Most Common Brake Installation Mistakes!

In this video we go over some of the

common

installation

mistakes

when making your own

brake

s, so don't do any of these. Let's break this down into four categories. We'll start with the

brake

pads and then the rotors. the caliper and then the hydraulic system, the brakes in general are not that complicated, but there are many ways to mess them up, for example, putting the brake pads on backwards, so we will start the video by putting them on backwards and showing you what happens, let's see From the damage that was done, the rotor obviously has grooves because the back of the pads were there.

It was very hot now. It took us a while to let this cool down. There was a lot of metal. It was hot on the back of the pill. So if these were new and you just did this, you basically ruined everything, you're going to need new rotors again and you're going to need new pads. We were just driving in a parking lot at about 25 miles per hour, so go figure. what would this look like if you were driving down the road if your brake pad looks like this then it is facing the wrong direction this is what it should look like when you take out the old brake pads check them with the new brake pads and make sure they look very similar, they don't have to be exact, some will have this line right here, some may not have the line at all and some may even have two lines, make sure the ends of the pads look the same so they line up nicely and see if there are dimples in the pad so this is the outside pad there are no dimples in it if you look this pad has some dimples so there is a dimple and then there is the squeaker and if we put this pad on the outside it won't necessarily go up to that dimple but to where the squeaker is so it will cause the pad to not lay flat so this is an internal pad as we are talking about squeakers some pads have squeakers and you have to match them to where they came from, but when in doubt

most

of the time the squeakers are on the top or where the rotor cuts into the pad, if the pads are on the back then it would be on the bottom, the pads are on the front.

You will be on top if you are putting grease on the pad, you can put grease on the ends just like that some people put grease on the back to keep it from squeaking but don't put too much grease. You don't want to put too much, you definitely don't want to put grease on the padded material and if you have greasy hands, don't clean the pads because that won't be good, you'll have trouble stopping. While we're talking about brake pads, let's talk about the brake caliper bracket where the brake pads sit. Now you have these pickup sliders or anti-rattle clips to keep the pickups there and prevent them from vibrating too much if you put them in.

If they are bad, they may rub against the rotor or sometimes they are specific to one side and will cause other problems, so make sure you fit them correctly and that they don't rub on the rotor. Be sure to reuse them as you wish. to clean them up a little use a wire brush or get new ones sometimes they come with the brake pads you don't want to just throw them away you don't want to just take the brake pad slide them in there they will fit but then they are going to rattle as you go down the road and that doesn't will be good, the brake caliper bracket itself, if it is rusted you want to clean it, use a wire brush under where the sliding pads go or the pads will stick on this bracket, it will cause too much material to touch the brake caliper rotor. brake and will cause the brakes to wear out much faster.

These slide pins sometimes get stuck if moisture gets in if not sealed properly. don't take them out clean them lubricate that's going to happen and make sure you seal them properly so make sure they're moveable so it looks good now it's pretty obvious you're not going to install it that way with the bolt holes . on the outside, but you definitely want to make sure you don't mix them up side to side, sometimes they are machined differently, you want to make sure you have the right side with the right collet. Now let's talk about the rotor when you are. removing the rotor if you can just grab it and slide it on that's great if not you can use a hammer just tap these locations just be careful not to hit the bolts now normally you don't want to hit the rotor itself.

In case you can't reuse it, if you're having trouble removing it, you can always spray some rust into the holes and let it soak for a bit. If you still have problems, you can tap the rotor from the back, but you better make sure you remove that rotor, if you don't then you will have marks on the rotor and if you had to reuse it it won't be good. We had a lot of trouble removing that rotor and one of the reason is that the surface of this hub is not very clean so make sure you take a wire brush and just clean off all the built up rust that you can on the corrosion so make sure to not having any specifications of anything, not even something so small. like a little piece of sand, if it was there and you put the rotor in, the rotor will be crooked as it goes down the road which will cause pulsation, so make sure it's clean, same thing on the back of the rotor if there is any debris. of rust there you need to take care of it to prevent some rust use some anti seize and that will prevent the rotor from sticking and some corrosion.

When you get a new rotor, many times there is a protective layer al

most

like an oily layer that is to prevent rust, you want to make sure to clean the brake parts with a cleaner that removes them, these have a different type of layer that does not necessarily We have to do that, but we don't want to grease them. So if you see grease fingerprints clean them with brake parts cleaner, keep in mind that the backing guards sometimes get bent or rusted when you put the rotor on, you will hear that noise on the road and once it's all together, it's not that easy to bend them back before you put them together, make sure the guard doesn't rub against the rotor, that looks good, let's move on to the caliper when you reinstall the caliper, you want to make sure you compress this piston and you want to do it correctly, you don't want to Compress it too quickly or you will cause damage to the rest of the hydraulic system.

You could take a similar gauge tool to this one, put it in there and then. It's always good to have an extra brake pad, just use one of the old brake pads and it makes it a little easier, then compress it nice and slow. Another great idea while compressing the caliper is to open the bleed screw if your bleed screws don't look too rusty, open the bleed screw, compress the caliper and then the fluid will come out of the bleed screw hole instead of being pushed out into the master reservoir as you compress it, you are pushing the fluid out. bleed screw and then you can close the bleed screw right before you finish compressing it, just tighten it, sometimes you'll notice that when you compress the caliper, the boot over here, the boot sometimes expands like there's air in it if you just take place a small pick or small screwdriver underneath, just make sure not to stab it.

If you stab it you will need to replace the caliper or get a new boot if you see fluid here it is most likely the seal inside the caliper. It needs to be replaced, so in that case you will need a new caliper. Now when you install the clamp you need to make sure the hose is straight and not kinked. Many times people twist the clamp and place it in the wrong direction. and the hose is kinked and could rub on the wheel and eventually you will lose braking on this vehicle. It seems pretty obvious that the caliper hose is kinked, but on some vehicles it's not as obvious, so be aware of what that looks like.

It's supposed to go like it's supposed to look now, this is flipped the opposite direction and it's not so obvious that this isn't right, so just take the clamp, turn it and this is how it should be, sometimes people you forget to put the bolts in or you don't tighten them properly and then the caliper just hangs around moving like that as this caliper will slide out and drag the wheel so you will hear the noise then you will need a caliper. and a new wheel when you replace the brake hoses or lines, double check after you are done, make sure there are no fluid leaks, do a road test, clean it very well and check again when you are installing a caliper make sure make sure the bleed screw is on the top of the caliper if you put the wrong side if you put the passenger side on the driver side the bleed screws will be on the bottom and then you won't be able to bleed the brakes properly so be aware Keep that in mind when bending and making your own brake lines, make sure you put the fitting on many times, set up the tool, be all set, do your flaring, forgot to put the fitting on. so put it on, make sure you use the correct adjustment tool and there is also a bubble flare and a double flare.

You never want to use a single flare on a brake line when you are making your lines. Make sure you don't bend the line while you're bending it, it's easy to do and if you do just cut it off and start again because that part of the line will be compromised, it will be weaker than the rest when you replace the brake lines, you must make sure. They are as close to factory as possible, you may not be able to get nice curves like this or get as close as this, but you don't want those lines dragging down where something can get caught in them and break them. you don't want to have them tied with cables to the exhaust or any moving components.

Let's talk about the liquid. The important thing is to use the correct brake fluid required for your vehicle. It's usually on the cover, but definitely check your owner's manual. It is important to note that it is not a good idea to use a bottle of brake fluid that has already been opened. Moisture can get in there and contaminate the liquid. Most vehicles use point 3 or point 4 brake fluid. It is extremely important not to mix any other type of fluid with the brake. If you mix oil or any other type of lubricant, you will damage the entire system.

Here we have a little experiment. We put some brake fluid in here and a cap full of oil. We mix it and it seems normal. brake fluid, but when we put one of the O-rings on this caliper in there and let it sit, we'll see what happens if you have contaminated brake fluid like this in your car, you're going to damage anything that touches the rubber. seals or any rubber components such as the calipers, brake hoses, ABS unit and master cylinder. We left this over the weekend, let's take a look at it, take it out, you can see from the beginning that it's definitely warped and if you look closely.

The rubber is definitely swollen, so that's not good. You don't want this in your brake system. You don't want oil there. You will have to replace your entire brake system if this happens. In case this happens. that you will have all these leaking seals, the caliper will leak if any of that fluid gets on the brake pads or even the brake shoes you will have to replace those too, that was just a cap full of oil in this amount of fluid brakes, so remember not to mix oil and brake fluid, don't mix anything with the brake fluid if there is something I missed or there is something I have done that I probably shouldn't have done, leave me a comment below in general, take your time, do the brake job the right way if you need to watch some of our YouTube videos on how to repair these brakes, if you enjoyed this video or it helped you, be sure to subscribe to our channel, ring the bell.

Activate all notifications so you don't miss any of our videos