Replace Car Disc Brake Pads: interactive 3D repair guide

All 11 steps

1. 1Park, handbrake on, chock the rear wheels

   Park on firm, level ground with the engine off, the handbrake on and the car in gear (or in Park). Chock a rear wheel front and back so the car cannot roll once its front is up. If it has just been driven, let the brakes cool first.

2. 2Crack the wheel nuts loose on the ground

   With the tyre still on the ground, so the wheel cannot turn, fit the breaker bar and its 19 mm socket on each nut and push the handle down to turn the nut anticlockwise, a quarter to half a turn: just loose, not off. Go round in a star.

3. 3Jack it up and set it on an axle stand trap

   Roll the trolley jack under the jacking point the handbook gives for it, here the front subframe’s rear mount, and pump until the tyre is well clear of the floor. From the side, slide the axle stand under the sill’s support point between its two notches and raise its column to just below the flange, then open the jack’s valve slowly so the car settles on the stand. Until the stand takes the weight, no hand or foot goes under the car; leave the jack just touching, as a backup only. Avoid this trap: Skip the axle stand and the whole corner rests on one small hydraulic saddle. Here the nuts come off, the wheel is pulled, the car rocks, and the saddle slides off its mount: the corner drops about 25 cm in a blink onto the brake disc. Nobody is under it here; in real life a hand, an arm or a head could be. Set the car on a stand before a wheel comes off, and keep the jack only as a backup.

4. 4Take the wheel off and lay it under the sill

   Spin the loosened nuts off by hand and drop them in the tray’s first well. Pull the wheel straight off the studs and lay it flat under the sill behind the stand, where it would catch the car if anything gave way.

5. 5Unbolt the caliper and hang it up trap

   Turn the steering away from this side so the back of the caliper swings out of the arch. Undo its two guide-pin bolts with a 13 mm socket, the lower one first, and drop them in the tray’s second well. Lift the caliper off the pads and hang it from the spring on a wire hook: never let it hang on its brake hose. Avoid this trap: Lifted off and let go, the caliper drops to the end of its flexible hose and hangs there, twisting: the rubber is stretched and bent sharply where it meets its metal end. The damage can be inside, out of sight, until the hose balloons or leaks under braking. Hang the caliper from the spring or the strut on a wire hook, with the hose slack.

6. 6Old pads and clips out, check the disc

   Lift both old pads out of the carrier, then prise out its two anti-rattle clips; all go in the tray’s third well. Measure the disc a centimetre in from its rim, inside the lip, at two points or more: here 23.4 mm against the 22 mm stamped on its hat. Under the stamp, or cracked or deeply scored, discs are replaced as a pair.

7. 7Open the reservoir, push the piston back

   Under the bonnet, wipe the brake fluid reservoir clean, take its cap off and wrap a rag round it: the level rises as the piston goes back. Set the piston spreader between the piston and the caliper’s fingers and wind it slowly until the piston is flush in its bore.

8. 8New clips and pads, grease only metal on metal trap

   Press the new clips into the carrier. Smear a thin film of brake grease where metal slides on metal: the clips’ faces, the pads’ ears and backs, and the guide pins, never the linings or the disc. Then the inner pad, its wear tab at the bottom, goes into place against the disc, and the outer pad. Avoid this trap: A smear of grease strays from the pad’s ear onto its lining. Once fitted, that pad skates on the disc: the wheel keeps turning under a press of the pedal that should stop it, and the car pulls to one side as it brakes. A soaked pad cannot be cleaned back to safety: the axle set is replaced. Grease only the ears, the backs, the clips’ faces and the pins.

9. 9Caliper back on, guide-pin bolts to torque

   Lift the caliper off its hook and lower it over the new pads. Start both guide-pin bolts by hand, run them down with the ratchet, then tighten them with the small torque wrench to the handbook’s figure: here 28 Nm (small cars often ask for about 25 to 35). Straighten the steering.

10. 10Wheel on, down to the ground, nuts in a star

    Lift the wheel onto the studs and run the nuts on by hand. Pump the jack until the sill just lifts off the stand, slide the stand out and lower the car to the floor. Then tighten the nuts in a star to the handbook’s torque, here 110 Nm, until the wrench clicks.

11. 11Pump the pedal until it is firm, then bed in trap

    Before the car moves, press the brake pedal slowly, again and again: the first presses sink far as the piston moves out to the new pads, until the pedal stays firm, high up. Check the fluid is between MIN and MAX, cap it and shut the bonnet, take the chocks away, and bed the pads in with gentle braking over the first 200 km or so. Avoid this trap: The piston was wound right back into its bore to make room for the thicker pads, so there is a gap behind them. Drive off without pumping and the first press sinks to the floor while it moves the piston out: the car hardly slows, and here it rolls on towards the door. Pump the pedal until it stays firm before the car moves at all.

What you need

• Front brake pads, axle set · with the fitting kit’s new clips
• Trolley jack · rated for the car
• Axle stands, a pair · rated for the car, slotted saddles
• Wheel chocks · a pair
• Breaker bar and 19 mm socket · for the wheel nuts (check your car’s size)
• 3/8-inch ratchet and 13 mm socket · for the guide-pin bolts (check yours)
• Two torque wrenches · about 20–60 Nm and 40–200 Nm
• Piston spreader · or a large clamp and the old pad
• Disc micrometer · or a vernier with long jaws
• Brake grease and a small brush · for metal contact points only
• Wire hook, brake cleaner, rags
• Nitrile gloves, a dust mask, eye protection
• The car’s handbook · its jacking points and torques

Questions

Safety

Work on firm, level ground with the handbrake on and the rear wheels chocked. Lift only at the points your handbook names and set the car on an axle stand rated for its weight before a wheel comes off, and never put a hand or a foot under the car while a jack alone holds it up. Let hot brakes cool, keep brake dust out of the air (no compressed air; gloves and a mask), keep brake fluid off paint and skin, and pump the pedal firm before the car moves.

• Jacks and axle stands: never get under a car, or put a hand or a foot under it, while a jack alone holds it up. Lift it only at its jacking point, on firm, level ground with the wheels chocked, and set it on axle stands rated for its weight for any work under it.
• Car batteries: a lead-acid battery gives off explosive hydrogen. No sparks, flames or smoking near it, eye protection on, and the last jump lead clamped to bare metal away from the battery.
• Hot parts and fumes: brakes, exhausts and engines stay hot long after a drive, and a running engine fills a closed garage with carbon monoxide: let parts cool, and keep the door open.

About this guide

3D Spatial Reconstruction: models are engineered from factual measurements to show the parts, the fixings and the order of the job before you start. Always check the handbook of your own car.

The car is a generic five-door hatchback of our own design, not any one maker’s model, and its front brakes are the common kind: a ventilated disc and a sliding caliper with one piston, on a carrier with two guide pins. The order is the one service manuals and brake makers give: the nuts cracked on the ground, the car lifted and on an axle stand before the wheel comes off, the caliper unbolted and hung up, the old pads and clips out, the disc measured, the piston wound back with the reservoir open, new clips and pads in with grease only on metal contact points, everything back to torque, and the pedal pumped firm before the car moves.

Where the real job differs from a quick brief: Haynes advises against putting a trolley jack under the sill’s jacking points, which are made for the car’s own jack, so here the jack lifts at the front subframe’s rear mount and the axle stand takes the sill’s support point between its notches. Your handbook names your car’s points; follow it. Nothing here is done under the car: the wheel comes off with the car on the jack and the stand, and no hand goes under the sill until the stand takes the weight. The nuts are cracked a quarter to half a turn: enough to break them loose while the tyre holds the wheel.

The figures are typical ones, not one car’s. Pads like these have about 11 mm of lining new (Saab and Hyundai service data give 11 mm), and makers set the limit at 1.5 to 2 mm; in an MOT a pad under 1.5 mm is a dangerous defect. Ours are worn to 2.0 mm, where the wear tab touches the disc. The disc is 25 mm thick new with a 22 mm minimum, and measures 23.4 mm. The 28 Nm for the guide-pin bolts and 110 Nm for the wheel nuts are typical values: Hyundai gives 22 to 32 Nm for its coupé’s guide-rod bolts, Saab 60 Nm for its 9-4X’s guide-pin bolts and 110 Nm for its 9-3’s wheel bolts. Always use your own car’s figures.

The prices on the card are estimates for a typical small hatchback’s front pads in the UK in October 2026: ClickMechanic lists parts at about £24 to £60 and independent garages at about £62 to £88 for a Ford Fiesta, and Bumper gives £120 to £140 as a 2026 average, fitted; a garage takes 30 to 90 minutes an axle. The time on the card is our estimate for doing both front wheels at home. The 3D runs faster than real hands do.

Sources: Brembo: instructions for replacing car brake pads (the axle set, keeping grease off friction surfaces, fluid off paint, pumping the pedal, bedding in over 200 km), Bendix: how to fit brake pads (chassis stands, never a jack alone, the caliper secured off its hose, the minimum thickness marked on the disc), HSE: working under vehicles (do not rely on jacks alone, level ground, chocks, the handbook’s lifting points), Haynes: jacking up your car (the factory jacking points are for the car’s jack; lift at subframe mounts; stands to hold it; chocks), NAPA: brake pad replacement (sliding calipers, the wear indicator, the reservoir cap off before the piston goes back, pumping the brakes), 2CarPros: replacing front brake pads (steering turned for access, never hanging the caliper on its hose, pumping the pedal before driving), Hella: testing a brake disc’s minimum thickness (stamped on the disc, discs in pairs, new pads only above the minimum), DVSA: MOT inspection manual, brakes (pads under 1.5 mm, contaminated pads, damaged or stretched hoses), Saab WIS: 9-2X front brake pad inspection (11 mm new, 1.5 mm limit, the wear indicator), Saab WIS: 9-4X brake fastener torques (guide-pin bolts 60 Nm, bracket bolts 110 Nm), Saab WIS: 9-3 front brake caliper (wheel bolts 110 Nm), Hyundai Coupe service manual: front brake pads (11 mm new, 2.0 mm limit, the wear indicator at 2 mm, both sides together), Hyundai Coupe service manual: brake torques (guide rod bolts 22 to 32 Nm), ClickMechanic: Ford Fiesta front brake pads replacement prices (parts and garage estimates), Bumper: brake pad replacement cost, 2026 averages (front pads £120–£140 fitted, 30 to 90 minutes an axle).

The 3D models, drawings and text are our own. The car shown is a generic one of our own design, not any one maker’s model.