New Car New Brake Style
Hi fellow Hiveians,
Today I wanted to share a first brake job on the new car!
New Car New Brake Style
Doing standard maintenance on our vehicles and bits around the house has been a hobby for me for a long time. I really enjoy being able to get my hands dirty and in the mix of it all! I as well also make sure that the little man is right there at my side, learning and getting exposed to all of the stuff along the way!
We got a car a few years ago and it wasn't the daily driver, we had a different one that was dedicated to that. We ended up selling the second car since it was a bit of a hassle keeping both of them and all the expenses that come along with it, so when we went down to one it became the only way for us to get around. This meant that it's gotten a fair bit of miles on her, but that's what the cars are for I suppose!
With the miles on the car going up, one of the things I knew I needed to do was to change the front brakes. I hadn't changed them yet, they still felt great so I knew I wasn't in a mad dash hurry to get them changed. We don't stand on the brakes a lot like some people do, and speed up to slow down on the highway and shit. I often times will let the car slow down on the highway by just letting the foot off the gas unless there is a need to step on the brakes. All of these things are just some of the easy and basic things we can do to extend the life of the various parts on the car such as the brakes.
Still though, it had been over the "recommended" life of the brakes so I knew that I needed to do them at some point or face the negative consequences. I decided to get it going one day last fall, and didn't remember that I had the pictures to post until the other day! As I mentioned, the little man was with me as long as he could. He was having fun sorting the tools and all that, jacking up the car and helping me get things ready.
Once the car was up, I made sure to not only put it on a jack stand but I also love my handy bottle jack here. I think this is one of my best purchases for cart maintenance purposes! Sadly it's a little rusted from being exposed to water because of a bad bucket lid but it's still in working order with a little grease and movement. I always use the floor jack to get the car up to a point where I can put the jack stand on it at the very lowest level. Then once it's relaxing on the jack stand, I bring in the bottle jack and bring it up another couple inches to an even higher level. This is overkill for sure but for me it's about convenience. I don't want to be busting my ass and back trying to get in and out of a spot that's simply too low when I could just raise the damn thing. As well, I always stick the tire that I took off under the car for good measure but it also helps to just get it out of the way.
Now it's come to take the brakes off! These ones are definitely interesting and I actually do like some aspects of it. I was not at all used to the fact that they had a screw on them keeping the rotor to the hub! I whacked the thing a few times to get it off, not realizing there was also a screw in there. I took a few overall glances and pictures of it to see the standard layout it has. I'm really hoping not to go back to drum brakes in my life if I can prevent it lol those things are a royal pain in the ass. I had them on several of my cars. Disc brakes are such a blessing haha.
So I dismantled the rotor and one of the things I do every single time now, is check the fit of the new rotors! I've been burned where they gave me the wrong damn part and it sucks to get all the way through the damn install and realize that it's wrong. Its easy to grab the old, put it ontop of the new and make sure it lines up nicely. Thankfully the rotors here were the exact match, so we were good to go! That was a huge headache avoided lol.
Next up is getting the brake caliper out of the way! I actually did this before taking the rotor off but the pictures were already sorted, so screw it here it is. One of the things I learned many years ago from a friend of mine is keep a small spool of wire in your car tool box for these repair jobs. You use the wire to hang the caliper up on the suspension and it doesn't put strain on the brake line. You do NOT want to bust a brake line when you are trying to do this work, at least if the other part doesn't work you can just put the old ones back on and drive to the parts store and swap them out but if you bust the brake line then you are fucked and need to get a ride from a friend or have a second car. Two minutes of work saves you hours of repair later, it's such a common statement lol.
Now that the caliper is up and out of the way, rotor is off, it's time to depress the caliper piston since it was fitted to the old brakes instead of the brand new ones. There are a bunch of ways to do this but there is specifically a tool they made for it. I don't think I am using it the exactly intended way.. but it does the job lol. I think I am missing a piece to be honest but whatever. The main purpose is that the metal plate there on the right pushes up against the outside of the caliper and you turn the screw which then pushes down the caliper piston. I have partially worn out the threads on the one I've got so I know I'll need a new one eventually but this one does the trick right now, and it works.
So remember how I said that we don't go crazy on the brakes? Yeah, you can tell! I've still got a little less than half the brake left, and I am well beyond the timeframe recommended to replace the brakes. I was actually pretty happy with seeing this, as it provide my suspicion that the brakes we have are in pretty good shape actually. I still changed them though, because it's not a bad idea. Plus I will take it off this spring when I do the back brakes, this time was only the front that I did. I know the back brakes are likely a lot better than the front ones, since the front takes 80% of the stopping force and the back assists. It also was to line them up for fitment, and they were indeed a match here as well thankfully!
The configuration of the brakes here was definitely different. The springs are on there to keep pressure on the brakes to always push outward which is good, since the brake caliper is pushing them inward and the springs are pushing them out and preventing them from sticking against the caliper. I know I could have done a few things differently like put brake grease on the outside but I've never done that and this wasn't the chance to learn it, as I was on a time constraint and weather watch. It rained not too far after I was done lol I was thankful I got completed when I did!
The little man made it about half way in the job with me before he wanted to go home, but he was a trooper and helped out as much as he could which was awesome. I pointed out a bunch of things to him and helped him learn a bunch and use his hands to get off some of the bolts with me. Overall it was a great time, learning about the new brake configuration and getting my hands dirty on something around the house to get a project done, save some money and exercise my brain and muscles a bit!
What about you, have you changed brakes or other things on your vehicles? I'd love to hear about it!
-CmplXty. Real human written content, never AI.
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Keeping two cars is always like a burden because of extra work. Anyway, I’m glad you were able to change the brake but it is funny how I usually think that changing the brake must be done in the car and not outside
Yeah it's challenging to have two but I prefer it myself. I do want to get a second car again, it's much easier to get around!
I think it's pretty amazing to be able to do all these repairs. Recently, with my converted van, the alternator fell out while I was driving.
I wanted to reassemble it myself, but I had to do some welding because a metal fastener was broken. So I had to be towed to the nearest garage. They did the repairs (welding + changing the alternator belt, as it had broken in the breakdown).
At the time, I didn't feel like doing the welding.
On the other hand, I recently had to change my brake discs. My mechanic did it. I watched several videos, but I was afraid of several things:
Oh man an alternator fell out? That's pretty crazy lol I've never seen that before. It does take some time and skill to learn the repairs but brakes are one of the first and best ones to start with for most people! With the internet these days it's very easy to get the right parts even looking at the stores. If you compare it like I do on the spot before you break open the package you can find out pretty easily if it's correct or not.
Hopefully you get to do some repairs on your own one of these days!
The garage owner didn't believe us either when we talked about it on the phone. But in fact, it's the cause of several small problems. A year ago, we had the alternator replaced by a garagiste (a well-known company in France with several garages). Usually, we prefer to go to small garages that work alone, small craftsmen. But the one we used to go to didn't want to do the repairs because he didn't have the space or the time.
So we had it changed at the big company, which sometimes handles dozens of cars in a row at the same time all day long.
We left with it and drove 5,000 km. When we started up, there was a sort of whistling sound. Now I know it's the alternator belt that wasn't properly tensioned. After a while, we actually lost a bolt. We didn't know where it came from, despite a long search. Today, we know that it was holding the alternator. Since then, we've driven another 5,000 km.
But it was only 2 weeks ago, after following a really bad road due to roadworks, that we heard a huge noise of something falling. And it was our alternator.
When we saw that, and what the mechanic showed us too, we immediately made the connection with everything that had happened and everything I told you in this comment.
But yes, the next time I have repairs to do, like brake discs and pads, I promise to do it myself!
Haha damn that’s a wild story! It almost sounds like fiction but I’m not surprised with some of that stuff. People cut corners sadly and do a job poorly!
Yes, but I don't want to say that the work was badly done. Maybe after the trip to the garage, I took a lot of bad roads and the nuts came loose. Well, a nut shouldn't unscrew so easily. But I've taken some dirt roads off-road a few times.
That's why most times one must really be careful of when to buy car so that it will not turn to liability instead of assets
Yeah cars are crucial for livelihood where I live though, we can't manage without them!
Yes, completely.
And the purchase of this van was a spur-of-the-moment decision. My girlfriend and I had already been visiting some for a few weeks and trying them out. We always took her father with us to get a more expert eye and, above all, to get some perspective.
But we found this blue van 1,500 km from where her father lives, and we went there in one fell swoop (coup de coeur). We bought it without even really looking. We tried it on the road before, but it was the first time we'd driven a pre-2000s vehicle. We usually drove vehicles from 2,010 to 2,015.
So we really didn't know anything about it, and that was our mistake!
How do you actually tend to manage the expense of cars most especially when it is more than one
Haha, excellent questions. In fact, my girlfriend and I have a security fund that we try to fill as often as possible when we don't have any planned expenses and we earn more than we have to spend every day.
As a result, we have about 10,000 euros (US$10,923) set aside.
We're both freelancers, so our income isn't stable and it's hard for us to fill up this security fund, which has now dropped by 2,000 euros.
So we need to prevent these breakdowns from happening again and again, by taking care of our equipment as much as possible and trying to do as many repairs as possible ourselves.