Front Brake Pads on 96 Honda Civic
I was a mechanic in the Army and at a civilian job. This is the way I change brake pads. You should not have any trouble by following this guide but still do so at your own risk.*I recommend reading this article in it's entirety and then going back through step-by-step as to become familiar with what is required to perform this tasksuccessfully.First you need to find a level and solid place to park your vehicle. Chock the wheels, meaning put something like a brick behind and in front of at least one of the back wheels.Loosen the lug nuts but do not remove them. If the lugs are tight when you have the wheel off the ground, you will have to pull too hard to break them loose and could tip the car off of the jack.Now use the jack supplied with your car and check the manual for the proper lift positions. These are reinforced points of the under body of your vehicle that can take the pressure of the jack lifting the weight of the car.The tire does not have to be too far off the ground. Just enough so that you can remove it after removing the lug nuts. Go ahead and remove the lug nuts and the tire.Now for the fun part. What you are most likely looking at is a shiny round disc. That is the rotor. On the front side of the rotor is a caliper assembly. We will start with the caliper at this point. There are two bolts that hold the caliper to it's mount. A top and a bottom bolt. Remove the top bolt which will be a 12mm (metric instead of SAE [standard]) and just loosen the bottom bolt which is the same size.Pivot the caliper on the bottom bolt towards the front of the vehicle. You should notice that there is a round (sometimes shiny), metal and sometimes hollow- tipped piston. This piston is forced out of its cylinder by the hydraulic fluid (brake fluid) when you press the brake pedal. The piston applies pressure to the brake pads and shoves them against the rotor causing the vehicle to slow down.
Please follow these instructions at your own risk.
This is a safe and easy way to change the front brake pads but you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself, please take your vehicle to a professional.
