Brake job

Step 2: Raise car and remove road wheel

Using a floor jack or your car's emergency jack, raise the road wheel off the road.

Remove the road wheel to expose the disc and the brake caliper.

If you're doing front brakes, you may wish to turn your steering wheel to afford better access to the caliper.

XXXTRA SAFETY TIPS:

• put car in gear
• apply parking brake
• chock wheels
• stash road wheel UNDER the chassis while you're working on the brake. That way, if you have your head stuck in the fender well and your car falls off the jack (against all odds), the chassis will fall on the wheel, and hopefully your head won't be squished like an overripe cantaloupe.

Comments

[phenoptix]

Loosen your nuts with the car on the road, then jack it up and remove the wheel

[Prometheus]

Just to respecify this instruction, "break loose" on the ground, and retighten moderately in a cross pattern overall. Then, with the wheel off the ground, loosen completely. I usually unweight the wheel by at least half before doing so, to minimize risk of disc-distortion or lug-failure.

[heydanno]

Also NOTE: NEVER work under a car with just a floor jack! USE JACK STANDS! Jack it up with the floor jack and put the jack stands in after you have the car up. It's an extra $10-$20 that could SAVE YOUR LIFE.