How do you replace Nissan terrano brake pads?

Answer 1

Legal notice. All brake work should be carried out by qualified personel, but if you insist on doing it yourself, read on.

If you are talking about a vehicle that has disc brakes all around, as most Terrano's do, then I can help.

Let's start at the front. Remove the wheel, place to one side. Look behind the brake caliper, there you will find two 19mm bolts, one above the other. Use a ratchet driver and socket and remove these bolts. Gently slide the brake calipers to the rear and use a piece of twine to hold the calipers up off the ground. IMPORTANT. Do not let the calipers hang using the brake line that is still attached as this may damage the line.

Before you do anymore, I might stress at this point to take note of the locations of each item from this point onwards, and how they sit within the calipers, as that will be your guide to how you will be replacing them.

Use a screwdriver and push the old brake pads out from their locaters inside of the caliper housing, taking care not to remove the thin metallic covering that is mounted on the slide guides. Clean the whole assembly of any brake residue that may be present, then insert the new brake linings into the relevant guide areas in the reverse action of the way that you removed them.

It may be necessary at this stage to push the inner pads back into their housing in order to be able to fit the outer pads in. To do this I use a 6 inch carpenters "G" Clamp. I put the extendable thread of the clamp through the holes in the calipers onto the brake pad, and the rear of the clamp to the rear of the calipers and gently, I repeat, gently screw the clamp so that the pad is pushed into its housing. WARNING. at this stage make sure that the pad is moving squarely along the slides and not pushing the thin metallic covers off the guides, (They are there for a reason), also check that the brake fluid in your master brake reservoir is not being pushed back along the lines and overflowing onto your paintwork.

When you are satisfied that both of the pads are properly inserted replace the calipers back onto the disc rotor and replace your two 19mm bolts, making sure that these bolts are tightly fitted, and that the brake line is not twisted. If your inner brake pads have been pushed back far enough then there should not be any problem with sliding the newer pads over the rotor, (NOTE. new unworn pads are always thicker than the old ones that were removed so some compression of the inner pads with the "G" clamp will be needed). Bleed the brakes as per your owners manual when all brake pad replacement is done. Disc brakes are self adjusting so no adjustment is needed.

This procedure will cover all 4 disc brakes, the drum brakes found on older Terrano's are for the Hand Brake system, they are not covered here in this help item.

For help on that area please launch a new help request and specify "Terrano drum brake help needed".