Replacing Car Brakes BY YOURSELF

Wig

Although it is really easy to do, doing it requires a lot of experience on how to overcome obstacles that you encounter whilst you are doing it. For a beginner nothing is more important than having a friend with you who has experience.

However if you have a good set of spanners/sockets, preferably also
a G-clamp,
a bit of wire/string,
a big hammer,
a tube of copper grease,
and most importantly a Haynes book to follow, then you won't go far wrong, and if you do get stuck you'll have to give up and reverse your steps to put it back together and take it to a garage.

If you are at Kingston on an engineering course ask your classmates. A Haynes manual should take your confidence from 10% to 60% and once you get started and you complete one side, your confidence will be up to 80%.

farmerboy

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Presuming you mean the brake piston, no, special tools aren't required, although they help.

Yes do mean the piston, but if the OP is not expirenced at doing brakes. as it seems from the post, it would add to the difficulty

Just_Incredible

Its pretty easy if you have common sense

changed mine and I don't have a city & guilds in motor mechanics

Lincoln_Imp

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Presuming you mean the brake piston, no, special tools aren't required, although they help.

So how do you wind back the piston without the special tool for the job then ?
Hope i havent wasted 9 quid buying one for my 07 Civic

vaio

I used to grip the piston with a pair of water pump pliers but it is so much easier with the correct tool. Remember some screw in clockwise and some anticlockwise

thistledome

altin wrote: »

Anyway... anyone have done it?

My hubby's done it loads of times. I'm of an age to remember when most working class men did their own car repairs (and taught their Sons to do it).

Regarding the nanny state post, I'd trust my old man's quality of work much more than some of the "professional" Garages I've been to!

custardy

Lincoln_Imp wrote: »

So how do you wind back the piston without the special tool for the job then ?
Hope i havent wasted 9 quid buying one for my 07 Civic

already we see the problems
some cars have wind in pistons and some dont
in general brakes are not hard to do but it does require care and a bit of tech know how
probably best ot check a forum on your specific car model for any problems and whats needed

goldspanners

altin wrote: »

Hi.
Anyone have adventured to change car brakes themselves?
Checked some videos of how to do it, and can be done, but CAN IT REALLY BE DONE by an unprofessional?
Brakes are an important factor for your and other road users safety.

Anyway... anyone have done it?

you don't even mention which kind of car, or which brake set up it is. is it front pads and discs, is it rear pads and discs or is rear shoes,or a mixture of both rear pads discs and shoes?

tomstickland

Yes, several times.
Over the years on various cars I've replaced calipers, pads, discs, metal pipes, flex hoses, master cylinders, slave cylinders.
All myself.

retrorider

Get yourself a Haynes workshop manual for your car. It has saved me a fortune on repair bills