anyone know of a good write up on how to change brake pads and rotors? ive searched and came up with very little. ive never done it before but i am very mechanical and id like to learn how. especially after seeing all news coverage about shady repair shops. thanks.

You can buy a haynes or similar repair manual at the same place you get your pads and rotors. they are only about $15 and will help with many repairs on your car. You can also get a copy of the factory service manual on Ebay fairly cheap.

Remember that brakes make the car stop, so if you're not sure what you're doing I advise getting someone who's done it before to help you out.

good luck

I definately agree if you haven't done this before to have someone who has at least watch you do one front and one back. Changing brake pads and rotors (all four wheels being discs) is probably one of the simplest things you can do. You really only need a torque wrench and either a small breaker bar or medium ratchet wrench to unscrew them with and 12mm, 14mm and 17 mm sockets (and add a 21mm for the wheels but you have the lug wrench in the trunk I assume). The hardest part is pulling the discs off the front end, these love to rust-weld themselves to the hub however there should be two small holes that allow you to use a screw to push it loose (this depends on what brand of rotors are currently on there).

Just buy the Haynes manual for it, this is a bit of maintenance even the least technical can handle with no problems. One suggestion though, buy some mechanics gloves and and work masks (the white ones you buy when doing dusty work), brake dust and ground up rust is probably two of the worst things for you.

:biggthump awesome. i got a couple buddies that have replaced their own brakes so ill get them to give me a hand. thanks for the good info. :biggthump

the easiest bolt to use to back off the disks , are the 2 bolts holding the ps hose-bracket to the top of the strut tower.........be careful though, they are soft bolts...........good luck, don't throw out the brake pad shims.....they have purpose...

the easiest bolt to use to back off the disks , are the 2 bolts holding the ps hose-bracket to the top of the strut tower.........be careful though, they are soft bolts...........good luck, don't throw out the brake pad shims.....they have purpose...

cool. thanks for the tip. im guessing it tells you what to do with the shims in the haynes manual? if not is there anything else i should know?