Change Front Brake Pads

Steps

1. Get the right pads. Pads differ by car and by axle, so choose them for your car's engine and model years ("Parts for your car" below). If your car has a pad wear sensor (a thin wire to the pad), a new sensor usually comes with the pads or is sold beside them.
2. Park safely. Park on firm, level ground, set the handbrake, put the gearbox in first gear (or P on an automatic) and block the rear wheels.
3. Loosen the wheel nuts of one front wheel half a turn while the wheel is still on the ground.
4. Raise the car. Jack it up at the lifting point your handbook shows and set it down on an axle stand. Then take the wheel off.
5. Look before you take anything apart. Check how much lining is left on the pads and look at the disc. Deep grooves, a raised lip at the outer edge, cracks or blue patches mean the discs need checking or changing as well.
6. Unclip the wear sensor if there is one. Undo the caliper bolts (or the pins that hold the pads, on some designs) and lift the caliper off the pads. Hang it with a cable tie or a piece of wire. Never let it hang on the brake hose.
7. Take out the old pads and their clips, and note how they sat. Clean the places where the pads slide with the wire brush.
8. Push the caliper piston back. Open the brake fluid reservoir under the bonnet and watch it: the level rises as the piston goes back. Take a little fluid out if it would overflow. Push the piston back slowly and straight with the piston tool or a clamp and an old pad.
9. Fit the new pads. Fit new clips if they came with the pads, and any shims, the same way the old ones sat. Put a thin film of brake grease only where the metal backs of the pads touch the bracket, never on the linings or the disc.
10. Refit the caliper. Put the caliper back over the new pads, fit the bolts and tighten them to the figure in your handbook. Fit the new wear sensor and clip its wire back in place, clear of the wheel.
11. Refit the wheel. Lower the car and tighten the wheel nuts to the handbook figure, in a cross pattern.
12. Do the other front wheel the same way.
13. Pump the brake pedal until it is firm, before you move the car. The first presses can go almost to the floor while the pistons come out to the new pads.
14. Check the brake fluid level. It must be between MIN and MAX. Close the reservoir cap.
15. Test and bed in. In a quiet, safe place, drive slowly and brake gently a few times. New pads need some gentle driving before they brake their best: avoid hard braking at first, and follow the instructions that come with the pads.