Replacing my own brake pads?

Scubabe

Hi all,

As a girl who grew up with a mechanic dad who showed me how to do basic maintenance of my car, I feel confident in doing basic work myself.
Unfortunately I lost my dad earlier this year, so I don't have anyone to call upon for assistance anymore.
I've recently moved to the UK and bought a Daihatsu Grand Move. The brakes are starting to make "crunchy" noises.

I helped my dad change brakes on my last car, but it was a few years ago now and I can't really remember exactly what we did. Dad bought the parts for me, and supplied all the tools, I just handed him spanners and things!

Just wondering, if I were able to find a Haynes manual somewhere online, would it be feasible for me to change my own brakes & save some dosh?

Or is it just not worth it unless you truly know what you're doing, and I should just suck it up and get it into a shop?

How much should I budget for new brakes on a 10 year old Daihatsu?

Many thanks for any help!

Ness

hewhoisnotintheknow

as long as you have someone to help you out if you !!!!!! it up go for it

i always goto the scrap yard to practice on their cars if i dont know what im doing

Conor_3

DIY. Shouldn't need much more than a couple of spanners and a bit of elbow grease. £20 should get you a set of pads.

Wig

First what I would do if I were you, is slacken the wheel nuts of one front wheel (I assume it's the fronts) then jack the car/wheel up off the floor (you must know how to do this) then fully remove the wheel nuts remove the wheel (if it's stuck give it a punch on the tyre wall - that should free it up) then remove the wheel.

Now put your head inside the wheel arch use a small torch and just have a look at the brake pads in the housing, you should be able to see how much "pad" there is left. You're not removing anything further, just taking a look, then refit the wheel.

Brake pads look like this


You see the pad material is glued onto a metal base, this metal base is about 4mm thick so don't confuse it with the pad material when you take a look. You want to see how thick the remaining pad is.


Or take a snapshot and post it here. Something like this


If you have next to no pad left 2mm or less then the rubbing noise could be as you think the pad has worn down such that at some point on the pad the pad material has worn completely away to the metal base, this is not good. If I were you I'd buy some pads and take it to a back street (alleyway) garage for pad change it shouldn't cost too much and would be better than you trying it yourself, unless you have a friend who knows what they are doing to help you.

If however you have plenty of pad left then the rubbing noise could be loose flaky rust on the rim of the brake disc, I don't mean normal rusty appearance, I mean you can pick fairly large flakes of rust from the rim of the disc with your fingers. - look for this, if you see it, you get a big hammer and gently hit the edge of the brake disc to knock all the flaky rust off - spinning the disc around as you go. Doing this can cure grinding noise on discs.

anewman

Just make sure they take up their place properly, the brakes work and braking is even (no pulling to one side) before driving at speed

I too felt a bit uncertain about working on my brakes at first, particularly the hydraulic system (although luckily mine has no ABS system to worry about), but if you're careful and meticulous, and most importantly give it plenty of time to make sure what you do is done correctly, you'll be fine and no doubt doing the job ten times better than kwikfit would

A Haynes should describe the process adequately. If you buy pads from a dealer I imagine they'll come with a small sachet of grease to put on the back of the pads. Otherwise a little copper grease will be useful.

Hintza

The biggest hassle in doing it yourself is messing about on the ground. A hoist makes life so much easier for getting at all the bits comfortably. Just allow yourself plenty of time and remember when you have done it once it will be twice as easy the next time.

Good luck.

SUESMITH_2

and when you've done it, pat yourself on the back!

maybe do a car maintenance course? i did a motorbike one just to show the blokes i could mend things too (oh is a mechanic thank god)

Inactive

I would start the learning curve on a different part of your vehicle, brakes are essential to your safety and others, not a good place to start learning IMO.;)

anewman

Inactive wrote: »

I would start the learning curve on a different part of your vehicle, brakes are essential to your safety and others, not a good place to start learning IMO.;)

Brakes in reality are quite simple mechanically though. I mean come on, they let the 17 year old spanner monkeys at them at Kwikfit?!

steveo3002

remember you need a way off pushing the piston baack to make room for the new pads ...g clamp usualy does it

and before you set off on a test drive , triple check all bolts are tight and have a look round to be happy its all good , then pump the pedal to ensure they work before driving away...have a little creep along and confirm theyre working before going out on the main roads

photome

Go for it, it is quite a simple procedure