ok i want to change my brake pads the rears tonight and the front tomorrow. howdo i do it? any photos would help.

 

Just a word of advice..when looking behind the front calipers, there are two small bolts going into a rubber sleve. dont touch them!

You want to look a little lower for the larger bolts.

Make sure to turn your rotors or get new ones and make sure everything is sitting right

Brakes arent just another part of the car, they keep you alive!

Ive done about 6 brake jobs in the last 2 months lol so if you run into anything dont hesitate to ask!

 

Buy the $10 tool for retracting the e-brake in the rear calipers. Even after winding in the the little piston, you may need to bleed some fluid out of the back calipers to make room for the new pads. Other than that, take your time and break them in as instructed.

 

God i hate E brakes...one of the brake jobs i did recently was on a ford Exploder we got the back rotors off and the E brake shoes were gone, just metal lol it was bad but the springs and tight places and clips. Im missing half a thumb nail due to that lol

i didnt even know it was gone till i looked at the new pads wich were now red lol

and yeah it still hurts

 

Sorry just noticed neither of us answered the question

FOR THE REAR PADS:
put her in park on if your stick, in Reverse
Dont apply the parking brake!!! this will be an issue when taking off the rotor
loosen the lugs on the wheel but dont take them off
if youve got a floor jack, place it in the rear diff housing be careful not to damage anything
place jack stands as far apart as you can ie: on the rear axle right by the coils.
remove the wheel
look down into the pad i see youve got an 07...they should be okay! if they look thin and your rotor has a lip on the edge, its time for some new pads

Behind the caliper you will see some bolts check to see where they go firs, if they go into a rubber sleve, dont touch them, our cars have floating calipers and you will be twisting away for hours!

once unbolted, remove caliper and check the pads again
if they look worn AND thin you need some new ones.
pop the hood
find the master cylinder and remove the cap
get a C clamp or try to use your hands
Push the pads against the caliper to compress the pistons in the caliper
pop out the pads.
pop out the clips
put in new clips
if you got some adhesive stuff, spread it on the Shiny metal side of the pad
put in your new pads and sit the caliper on the rear axle or something
DONT HANG IT BY THE BRAKE LINE
Pull the rotor towards you
this may be hard as the e brake may be open a little
once its off GET THE ROTOR TURNED OR GET NEW ROTORS
if you dont your pads will ware too quick
once they are done put some brake cleaner on them to get rid of the grease
while the rotor is off check the E brake shoes, should be okay
pop back on the rotor once again it may be stiff due to the E brake

slide the Calipers back on, this should be easy now you have compressed the pistons
bolt it all back up
go back under the hood and put the cap back on the master cylinder.

Lower her,
Torque the lugs to about 85 Ft lbs!!!
cant stress this enough you should NOT over tighten your lugs dont just impact them back on.

Take her for a spin, ease on the brakes to ware them in.
Any more questions let me know, ill be on later

 

Lethal, that is so common on explorers, I always qoute the rear brake job with a note *may need ebrake shoes. They tend just to fall apart. And the darn things are more expensive that the pads, lol.

Few notes on your how to.
There are no ebrake shoes on the S197.
torque lug nuts to 100.
A simple C-clamp will not work on the rears.
The piston needs to be turned as you push in.
A special tool needs to be used.

There are a few minor steps missing.

I assume you have not yet swapped the rear pads yet

 

Here is a pic of the special tool needed for the rear pads:


Here a pic of the rear caliper. You can see the notches in the piston into which the prongs on the special tool fit:


And here is a pic of the same tool being used to compress the pistons on the front, it really makes things much easier. You can rent the tool from AutoZone and other parts stores:

 

I got my Stang as a certified used car from the ford dealer so it had new pads
but thanks for the pointers it will definatley save me time when i need to change them!

 

Is this tool really necessary? I mean, I've always used a adjustable c-clamp and a small piece of .80 aluminum (to protect the piston from the clamp). Basically, your tool is pushing the piston in, the c-clamp works on the opposite side and pulls it in. Although the tool seems usefull, IMHO, it's money that could be spent eslewhere.

 

The rear caliper piston needs to be turned in, not pushed in. This is due to the style emergency brake I believe, ratchet style. The tool has 2 little ***** on the end that fit into the slots on the piston.


For the front you could use a C-clamp. I just use an old brake pad and a large set of pliers.