How to Replace the Brake Pads on a Honda Odyssey Ex

Safety is a major concern for all vehicles, especially family vehicles such as the Honda Odyssey. Proper maintenance plays a considerable role in ensuring that the vehicles perform to standard. You can take on a project such as brake pad replacement with little automotive experience. You can ask a mechanic switch your brake pads, or you can do it yourself and save the cost of labor.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Tire iron
• Lifting jack
• Tire blocks
• 13-millimeter socket
• Ratchet
• Screwdriver
• Vise-grip pliers
• Jack stands

1. Park the Odyssey in an area with ample room to safely work on either side. Put the transmission in "park" and apply the parking brake. Put tire blocks behind the rear tires.

2. Remove the lugnuts on the wheels of the Honda with the socketed end of the tire iron.

3. Lift the Honda Odyssey with the lifting jack and place the jack stands beneath the frame. Lower the vehicle onto the stands. Remove the wheels from the lugnut bolts.

4. Remove the calipers. Use the 13-millimeter socket and ratchet to remove the caliper bolts. The two bolts are located at the inner top and bottom of the caliper (nearest to the frame). Pull the caliper from around the rotors.

5. Remove the brake pads from the caliper. The brake pads are fixed to the caliper via metal clips that can be removed by hand. If the brakes are rusted, then use a flat screwdriver to pry the clips from the caliper before sliding.

6. Open the caliper piston. The piston is the ring that protrudes from the inner wall of the caliper. The piston's job is to push the brake pads against the rotor during braking. The new pads will be wider than the worn pad, so opening the piston will make room to accommodate. Squeeze the piston against the caliper, using vise-grip pliers.

7. Install the new brake pads. Slide the metal clips onto the caliper. Properly installed brake pads will face each other and mirror the curve of the caliper.

8. Place the caliper over the rotor and replace the caliper bolts, using a 13-millimeter socket and ratchet.

9. Replace the wheels on the lugnut bolts and screw the lugnuts by hand. Raise the Odyssey using the lifting jack, remove the jack stands, and lower the vehicle to the ground.

10. Tighten the lugnuts, using the tire iron.

11. Press the brake pedal repeatedly until the response is normal.

Tips & Warnings

• The first time you press the brake pedal, the response will be minimal. Subsequent depressions will build the braking fluid (that was expelled while opening the caliper piston) and a normal response will be felt.

• Use jack stands. A jack provides a dangerously unstable platform on which to work.

References

• Edmunds Carspace: How to Change Your Car or Truck's Fron Brake Pads