---
I wanted to take some pictures and do a little description of the process of changing front brake pads and rotors on a 2004 Nissan Quest in case anyone might be considering doing this themselves or if anyone just needs a little help along the way. We all know that brake work can be pretty expensive but not many people know just how simple it really is to do it yourself.
Anyway, this was the first time I worked on the brakes for this vehicle and I had both of the wheels back on in about an hour, not bad for the first time around. This job is probably 2 out of 5 for difficulty. If you aren’t sure about doing this yourself you probably shouldn’t since brakes are fairly important components on your vehicle. If you decide to do this yourself then you also need to be mindful of other things to look for and check out while you have the wheels off and can see everything. Check the condition of the tires, struts, coil springs, swing arms, all the rubber and seals on steering arms, motor mounts, boots for the drive axles (CV joints), hoses and lines, etc. Look for anything out of place, leaking or rusted.
Materials:
Brake Pads
Brake Disc or Rotors
Grease (optional)
Tools for the job:
Jack
21mm lug wrench
Flathead Screwdriver
Hammer
Socket Wrench
3 inch extension
17mm and 22mm sockets
Breaker Bar (always work smarter whenever possible...)
Caliper Spreader
Big Pry Bar - required if you have warped rotors, like the Nissan rotors that came with our 2004 Quest
2 foot piece of thin rope or bungee cord
Once you have the van safely jacked up and the wheels removed we can get started on the brakes.
Go ahead and turn the wheels so the front end is pointing out and away from the wheel well. If you’re doing the right wheel first (this is the wheel in my pictures) turn the steering wheel all the way right. You’ll do the opposite for the left side. This will give you some room to use that breaker bar.
Locate the brake line retaining clip, attached to the base of the strut tower, and lightly tap it out with the flathead and the hammer.
Now we’ll break our bolts loose.
First you will remove the TOP caliper guide bolt with the 17mm socket, there is no need to touch the bottom bolt unless you have to clean and re-grease it. While you have it out, you can either clean and re-grease the top bolt or just put it somewhere clean while you work and put it back in as-is. Since my van doesn’t have that many miles and the grease looks good I left it alone.
This picture shows the caliper from straight on. The 17mm caliper guide bolts are on the top right and bottom right of the assembly.
Once the top caliper guide bolt is removed you can rotate the caliper down and tie one end of the rope through the empty bolt hole. I tied the other end to the coil spring. You do this to keep the weight of the caliper from pulling on the brake line.
Once you remove the retaining clip (thin metal wire spring connecting both pads across front - just barely visible in the close up pic above) the pads will slide out through keyed channels. Now you can remove/replace the brake pads. To get the caliper back on the rotor/disc with new pads you will need to use a caliper spreader to push the brake pistons in to the caliper to compensate for the new, thicker brake pad material. Loosen the brake fluid reservoir cap and pay attention to the fluid levels because when you press the pistons in you are forcing fluid back into the reservoir. In other words, you’ll want to top the brake fluid off AFTER you’re done. That’s all there is to changing the pads.
--
To remove the rotors we will now deal with the 22mm bolts that secure the brake caliper to the vehicle. These bolts are located just a few inches behind the caliper guide bolts. You’ll need the 3 inch extension to get them. In the picture below you can see that I have already loosened the top one and it is sticking out a little. The bottom bolt is right in front of the Drive Axle boot and behind the caliper guide bolt.
Secure the rope through one of the bolt holes in the top of the caliper so the heavy caliper will not pull the brake line when you remove all the bolts. Gently set the caliper down and make sure the brake line is not being pulled.
With the caliper off you now pull the rotor/disc and replace it. If you still have the factory or original Nissan rotors you are probably replacing them because they are warped and your van feels like a washing machine in the spin cycle when you use the brakes. If so, you can expect some resistance when you go to remove the warped rotor(s). This is why I included the large pry bar in my list of tools. When the rotor warps is can “cling” to the wheel a bit so you’ll have to convince it to let go. It will be easier to get in there and pry if you turn the steering wheel to move the rear of the rotor out from the wheel well.
Put the new rotors on, work your way backward through this guide and you’re done! You just saved yourself a couple hundred bucks.
I bought my rotors from here, http://www.thepartsbin.com/. Parts Bin had the best price I could find on this particular part.
5 comments:
Wow, thanks a ton! I'm going to be doing this to our Quest in the next month or so. We have about 48k miles and have already had this done twice. The only difference is that we're now outside the warranty and Nissan wants ~$1200 to do it. Even with buying performance parts for the job, I'll only be looking at $400. I'll let you know how it goes. :)
Thanks for this guide.
I am about to perform this work on both my front and rear brakes.
What about bolt torques and disc runout? Did you worry about that?
Thanks.
PS: I was fed up with the washing machine effect so I bought "performance brakes" from EBC Brakes. I paid a little more but hope they will last longer before warping again.
I am replacing the caliper and noticed that the two guide pins are different. Do you know which one goes where? One has a rubber fitting on the end.
Thanks, I will now search for torque specs. Great photos and writeup otherwise.
thanks for sharing a great post. I read your post It's really helpful to all.
http://www.toughla.com/download-catalogue/
Post a Comment