Changing Front Rotors
Changing the front rotors of your vehicle is a very easy task for any man or woman.
1. The first thing you need to do is make sure that you place the vehicle on a flat level surface to ensure your safety. Many adults have been injured killed when a vehicle rolls onto them while they are working on it.
2. With the vehicle on the ground, remove any coverings over the front wheels to expose the lug nuts securing the tires to the vehicle. Using the appropriate lug wrench or a socket and a breaker bar, loosen, but do not remove the lug nuts.
3. Lift the front of the vehicle with a floor jack placed in a secure location on the vehicle. The lower suspension arm or pinch weld of the vehicle is a great location. These areas of the car are strong and will support the weight without damaging the vehicle.
4.When vehicle is lifted, supporting the vehicle for your own safety is something that should always be done. Use items that will prevent the car from falling if the jack should collapse suddenly.
5. With the vehicle safely supported remove the lug nuts and tire assembly. Depending on the make of vehicle there will be different ways to remove the caliper and bracket. Some have pins, but most have hex head bolts.
6. Remove the caliper assembly and support using a rope strap or bungee cord. It is very important to support the caliper when working on braking systems to prevent damage to the brake hoses.
7. With the caliper removed, remove the caliper support bracket and brake pads. With these items removed, the front rotors should now be accessible. It is important to look for anything that maybe securing the rotors to the wheel bearing. Newer models have a set screw that does this.
8. With this removed, remove the rotor. Rotors may be seized to the wheel bearing assembly. If this is the case, use a hammer to remove this rotor.
9. When rotors are removed it is recommended to the clean face of mounting surface of any substances, including rust, to ensure a flat surface when installing the new rotors. Excessive rust build up on the face of the wheel bearing may cause a brake pedal to pulsate when stepping on brakes.
10. With surface of wheel bearing cleaned remove the new rotor from package. The rotor may have a oil residue. This needs to be cleaned off with hot soapy water or brake cleaner to remove residue. Not removing this may cause your brake pedal to feel spongy or lead to poor stopping.
11. After the new rotor is cleaned and installed, reinstall the brake pad support bracket. If installing new brake pads, lubricate slides and pins, if using old brakes pads make sure slides and pins are lubricated and sand surface of the old brake pads. Failure to do this make cause poor stopping and brake squeak when stopping.
12. After pads are reassembled, the next step is to reinstall the caliper. To do this you will have to push the piston back into caliper. You can do this by placing the brake pad over piston and pushing back using a C-clamp or by using a large pair of pliers.
13. Reinstall the caliper on the vehicle and make sure all bolts are tight on the support bracket and caliper.
14. Reinstall tire to the vehicle and torque lug nuts to specification. Most cars are 100 ft/lbs.
15. When done, spin wheels for free movement. If wheels will not move, make sure rotor and brake pads are correct for the vehicle.
16. Lower vehicle to the ground and step on brake pedal with engine off several times until the brake pedal feels hard. Road test vehicle after and step on brake pads to seat the new rotors and make sure the vehicle stops correctly.
