How to Adjust Front Brake Pads

Video Transcript

"MARK BLOCKER: In this segment, we're going to cover seating the front brake pads. The next step, we're going to seat those pads. And as I explained earlier, we're just going to pump up the brake system until the brake pedal feels good and solid. That means I know I've got those pads contacting the rotor and now I'm just going to give it a couple of good stiff pushes and then just kinda flexing them in and seats the pads and make sure that everything is set in the proper position. What you'll need to do is just seat in the vehicle. You don't need to start it up. We don't need to take it out of park or release parking brake or anything of that nature and just slowly compress the brake pedal. The first time down, you'll probably won't feel any resistance at all. I'm starting to feel a little resistance on the second. Now, I'm just going really slow and gradual. You don't wanna--when you pump brakes, you don't want to pump them rapidly. It just agitates the fluid and gives a possibility of air getting into the system. Okay. About--near the bottom of the third, push down. I've got a good, solid resistance and now in the next pump up, the force is right up on the top of the pedal. If the brake system's working correctly you just replace your pads. You'll get a minimum of an inch and a half, 2 inches to travel at the most with your brake pedal and you should come to a firm position. Now, if you push down and hold and the brake pedal holds firmly, that's what you're looking for. That indicates that the system's holding the pressure and everything's working correctly. If your foot is slowly drifting down to the floor and is not holding pressure, this can be a very gradual thing. That indicates that you have a leak or a loss of pressure in your system and a loss of pressure is fluid could be going pass the master cylinder or the--excuse me, the master cylinder valve or in the caliper itself without externally leaking. It's just a loss of pressure inside the system but it does indicate a problem. You should be able to sit and hold your foot on the brake pedal and then maintain pressure. If all these things check out okay, then that's indicating that the job was done correctly and the system's function normally and you're ready to go for a test drive. Thank you for watching our video on how to replace front brake pads."