Brake pad and rotor replacement

CMILLER600

MEMBER
2012 JEEP LIBERTY
3.7L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
115,000 MILES

I will be changing out my brake pads and rotors. I watched your video and it seems very straight forward. I have one question. When I compress the piston back into the caliper, do I need to open the master cylinder cap and or open the bleeder valves at each brake at all? Or can I just compress it without doing any of that like in your video on YouTube. The video that I watched was for a Dodge Nitro rear brake rotor and pad replacement. Thank you very much.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

You do not need to open the cap. You can if you would like too but it is not required. The fluid will be pushed back through the line to the master cylinder and the air that is pushed out of the reservoir will be vented out of the cap. The key is to not top off the fluid before you do this or it will overflow. Once you are all complete with the brakes and you have pump up the pedal with the engine off so that you can extend the piston again, you will then need to top off the fluid if needed.

Here is a guide that talks about this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-front-brake-pads-and-rotors-fwd

Lastly if you are only replacing the pads and rotors then there is no need to open the brake fluid system. Only if you are flushing or bleeding the brakes. Here is a guide for this as well:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-bleed-or-flush-a-car-brake-system

Let us know if you have other questions. Thanks