How-To Tips: Changing Your Own C8 Corvette Brake Pads
How-To Tips: Changing Your Own C8 Corvette Brake Pads
YouTube collab shows you how to change your C8 Corvette’s front and rear brake pads, offers tips for a successful DIY installation.
You’ve had your C8 Corvette for a while now, properly breaking it in before all those track day adventures. Since then, you’ve likely made more than a few stops. Most of them at the light. Now, though, it’s time to get those pads replaced.
The easiest way, of course, is to let someone else change the pads. If you’re up to the task, though, Matt of RearWheelDrive and Anthony of AB’s Garage teamed up to show you how with Matt’s own C8 Corvette.
“As you can see here,” said Anthony of the front pads, “1 millimeter of use left. Definitely time to change those.”
The rear pads are no better, either, as they’ve been worn down to a millimeter of “use” as well. To fix them, new 10mm aftermarket pads will take the place of the original units. To do this, the first task for both front and rear is to loosen the key nut first with a breaker bar, then back it out by hand or with an impact gun before removing the rest.
“Both calipers are fixed,” said Anthony, “but this one, you don’t have to remove caliper to remove the brake pads. It’s just got two pins here on the outside of the caliper. You can take a punch and a hammer, and you’re just gonna knock those out to release the retaining clip on the backside of the caliper.”
Meanwhile, the front calipers do require removal from the disc prior to changing the pads. Each end requires a bit of effort to remove them, though the rear brakes need tools more than the fronts. Either way, you don’t have to detach the hydraulic lines for the job. It’s best to do the fronts first, however. There’s a chance the fluid could push out the rear calipers while working on those pads.
“I asked for something a little more aggressive for the street,” said Matt. “Not straight track pads. I asked for a little bit of low dust […] I think it was time. Twenty-two thousands miles, two track weekends, two autocross weekends, and a lot of ‘Mexico’ runs.”
While Matt’s video covers the driver’s side, Anthony’s videos handle the passenger side, and go more in-depth. All three will help make your C8 Corvette stop better than ever.
