How to Change the Brake Pads and Calipers on a '99 Sunfire

The 1999 Pontiac Sunfire has disc brakes on the front two wheels. The brake pads should be changed out as normal maintenance to the car, and the calipers rarely need to be changed unless they are damaged. Changing out the brake pads and calipers can be a complex process if you do not have prior experience with changing car brakes, but it is doable with patience and the proper tools.

Instructions

Removing Old Brake Pads and Calipers

1

Chock the rear wheels to prevent the car from moving when you are under it. Loosen the lug nuts with the lug wrench. Use the car jack to jack the front of the Sunfire up high enough to place it on jack stands. Remove the lug nuts and wheels.

2

Loosen the caliper slide bolts in a counterclockwise direction by using the 10-mm socket. Take the 12-mm socket and loosen the caliper bolt attached to caliper bracket. Pivot the brake caliper up and then slide out the brake pads.

3

Take the flare nut wrench to loosen the brake fluid line and remove it from the caliper by using a counterclockwise motion. Direct the brake fluid line toward the quart-sized plastic container to catch dripping fluid.

4

Remove the caliper bolts from the caliper bracket using the 12-mm socket.

Replace Calipers and Brake Pads

5

Replace the old caliper with the new caliper and re-attach the brake fluid line using the reverse process from removal. Depress the brake piston inside the caliper using channel locks. As the piston is depressed slide the new brake pad into the caliper.

6

Re-secure the bolts by tightening them in a clockwise motion using the sockets. Remount the wheel and tighten the lug nuts by hand.

7

Repeat the same process on the other side of the car. Raise the car off the jack stands, remove the jack stands and lower the car. Tighten the lug nuts with the lug wrench.

Bleed the Brakes

8

Open the brake bleeding valve by using an 8-mm open end wrench. Place the quart container underneath the brake bleeding valve and use surgical tubing to connect the brake bleeding valve to the quart container. The end of the tubing in the quart container should be submersed in the fluid that is currently in the container to prevent any oxygen from getting into the valve.

9

Open the hood of the car and remove the master cylinder cap. Have a second person sitting inside the car in the driver's seat pump the brake. Watch as air flows out of surgical tubing into the quart container until a steady stream of brake fluid is flowing out of the tubing.

10

Add new brake fluid to the master cylinder. Pump the brake pedal several times before driving the car.