P1000829

Our first step to doing any sort of work on brakes or any job you've got to remove the tyre is to loosen the nuts on the wheel (surprised yet?) This should be done on the ground because a hard surface like the ground causes more resistance to the wheel turning than if it was in the air (surely this surprised you? no?). The best way to loosen (and tighten) the nuts are in a star sequence, think like if you were drawing one of those witchcraft stars, this ensures even pressure release and application (when tightening).

P1000830

Second step as always is to make sure you have proper support under the vehicle, using a jack only just doesn't cut it, you need solid support, there's nothing wrong with having the jack under there, but there must be solid support to stop the vehicle from moving, surprisingly enough cars are really heavy and you are really soft and squishy.

P1000831

Before doing this sort of brake work we make sure the brake fluid bottle is topped up, the last thing we need is the brake fluid draining and air being sucked into the lines, because then we'd have to bleed the whole system, and bleeding the whole system is a pain in the proverbial arse.

P1000832

Once the car is in the air we can remove the wheel, then this is what we are greeted with.

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We now need to remove the guide pins (outlined in red) holding the brake pads in place, they should have a split pin in each which you will have to remove then the guide pin will slide out.

P1000834

The pads now need to be removed, if necessary you may need to push them away from the disk, you can do this by levering them with a large screwdriver to push the pad and piston back into the caliper, keep a careful eye on your brake master cylinder when doing this though because reverse pressure has to go somewhere. That somewhere is the master cylinder and the fluid level will rise, if you push back too far it may overflow and that will strip all that lovely paint you have beneath it on the firewall.