How to Replace Front Brake Pads Rotors 2010-17 Chevy Equinox

Hi. I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Hi guys. Sue here at 1A Auto. Today we're going to be installing these front brakes on this 2012 Equinox. These brakes are Nakamoto and you can buy them at 1A Auto online. They are superior balanced and reduce vibration and abnormal wear. They also have proper thermal efficiency and weight distribution.

We're going to start the front brake job on this 2012 Equinox. First thing I'm going to do is use a breaker bar, a 22 millimeter socket and snap free all of the lug nuts. We remove all the lug nuts and set them aside someplace where you won't lose them, preferably not in dirt either. On this 2012 Equinox it has ABS and on ABS brake systems when you're doing brake jobs, front or rear, you want to open the bleeder screw. Very important that you do not push the piston back and let the brake fluid go in reverse flow, you can damage the ABS module.

Here I've got a catch basin to catch any brake fluid that comes out and leaks. Now I'm going to take the caliper sliding bolts off. 14 millimeter head. You can break them free just enough to use your hands. Set them aside. Now we're going to pry the caliper off of the caliper bracket. I like to use a little small pry bar or a screwdriver flathead. Just work it back and forth. Make sure you aim that bleeder screw into that bucket. Now we're going to push that piston back. I use here a pair of just vise grip welding clips, very easy, you can get at any parts store.

Here's a good time when you can examine the fluid to see if it's discolored, black, if it has a smell to it. You want your fluid to stay nice and clear and a yellow. If it's ever black or brown, it's very important you might want to flush that brake system. Inadequate stopping and damage to everything that has a rubber seal to it will occur.

With that clamp in there you want to re-tighten that bleeder screw. Just a half turn, quarter turn is all I used, you don't need to take the screw all the way out. Just give it a quick snug. I'm going to hang the caliper because you never want to just let that dangle down, it can do damage to the actual brake line. Let that set aside, now it's out of your way. Now I'm going to break free the caliper bracket bolt that mounts to the knuckle. This particular size is an 18 millimeter socket. Then you're going to remove the bracket from the rotor. Nice quick tug.

Now we're going to remove the Torx head holding mounting screw to the hub. Torx head looks like a star, this particular star head is a 30. Make sure you set it aside because you're going to reuse it. Now when it comes to removing the rotor off the hub, you'll see rust rings from the weather. Welcome to New England. We'll use a penetrating spray, soak that down a little bit, it's going to help you remove this with a little less effort. When hitting the rotor, you want to make sure you do not hit the lug nuts obviously, you can strip them.

Here we have comparison of the new rotor and pads compared to the old rotor and pads. These pads are worn quite down. If I measure them with the tool we have 3 millimeter to 2/32, which is right there. That is definitely the indicator has been hitting, it's time for a new set of brakes. If you look at the rotor on the back surface you'll see this customer was probably having a bit of a pulsation. Rough surface causes the brake pedal to pulsate when you come to braking. New rotor to old rotor, the hats are the same, same weight, thickness and the same amount of fins for cooling.

Now we've got the bracket, I'm going to put it in the box here so we can catch our Brakleen when we clean it. I'm going to hammer out the brake pads, just like the rotors, stuck in there. Look at that New England dust. There you go, there's your bracket and if you've never done brakes before note which one was the outer pad and which one was the inner pad because you're going to want that when you assemble it together. The inner pad will have the circle from the caliper piston and the outer pad will have the little ear notches from the fingers on the caliper. Easy. Also the indicator usually goes on the inside.

Now I'm going to remove the tin. Little pry bar to remove. This particular model there is no up or down, top or bottom, difference between the brake tins. Take a wire brush. You want to clean the rust off of the surface. Pick yourself up a can of brake parts cleaner, just give it a little squirt. You do this to help the brakes work their best, last longer. I'm going to give the tins just a little scuff, you don't want any rust in there. This is the surface that the pad actually slides on back and forth as the caliper moves as your foot goes on the brake pedal and decompresses the caliper piston. Smoother surface, smoother action. We'll leave those to dry.

While that's drying I'm going to show you how to apply brake caliper grease. You just want a thin coat. This will stop any rust from forming under the tins. When rust forms under the tins it'll push the pads closer together so they won't slide back and forth. Without sliding you have a sticky pad, pad sticks, wears down to the metal. I'm going to just lock the tin back in there. You don't want to put grease or silicone paste on the top where the pad slides, for that will collect this lovely road dust and brake dust and cause it to jam in it's way. Easy peasy.

Now we're going to clean and lubricate the caliper slider pins. Quick reference, there's a top and bottom pin on most vehicles. You'll find a rubber boot on the tip. If you don't do one at a time and you happen to drop it or mix them up, usually the rubber boot goes on the top part of the caliper. With that out I'm going to clean off all the old grease with a rag. I'm going to look in the boot and examine it. You don't want any tears or holes. If water gets in there, that'll seize this pin up from sliding and cause improper pad wear.

With the same caliper grease, I like a light coating. This also will help with the chatter. Sometimes people hear creaking when they apply their brake pedal, that means that the sliding grease has worn out. I also like to lube the inside of the boot, a little bit of a dab at the end, not too much. Now we're going to do the same thing to the other side. This is the caliper mounting bolt and from the factory they come with Loctite. These bolts will be torqued to 140 foot pounds, so the manufacturer in this case strongly recommends reapplying Loctite. I like to clean off the old Loctite, the best you can. I use a wire brush. And then I'm going to be applying some Loctite. Just let it work all the way around the threads.

With the brakes off and now we're going to clean up the hub surface that the new rotor is going to ride on. I have a wire brush here. Look at all that. You can use some Brakleen to soften that up. Now with the hub clean I'm going to just temporarily install the rotor so that I can spray it down with Brakleen. I want to get the protective grease that they put on, it's like a silicone or spray, to protect it from rusting on the shelf. Turn it around, we'll do the same. Now I'm going to take the rotor off that I've cleaned and set it aside.

With the hub cleaned from rust the best we can do, I like to add a little Never-Seez, that way in the future for the next person they don't have to go through what we went through. You don't have to put a lot, it stays there and it's heat tempered. Now with that all set you line the mounting bolt hole up with the hole in the hub. This is that Torx fitted screw again. I'm going to start with the hand. Just snug it down.

Now we're at the point we're going to install the front caliper bracket on this 2012 Equinox. I've already preloaded Loctite on my mounting bolt. Thread it by hand. Once you have them snug, now we're going to torque them to 140 foot pounds. Now it's time to install the new pads. Just like I said earlier when we tore it apart, the indicator clip usually goes on the inside of the rotor. Press it down in the clip, slide it in. See how smooth that went? No fighting, that's an indication of good rust cleaning. There we go, they're in. We're going to mount the caliper now.

Make sure you always start everything by hand, that way you don't cross thread. Once those are hand snug, the manufacturer recommends 20 foot pounds. Now that the brake job is assembled completely, because we had the bleeder screw open to push back that piston we're going to do just a gravity bleed, so make sure you have a bucket below that bleeder screw. You just want to turn that bleeder screw maybe a half a turn. Keep an eye on the fluid. That's a nice, clean drip. No need to touch the brake pedal, we're not doing a power bleed we're just doing a gravity bleed. You want to make sure there's no air pockets. It just gives it a nice brake pedal and make sure you don't have a sinking pedal. That looks great, we're going to tighten her up.

Always put the boot back on to stop from the road dirt and rust. Now we're going to clean all that brake fluid off with brake parts cleaner. Now we're going to mount the tire back on. I'm just going to hand snug the lug nuts because we're going to use the manufacturer's wheel torque once it gets on the ground, it's 140 foot pounds. When doing this at home, you want to lower the jack so that the tire is just starting to hit the ground, don't want all the weight of the vehicle while you tighten these lug nuts. As you can see I'm doing the star pattern, that distributes the pressure equally around that hub.

Okay. Now that we're done with the front brake service on this 2012 Equinox we're going to check the brake fluid level. You always want to use the brake fluid that the manufacturer recommends, in this case it's DOT 3. There's a line that you want to go to and not overfill, because brake fluid expands. As you can see, the line indicator on the side here, both sides. I'm just a smidge below it, I'll add a little more. Make sure your brake fluid cover is free of any dust or dirt.

Once your brake job is completed and you've topped off the brake fluid, it's always great idea to pump your brake pedal up before you start the vehicle or try to drive it.

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