How do you change your own brake pads on a 1996 Toyota Paseo?

Answer 1

First, apply wheel chocks to the rear wheels to keep your vehicle from rolling and loosen the 4 lug nuts before you raise the wheel off the ground. Now, raise the car and set it on a jack stand. This is safer than leaving the car on the jack while you remove the wheel and perform the repair. Set the jack stand on the frame to avoid damaging the underbody of the vehicle. Next, remove the wheel and set it aside. You will now be looking at the rotor and caliper. There are two bolts on the caliper that need to be removed. They are facing inward towards the engine. Remove them with a 3/8 drive socket wrench and 14mm 6 point socket. 6 point sockets are less likely to strip a bolt head but you should be alright if you only have 12 point sockets. Loosen and remove the caliper bolts. Now, use two hands and hold the caliper on both ends. Slowly move the caliper back and forth while pulling upward to remove it from the pads and bracket. Once you have freed the caliper from the pads, use a hanger to hang the caliper from the strut tower. Remove the old brake pads from the bracket(the pads will still be sitting in the bracket after you remove the caliper) and set them aside. Use a wire brush to clean the contact points where the old brake pads were. Now, you are ready to compress the caliper piston. If you do not have a caliper piston compressor tool, check with your local auto parts store(cheap tool $10-$20 saves a lot of headache when doing a brake job). Now, take the old brake pad and compressor tool and set the old pad against the caliper piston(Do not use the new pad for this part) and set the compressor tool inside the caliper. Turn the handle of the compressor tool so that it starts to press against the old pad. Make sure to set the tool is set on the center of the caliper piston. Start to turn the tool until the piston starts to recede into the body of caliper. Be sure to check on the level of brake fluid in your master cylinder reservoir. As your brake pads wear down, the brake fluid in the reservoir moves into the brake caliper as the piston extends further out of the caliper body. Make sure the fluid does not overflow(you will have a mess to clean up, nothing serious) Continue compressing the caliper piston unitl it becomes flush with the rubber boot surrounding the caliper piston. You have now finished compressing the caliper piston. When you buy your new brake pads, get some brake caliper lube. Use this on the areas where the brake pads touch the caliper piston and the areas where the pads sit in the bracket. Next, install the new brake pads into the bracket after you have applied the lubricant. Push the pads in towards the rotor until they both are resting against it. Now you are ready to re-install the caliper. Hold the caliper with both hands and install it over the new pads. Take your caliper bolts and thread them back in by hand. You may need to lift or push down on the caliper a little to get the bolts to thread in. Use your socket wrench to tighten the bolts. DO NOT overtighten the bolts. Now, you are finished with re-assembly of the caliper. Next, put the wheel back on and tighten the 4 lug nuts. Jack up the vehicle and remove your jack stand. Set the vehicle down. Take your star wrench and tighten the lug nuts in a cross pattern. For example, tighten the top lug nut. Then, tighten the bottom lug. Move to the left lug and tighten it, then tighten the right lug. Now, remove the wheel chocks from the rear wheels. You are now ready for a test drive. Make sure to perform a sequence of stops(5-10) from 30 mph to near stop to break in the new pads. Good luck!!! Also, make sure to perform this service on both right front and left front of your vehicle during the same repair. Never replace just one side or the other!!