stretching the brake line.
6) Remove old pads
7) Use C-clamp to compress pad...if you are doing the rear pads you'll have to either buy the special tool for turning them "in" or just use a needlenose pliars like we did, hold it like this, place the tips in the holes on the circular portion that does the actual moving, and turn it so it moves in. Can't remember if you turn it clockwise or counterclock wise.
8) Lube up the pads well but make sure you don't get any lube on the pad face or the rotor
9) Put pads in
10) Reverse the entire process

I just found a few pics on my photobucket album that I took during one of my pad ordeals so I'll try get those photoshopped to help you a bit.

Here...The 2 YELLOW lines I drew on the caliper itself are where the bolts that hold it in place should be. Obviously they're on the inside of the wheel well so if they are seized on there they are a ***** to get off. I had to use a breaker bar and dinged my hands up pretty well because the several MN winters the car had seen did a nice job of rusting and corroding everything. Most of that stuff has since been changed...just looking at it makes me cringe. Anyways! If the pads you buy come with a backer plate to put on the pads make sure you seat it on the pad well otherwise it can pop off like I underlined in YELLOW on the picture. It popped out somehow and started rubbing on the rotor so now my rotor has a nice little wear-indent from the damn thing. I eventually just took them all off and used a buttload of brake lube instead because the other side did it as well. The RED part is where you can usually find a good spot to hang the caliper, otherwise like I said just use a bucket or something to set it on without stretching the line. The rears are pretty much the exact same process as far as I remember except for the whole turning the caliper to compress it rather than using a c-clamp. Sometimes there is a metal piece that is on the top of the caliper that pops out and is kind of a pain to put back in so do your best to not let it pop out...it's the shinier piece pictured here that has the hole in the middle of it. I THINK that covers almost everything, any other questions should be easily answerable.

twogts4us · Apr 6, 2007

I've heard from many people that that's the way "Just Brakes" operates...they tease ya with the $99 fee, but nobody walks out paying just $99.

Jenns01TA · Apr 6, 2007

Kilgore Trout said:
Get yourself a Haynes manual, do some searches here. You should be good to go. If you run into any issues during the brake job we will help you.

You can probably do this yourself if you have minimal mechanic skills.

Just as simple as what Dusstbuster said

Dusstbuster said:
7) Use C-clamp to compress pad...if you are doing the rear pads you'll have to either buy the special tool for turning them "in" or just use a needle nose pliers like we did, hold it

Finding this tool isn't hard, you can either rent one from autozone, or if you have a Harbor Freight around you can pick one up for about $20

twogts4us said:
I've heard from many people that that's the way "Just Brakes" operates...they tease ya with the $99 fee, but nobody walks out paying just $99.

Pure marketing gimmick, alot of people get owned from that bs

lvmustanggt · Apr 6, 2007

Dusstbuster said:
Yeah it's not that hard at all. Besides the wheel I believe there are 4 bolts total holding the caliper to the rotor, maybe even 2...can't remember it's been awhile. Anyways, it's not that involved of a process.

1) Loosen lugs
2) Jack up the corner of car w/ wheel you are working on
3) Remove lugs/wheel
4) Get Hex Key that fits hole or if it's too gunked over like mine was use a socket and possibly a breaker bar
5) Lift caliper off and hang it on some spot in fenderwell or get a bucket that is tall enough to set the caliper on without stretching the brake line.
6) Remove old pads
7) Use C-clamp to compress pad...if you are doing the rear pads you'll have to either buy the special tool for turning them "in" or just use a needlenose pliars like we did, hold it like this, place the tips in the holes on the circular portion that does the actual moving, and turn it so it moves in. Can't remember if you turn it clockwise or counterclock wise.
8) Lube up the pads well but make sure you don't get any lube on the pad face or the rotor
9) Put pads in
10) Reverse the entire process

I just found a few pics on my photobucket album that I took during one of my pad ordeals so I'll try get those photoshopped to help you a bit.

Here...The 2 YELLOW lines I drew on the caliper itself are where the bolts that hold it in place should be. Obviously they're on the inside of the wheel well so if they are seized on there they are a ***** to get off. I had to use a breaker bar and dinged my hands up pretty well because the several MN winters the car had seen did a nice job of rusting and corroding everything. Most of that stuff has since been changed...just looking at it makes me cringe. Anyways! If the pads you buy come with a backer plate to put on the pads make sure you seat it on the pad well otherwise it can pop off like I underlined in YELLOW on the picture. It popped out somehow and started rubbing on the rotor so now my rotor has a nice little wear-indent from the damn thing. I eventually just took them all off and used a buttload of brake lube instead because the other side did it as well. The RED part is where you can usually find a good spot to hang the caliper, otherwise like I said just use a bucket or something to set it on without stretching the line. The rears are pretty much the exact same process as far as I remember except for the whole turning the caliper to compress it rather than using a c-clamp. Sometimes there is a metal piece that is on the top of the caliper that pops out and is kind of a pain to put back in so do your best to not let it pop out...it's the shinier piece pictured here that has the hole in the middle of it. I THINK that covers almost everything, any other questions should be easily answerable.

Thank you for taking time to write . I am sure I can do it just havn't done it before

Today I order some Motorcraft pads for front and back from ebay and
I bought this rotors
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=190099095293&rd=1,1

CobraRed_96_GT · Apr 6, 2007

drilled and slotted? Your better learn how to do this, ur going to be replacing pads more often - lol

trailblazr81 · Apr 6, 2007

twogts4us said:
I've heard from many people that that's the way "Just Brakes" operates...they tease ya with the $99 fee, but nobody walks out paying just $99.

These must be some cheap pads if they do 4 sets for $99 plus labor. A good set of fronts can run ya 60 bones.

bdcardinal · Apr 6, 2007

CobraRed_96_GT said:
drilled and slotted? Your better learn how to do this, ur going to be replacing pads more often - lol

that and good luck getting on a track with those. more and mroe road courses are not letting cars with drilled rotors pass tech. you have to prove that the rotors are factory or are from a certified maker. too many catastrophic rotor failures.

twogts4us · Apr 6, 2007

Ugh! Why those rotors - appearance? Coulda had Brembos

Kilgore Trout · Apr 6, 2007

Brembos from Tire Rack are only $47 each and they would be such a better choice:
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brak...tang+GT&autoYear=2002&autoModClar=&perfCode=P

Mustang5L5 · Apr 6, 2007

lvmustanggt said:
They showed me that my pads are wearing uneven cause last time when i did my springs I didn't use c clamp to compress
piston. I called ford and they want 520 for all 4 brake job.
s ?

That's BS.

When pads wear unevenly, it's because the slide pins are seizing up or not lubricated. When they stick, the caliper presses more on one side.

Mustangs use floating calipers. When the pistons extend, the pads get equal pressure unless the slide pins are frozen solid.

This is a big problem in the rear. The fronts do it as well, but not as much. After unbolting the caliper from the u=-bracket that holds the pads, take a look at the two pins that the bolts went into. There will be a small boot on them. Those are the slide pins. Make sure they can move in and out freely and are not frozen. If they are, you will need to remove them, clean them and relube with high-temp grease. This is where most shops just chuck the caliper into the trash and sell you a new caliper. It takes 5 mins to relube the pins

Here;s a shot of the rear caliper from the backside
View attachment 390909

The two bolts at the far corners are what you remove to take the (red) caliper off the (black) caliper bracket. The two rubber boots are where the slide pins move in and out. With the caliper off this bracket, you should be able to pull these out easily.

With the rear calipers, the pistons must be SCREWED in clockwise, not compresed with a c-clamp.

PS....those rotors you bought..are terrible. Brembo blanks FTW!

Dusstbuster · Apr 6, 2007

^^^Had to do that with both my rear calipers after doing pads on the car. I changed my pads and drove about 4 miles and could smell something funky after getting off interstate and the car just didn't want to go like usual. Parked it at the place and got out to see smoke coming off my pad. I limped it home and we figured out that was the problem so we took it off, took a torch to it and slowly pulled them out. Man that is definitely a BE CAREFUL job. The one pin was extremely corroded in place and as I was pulling it out it finally popped and extremely hot lube flew in my face. Luckily I was wearing goggles and it landed mostly on those otherwise that coulda been ugly. Then we just sanded them down, sanded the inside where the pin slides down, re-lubed and reassembled and they were good to go.

Mike97gt · Apr 6, 2007

99 bucks for 4 wheel brakes.. LOL what a scam..

they tell you this to get you in but that price don't include labor and does not include any rotor machining or rotor replacement..

Even us dealers run the same teaser ad, I tell any customer that comes in that I can just slap a set of pads in but on crappy rotted rotors ( common in the northeast) they will make noise, you will have pulsation and they will wear out fast..

BTW the brakes are easy to do, as long as you have a little bit of skill and some tools.

man those are some hack shops if they toss a caliper over a sticking caliper slide.. what a joke..

Plus I would never let them butchers at those brake shops even stand next to my car let alone work on it ( I don't want my car to catch hack disease or some other crap) but then again I can count the techs other then my self on one hand that I would let work on my car if my arms fell off.

lvmustanggt · Apr 6, 2007

twogts4us said:
Ugh! Why those rotors - appearance? Coulda had Brembos

Appearance and performance

bdcardinal · Apr 7, 2007

lvmustanggt said:
Appearance and performance

no performance gain at all. in fact probably worse performance. but hey, its your life.

Kilgore Trout · Apr 7, 2007

lvmustanggt said:
Appearance and performance

Does it make you wonder when pretty much everyone in the thread is telling you that you made the wrong rotor choice?

Damn dude, cancel the eBay order and get the ones I linked in the thread above... You will be glad you did.

lvmustanggt · Apr 7, 2007

Kilgore Trout said:
Does it make you wonder when pretty much everyone in the thread is telling you that you made the wrong rotor choice?

Damn dude, cancel the eBay order and get the ones I linked in the thread above... You will be glad you did.

I don't think I can cancel , once you buy it and paid it mine. It's cool I will give it a try and if it's doesn't work then I will buy something else.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 7, 2007

Yeah, you are kinda committed now.

Next time you need rotors, just go to www.tirerack.com and order some Brembo blanks.

BlkNShiny03 · Apr 11, 2007

I am having trouble removing the 15mm bolts that hold the caliper bracket. I need to take it off to replace the rotors. Does any one know if there is threadlocker holding these in place? Or, are the left handed threads?

How to change brake pads

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