How to Replace Brakes - Brake Pads and Rotors

Richard Cottingham: My name is Richard Cottingham from Tysons Auto Specialties here in Tysons Corner. Today I will be assisted by Rolando Hinojosa, one of our fine technicians here. Today we are going to show you how to replace the front brake pads and rudders on this Chevy pickup truck.

We will learn how to remove the rudders, remove the pads, install new pads and rudders and bleed the brake system to ensure that our brake job is done properly. The tools we will be using today and it will vary from one vehicle to the next, but you should have a good selection of wrenches, sockets, ratchet. You should have a pair of channel locks and a couple of different types of pliers that you may need, depending on the vehicle. We may need a hammer to get the rudder off, depending on if the rudder is rusted on the vehicle.

Parts we will need, we will need a new set of rudders, a new set of pads, we will need a cane of quality brake cleaner that you can get at a parts store. We will need some disc brake lubricant and here at Tysons Auto Specialties, we use BG's Stop Squeal that we put on the surface of our pads to help prevent brake squeals.

When working on a vehicle, you should always utilize caution and be safe. If you are going to jack a vehicle up, you should always use jack stands. You should never put your body under the vehicle because it's not properly supported. Make sure that your tools are in good shape and good working order before you use them and just generally, be careful!

I am an ASC certified Master Technician, I have been working here at Tysons Auto Specialties for approximately 17 years and I have been doing this for 23 years. I have worked on all makes and models of vehicles from German, Japanese and domestic and we can do just about anything here.

Today we are going to do brakes, so let's get started.