Brake Qs...

Brake Qs...

At what interval should brakes be changed on a car? Does this differ between disk and drum brakes?

How can you tell if the rotors are warped and need to be machined/replaced?

Is it harder to do a brake job on drums than disks?

Thanks for any help!

1) Checked Every 15K, Changed about 60K depending on driving behavior
2) If the rotor is warped you would feel vibrations through your brake pedals when braking at higher speeds IE >30MPH or highway speeds.
3) Drums are much harder to do than discs, springs and clips everywhere! but still not really thatd hard. Funny thing is I haven't learned to do drums until I switch to rear discs

If you haven't serviced your brakes for a while I recommend you flush the brake fluid as well.

hmmm... maybe I should just take it in :superconf bah. how involved is flushing the fluid? do you have to anything special with the old fluid?

How long pads last is completely dependent on driving style and the pads used. The OEM pads on my Civic only lasted 19,000 miles.

buy speedbleeders to bleed the brakes. That makes it a one person job. Don't bleed it into a creek. bleed them into containers and bring it to the nearest recycling place, same as you would used oil.
As far as changing pads, its so simple even I did it myself. I did have someone help hold the caliper, but you can just suspend it with string / wire if you want. Only difficult thing is making sure you have the right tool to push the piston back so you can fit the new (thicker) pads in.

Also, for your 1st time doing brakes. Do one side completely before touching the otherside. This way you can use the other side for reference to be sure everything is correct.

Have you ever done drums? How complicated is it with all the above mentioned "springs and clips"?

As for drums if you own a haynes manual, read through it and see if you understand.. I did and I got more confused. If you have never done it before I would recommend recuiting someone who do know to help you out.. but once I saw it done and played around with it, it's simple. Theres just a lot more springs and stuff to keep track of compared to discs.. then there's adjusting the parking brake..

nope never done them. rear drums last forever unless you go crazy all the time with the E-Brake.

It's easier to do a rear disc convertion than replace the rear drim
I just replaced my front brake pads last week when I hit 53k km. It really depends on on many things.
More highway = less brake
Carry more ppl = heavier = eat more brake
Manual = brake less = better than auto
... etc

thanks everyone! I think I'll be changing my brakes out soon (I've got about 60k mi on them ) a friend of mine will help me out and his dad has done drums so if helps then I might do the rears too. Thanks!