So I know pretty much nothing about working on cars because I'm a fag, the most I've ever done is change a tire. But the brake light came on the dashboard in my Toyota Highlander a few days ago and I took it to a brake shop who did a free inspection but quoted me $1500 for a brake job, so I decided to finally learn how to do this shit myself. The mechanic told me the rotors needs replacing but I looked at them and they seem perfectly fine to me and I haven't felt any wobbling or anything when braking, so I think it just needs new pads and brake fluid. I watched a couple of Youtube videos on how to change brake pads and brake fluid and I ordered a set of brake pads for my car from RockAuto for about $50 and a brake bleed kit from Amazon for $20 and I bought a quart of DOT3 brake fluid from a local Dollar General for $10. I have sets of metric wrenches and sockets from working on bicycles years ago and my neighbor has a floorjack and jackstands I can borrow so I think I have everything I need. I know to not let air bubbles into the brake line and to not put any stress on the brake line when taking off the caliper, is there anything else I should know? I don't want to screw this up and end up killing myself driving my car later.
Take your car thru the wash and wear gloves when you work because wheels and wheelwells get a greasy fiberglass dust grunge that can irritate your skin (and is also just really annoying). And be prepared for a lot of physical exertion.
Also watch a variety of videos on how to change brakes on your specific model because there's always the mechanics way, the manufacturer's way, and the redneck way. I used to help my dad change the older drum style brakes on a Ranger and instead of buying the proper tool to remove the Jesus clip we'd with great effort would just shove flathead screwdriver in there and pop it off manually.
some brake pads are a pain in the ass to change, others less so. look and see if there is a forum dedicated to your brand of car, and also videos as the other anon suggest
I have a Citroën, so everything runs on the one hydraulic system, which is self-de-airing. I'm also friends with a Citroën nerd which comes in handy. I let him keep his cars on my yard in exchange for him helping me every now and then
I managed to diagnose some ABS problems this year, which turned out to be electrical. fixed some wiring and installed a bypass switch for connecting the ABS light to the airbag light so that the car would pass inspect while I wait for parts
do try to find as much documentation on your car as possible. for mine I got several GB of documents from my buddy, which includes
>workshop manual
>full electrical schematics in French >_<
>Haynes manual
>a bajillion archived websites with information
$1500 sounds excessive for the work involved in just fixing the brakes. I paid $900 to have the wheel bearings changed on my car and that's a way bigger job
>>46783
>forgetting to loose deez nuts before jacking up the car
classic
Update: I changed the pads and brake fluid and went for a test drive and everything seems to be in order. It was a lot of fucking work and I cut myself several times but it only cost me about $80. I don't have an impact driver nor sockets that fit the lugnuts so I had to use the horrible miniature tire iron that comes with the car to take all the wheels off and put them back on. The most annoying part was pushing the pistons back into the calipers because I don't have C-clamps so I had to use crappy squeeze clamps which really sucked. I also forgot to loosen the lugnuts before jacking up the car and had to try again. I think I've forgotten to do that every single time I've ever jacked up a car.
hoping to pay my dad a visit soon so I can borrow his garage and change the ABS sensor on my car
>>46795I miss being able to steal tools from my dad.