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These are brake parts you can feel good about. Trust the brand that offers the top-quality brake pads, brake rotors, brake calipers, hydraulic brake parts and brake repair hardware that you want on your vehicle. No matter what you drive, NAPA Brakes offers a complete line of brake parts, from passenger cars and light trucks to emergency service and fleet vehicles, and most everything in between. From a brake pad replacement to a premium brake pad upgrade, count on NAPA to provide the highest quality parts for your next brake job.
Hello everyone, my name is Daryl with NAPA Autotech, ASE Master Certified Technician and Curriculum Developer. We’re here today to do the perfect brake job on this 2019 GMC Sierra. On this particular vehicle, per service information, the first step of this job is to disconnect the battery negative cable here. Prior to raising the vehicle, we did check the brake fluid reservoir to make sure the level is low enough, so that when we compress these pistons in, it’s not going to come out of the top of the reservoir.
<So, we’re removing the tire and wheel assembly. Going to use electric impact wrench to remove these lug nuts, and pull the wheel off. Removing these retaining clips using a pair of needle-nose pliers here. One by one remove these ends, and that comes out from the pads. Taking the brake pad spreader tool, use these ears and just gently press these in until they’re fully seated. Wear sensors out; removing that inner pad.
All right, so next we’re going to remove the brake caliper here by removing these two mounting bolts. But prior to doing that, I’m going to secure a bungee cord here to support the caliper once removed. And using an impact wrench, remove these two bolts, and then place these hooks into these mounting ears, so that our caliper is supported. Removing this Torx head faster, that secures the brake rotor onto the hub. And then removing the hub, the brake rotor.
All right, now we’re down to this point. If the hub surface was dirty, corroded, pitted, rusted, we would normally take a tool, such as this, that would go over the lug nuts and recondition the surface, along with the spaces in between, to remove that buildup. But this one in particular is fairly clean. We only need to hit it with some soap and water. So just using a brush, just going around here, and cleaning it. And same thing for in here. You see some of that dirt and stuff comes off of it. Everything’s clean and dry. That’s good. We’ll apply some ceramic-based grease to the contact points here on the caliper. You can use a brush to apply these as well. This will help prevent the steel surfaces from rusting and corroding, prevents noise, provides some lubrication for all the moving parts.
Okay next, we’re going to take our NAPA Premium Rotor that we’ve removed from the vacuum packaging. These are shipped vacuum sealed, so they do not have an oil type coating on them. These are installed clean and dry, but we will have some fingerprints and stuff to remove here. We’ll wipe those off. We’ll install that retaining fastener, and we’ll just snug that down a little bit. I’m just going to take again some soapy water on a towel, and give it a wipe down here. And then, we will follow it up with a clean dry rag, that way we don’t transfer any grease or any oil onto the brake pads.
Now that those surfaces are clean, I can install my brake caliper. So, I’m going to intentionally do this. What we want to look for is to make sure that the brake hose is not twisted. If we were to install it like this, that would be a problem. So, we need to make sure the caliper is getting oriented correctly with caliper mounting bolts. Next, we will run them up and then finish tightening with a torque wrench. These bolts torque to an initial 37ft-lbs of torque, and then you rotate an additional 30 to 45° of angle. These are a reusable bolt, otherwise service information would have mentioned to replace these. So always make sure you’re checking service information. So, with our torque wrench, we’re going to torque these down, and then this lower one. And then using our ratchet, we will rotate it an additional 45°, and that fastener is secure.
Our next step, we will be installing a set of the NAPA Silent Guard brake pads. These can be identified with the shield, as part of the silencer backing here. So, this inner pad, the wear tab was facing downward, so we’re going to make sure that the new replacement ones face in the same direction. We’re going to go into position, so installing these two guide pins into the brake pads through the mounting ears, through the caliper body, and then we will install the retaining clips for these pins. Once those are secured, we’ll take this clip that goes on to the top to prevent rattling. We’ll install, hook it over that lower pin, squeeze in between the top, and then lift it over that top one, and now it’s installed. So, next step in finalizing this procedure, we need to torque down the rotor fastener, and we’re going to use a torque wrench and a screwdriver just to hold it in place. These torque to 16 ft-lb per, service information.
So, the next step is to install the new brake pad wearer sensor that comes in the Silent Guard Kit. This will slip into a groove on the back side of the brake pad with a metal clip on it to retain it in place. And then, plug in the electrical connector, and then we are done on this brake job. We’re going to do the sensor. Find the groove on the back side of the brake pad here. It’s going to slide in place and clip. Then finally, locate the locking ear on the tab for the connector. Insert, clicks, and then engage the assurance connector.
All right, so right now I am going to depress the brake pedal by hand, 3, 2, 1. Releasing, pressing again, 1 2 3, pressing again. And within a few strokes, we should have that slack taken up off the brake pad and it firmly against the rotor surface. Right before I put on the wheel, I want to make sure I go through a mental checklist of everything I’ve done and touched to make sure everything is correct before I install the wheel.
I have already torqued down the caliper bolts. All of my contact points have been greased. All my caliper hardware is in place. All my clips and pins are correctly positioned. Rotor retainer has
been installed and torqued. That way all that is left on this particular vehicle is to install the wheel and torque down the lug nuts.
Always install these by hand. Start several threads, that way we don’t risk cross threading a lug nut. And then we will come back with our impact here, and just run these down until the slack is
taken up. Now if this side is complete, we’ll repeat the same process for the other side, and complete our front-end brake job. We’re just going to go down low enough to where the tire touches the ground, so we have some weight on the wheel. For service information, these lug nuts will torque onto 140 ft-lb. We have our torque wrench now set to that value, and we’ll torque these lug nuts. So, now our lug nuts are torqued down properly. We are good to go on this corner.
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NAPA has the brake friction specific to your vehicle for peace of mind from quality-tested formulations and friction material.
Brake Rotors & Brake Drums
NAPA rotors and drums deliver quality without compromise, including added defense against rust and corrosion.
Brake Components
From a leaking brake line to a replacement brake pedal or brake light, NAPA offers the brake hydraulic components you need to complete the job right the first time.
THE PERFECT BRAKE JOB
Never underestimate the importance of performing a complete brake job. Your brake system is only as strong as its weakest parts. Follow the procedures outlined in The Perfect Brake Job to install quality NAPA Brakes, and restore your system to like new condition.
THE PERFECT BRAKE JOB
Never underestimate the importance of performing a complete brake job. Your brake system is only as strong as its weakest parts. Follow the procedures outlined in The Perfect Brake Job to install quality NAPA Brakes, and restore your system to like new condition.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET THE BRAKING JOB DONE RIGHT
NAPA Brakes comes with professional Know How. NAPA offers all the parts and tools you need to complete the perfect brake job. From a new brake controller or ABS module to a brake master cylinder or brake rotor, gain peace of mind knowing that your local NAPA Auto Parts store has the quality replacement brake parts you need, available now.
0:04 – SUPER: MASTER CYLINDER BENCH BLEED
0:08 – VO: OK what we’re going to do today is bench bleed a master cylinder. There are two methods of bench bleeding a master cylinder. This version is plugging the ports and cycling the piston.
0:20 – VO: First thing you want to do is fill the reservoir with brake fluid. Allow the master cylinder to gravity bleed, then plug the ports.
0:40 – VO: Once you plug the ports, you can cycle the piston within the master cylinder. You want to make sure you use the appropriate tool. Don’t use a tool that’s a screwdriver or sharp on the end. If it slips off the piston, you could damage the bore.
0:55 – VO: We’ll cycle the piston now, and you’ll see bubbles will raise within the master cylinder. Once all those bubbles are gone, you’ll find that you cannot push in the piston anymore. At this point you’re ready to install the master cylinder.
1:19 – VO: The second method of bench bleeding is using recirculation tubes. Fill the master cylinder up, install the tubes, make sure they’re submerged in brake fluid. The next thing you want to do is, once again, make sure you use the proper tool so you don’t damage the bore. You don’t want a sharp object in case this slips off and you damage the bore.
1:41 – VO: Install the tool and cycle the piston. Continue to cycle the piston until all the air bubbles are gone.
2:30 – VO: OK you’re ready to install the master.
2:32: – SUPER: NAPA BRAKES; For more information visit NAPAbrakes.com
0:04: Today we’re going to talk a little bit about how rust can affect the overall performance of your brake system.
We’re also going to install some NAPA Ultra Premium Coated Rotors. And, we’re going to talk about how these coated
rollers prevent those issues.
0:20: This vehicle is typical of the ones we see in the Midwest Rustbelt area. We’re going to completely disassemble it, and do a good inspection. One of the inspections you should perform is looking at pad wear.
0:36: Now in this case, the inboard pad is wearing a bit more than outboard pad. Not real unusual, but sometimes it’s caused by either the pad not being able to slide properly. You can see this pad was never lubed; it was rusted right into that slide assembly or the actual caliper brackets. Now this one pin here moves pretty freely, but this one is rusted solid. So that can contribute to the uneven pad wear that we’re seeing in this vehicle.
1:06: As you can see, the corrosion build up on this rotor is very excessive, not only in the vane configuration here, but also in the back swept area. The reason this gets corroded faster than the front of the rotor is because you have less airflow in the back of the rotor to dry off the backing plate here. So, you can see here, rust buildup here, same thing in the inside of the rotor.
1:32: As we discussed earlier, you can see this side of the rotor is wearing pretty normal. This is a normal pattern. Let’s look at the inside of the rotor. Now, you can see the difference. This difference comes from a lack of airflow from the inside of the rotor here. And what happens is the rust creeps underneath the friction material, and actually causes even the brake pad to wear a little bit differently, as you can see. Now, this will definitely affect your brake performance.
1:59: Now let’s look at the NAPA Ultra Premium Coated Rotor. This rotor is fully coated. Now, the coating itself will come off where the brake pad will hit the rotor area. But what we’re concerned about is that very edge, again here, where that rust crept down this one, crept underneath the material, that won’t happen with a coated rotor. What will happen is you’ll get full contact points of the pad against the rotor. You’ll get better braking performance, and your pads will last longer.
2:39: Okay we got all our parts on. We’re going to take it for a road test, but I want to show you one more thing. Remember that rust buildup we had on the inboard of the rotor right here? See this dust shield right here? That prevents any airflow from really getting to the backside of the rotor. That’s the whole purpose of a coated rotor, to prevent that little area right there from rusting.
3:01: So the outboard member of the rotor, that seemed to be okay. It’s that inboard we’re really going for. Also remember the cooling vanes. When these started to build up with rust, it affects the performance of the rotor. So we’re going to go ahead and put this wheel back on. Take it for a road test. Come back in. We’re going to pull the wheel back off and show you.
3:22: As you remember, the rotor we installed was a fully polymer coated rotor like this one. Now you can see, after our test drive, that polymer coating was worn off by the brake pad, right in this swept area. This is normal wear, this is okay. But you can also see that polymer coating stays on the corner right here and here to prevent that rust building and creeping up underneath that swept area, causing premature brake pad wear, and also really lowering the performance of the whole brake package. Also, we see that polymer coating is still in the cooling vane area, which will prevent that rust buildup, which will definitely affect brake performance.
0:20: This vehicle is typical of the ones we see in the Midwest Rustbelt area. We’re going to completely disassemble it, and do a good inspection. One of the inspections you should perform is looking at pad wear.
0:36: Now in this case, the inboard pad is wearing a bit more than outboard pad. Not real unusual, but sometimes it’s caused by either the pad not being able to slide properly. You can see this pad was never lubed; it was rusted right into that slide assembly or the actual caliper brackets. Now this one pin here moves pretty freely, but this one is rusted solid. So that can contribute to the uneven pad wear that we’re seeing in this vehicle.
1:06: As you can see, the corrosion build up on this rotor is very excessive, not only in the vane configuration here, but also in the back swept area. The reason this gets corroded faster than the front of the rotor is because you have less airflow in the back of the rotor to dry off the backing plate here. So, you can see here, rust buildup here, same thing in the inside of the rotor.
1:32: As we discussed earlier, you can see this side of the rotor is wearing pretty normal. This is a normal pattern. Let’s look at the inside of the rotor. Now, you can see the difference. This difference comes from a lack of airflow from the inside of the rotor here. And what happens is the rust creeps underneath the friction material, and actually causes even the brake pad to wear a little bit differently, as you can see. Now, this will definitely affect your brake performance.
1:59: Now let’s look at the NAPA Ultra Premium Coated Rotor. This rotor is fully coated. Now, the coating itself will come off where the brake pad will hit the rotor area. But what we’re concerned about is that very edge, again here, where that rust crept down this one, crept underneath the material, that won’t happen with a coated rotor. What will happen is you’ll get full contact points of the pad against the rotor. You’ll get better braking performance, and your pads will last longer.
2:39: Okay we got all our parts on. We’re going to take it for a road test, but I want to show you one more thing. Remember that rust buildup we had on the inboard of the rotor right here? See this dust shield right here? That prevents any airflow from really getting to the backside of the rotor. That’s the whole purpose of a coated rotor, to prevent that little area right there from rusting.
3:01: So the outboard member of the rotor, that seemed to be okay. It’s that inboard we’re really going for. Also remember the cooling vanes. When these started to build up with rust, it affects the performance of the rotor. So we’re going to go ahead and put this wheel back on. Take it for a road test. Come back in. We’re going to pull the wheel back off and show you.
3:22: As you remember, the rotor we installed was a fully polymer coated rotor like this one. Now you can see, after our test drive, that polymer coating was worn off by the brake pad, right in this swept area. This is normal wear, this is okay. But you can also see that polymer coating stays on the corner right here and here to prevent that rust building and creeping up underneath that swept area, causing premature brake pad wear, and also really lowering the performance of the whole brake package. Also, we see that polymer coating is still in the cooling vane area, which will prevent that rust buildup, which will definitely affect brake performance.
0:03 – SUPER: NAPA BRAKES; ISOLATION TEST
0:08 – VO: One of the biggest challenges in the repair business is diagnosing a low spongy brake pedal. This is very easy to accomplish by doing what’s called an isolation test. An isolation test consists of clamping off all the rubber hoses on the vehicle, whether there’s three or four, and evaluating the brake pedal.
0:25 – VO: You want to use the appropriate tools as you see here on the bench. You want to use a tool that will not flatten out the brake hose and has a radius in this area. What you do not want to use is a pair of vise grips. Let’s install a clamp on a wheel here and we’ll diagnose it.
0:41 – VO: OK now we’re gonna clamp off this brake hose in this area. Next you want to clamp off the other three wheels.
0:53 – VO: Now that we have all the hoses clamped off, the next step would be, start the vehicle and evaluate the pedal height. Could you start the vehicle please?
1:06 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
1:10 – VO: That feels great.
1:11 – VO: OK so we have a good brake pedal right now, so that tells us that there’s a problem in the vehicle below the clamps. The next step would be to remove one clamp at a time. So what we’ll do is remove the clamp.
1:27 – VO: Now we’ll start the vehicle again and evaluate it. Would you start the vehicle please?
1:34 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
1:38 – VO: Still good.
1:40 – VO: OK. Next step would be to put the hose clamp back on that particular hose and go to the next wheel.
1:50 – VO: OK now we’re going to take off the clamp on this next wheel here and evaluate it. Remove the clamp, let’s start it up and evaluate.
2:03 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
2:06 – VO: Pedal’s soft.
2:07 – VO: Ok, so we’ve diagnosed it, and the problem is in the left front wheel of this vehicle. And it’s telling me that there’s a problem between the clamp and the caliper. It could be a mechanical problem, a pad problem or even a hydraulic problem in the caliper.
2:23 – VO: Scenario number two, we’ve clamped off all the brake hoses, and we’ll evaluate the brake pedal. Could you start it up please? And evaluate it. How’s that pedal feel?
2:37– VO: Still soft.
2:39– VO: Ok, we’ve clamped all four brake hoses and the pedal is still soft. What that tells me is that the problem is above the clamps. The next step would be to remove the brake lines from the master cylinder, plug the master cylinder, and evaluate the brake pedal. If the pedal is high and hard, what that tells me is that the master cylinder is good, and the problem lies between the master cylinder and the clamps. It could be an ABS unit, it could be a bad brake line some place in the vehicle.
0:08 – VO: One of the biggest challenges in the repair business is diagnosing a low spongy brake pedal. This is very easy to accomplish by doing what’s called an isolation test. An isolation test consists of clamping off all the rubber hoses on the vehicle, whether there’s three or four, and evaluating the brake pedal.
0:25 – VO: You want to use the appropriate tools as you see here on the bench. You want to use a tool that will not flatten out the brake hose and has a radius in this area. What you do not want to use is a pair of vise grips. Let’s install a clamp on a wheel here and we’ll diagnose it.
0:41 – VO: OK now we’re gonna clamp off this brake hose in this area. Next you want to clamp off the other three wheels.
0:53 – VO: Now that we have all the hoses clamped off, the next step would be, start the vehicle and evaluate the pedal height. Could you start the vehicle please?
1:06 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
1:10 – VO: That feels great.
1:11 – VO: OK so we have a good brake pedal right now, so that tells us that there’s a problem in the vehicle below the clamps. The next step would be to remove one clamp at a time. So what we’ll do is remove the clamp.
1:27 – VO: Now we’ll start the vehicle again and evaluate it. Would you start the vehicle please?
1:34 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
1:38 – VO: Still good.
1:40 – VO: OK. Next step would be to put the hose clamp back on that particular hose and go to the next wheel.
1:50 – VO: OK now we’re going to take off the clamp on this next wheel here and evaluate it. Remove the clamp, let’s start it up and evaluate.
2:03 – VO: How’s that pedal feel?
2:06 – VO: Pedal’s soft.
2:07 – VO: Ok, so we’ve diagnosed it, and the problem is in the left front wheel of this vehicle. And it’s telling me that there’s a problem between the clamp and the caliper. It could be a mechanical problem, a pad problem or even a hydraulic problem in the caliper.
2:23 – VO: Scenario number two, we’ve clamped off all the brake hoses, and we’ll evaluate the brake pedal. Could you start it up please? And evaluate it. How’s that pedal feel?
2:37– VO: Still soft.
2:39– VO: Ok, we’ve clamped all four brake hoses and the pedal is still soft. What that tells me is that the problem is above the clamps. The next step would be to remove the brake lines from the master cylinder, plug the master cylinder, and evaluate the brake pedal. If the pedal is high and hard, what that tells me is that the master cylinder is good, and the problem lies between the master cylinder and the clamps. It could be an ABS unit, it could be a bad brake line some place in the vehicle.
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