When you hear strange noises when your brakes are in action such as a scraping or metal on metal sound, chances are you need to replace the brake pads and perhaps the brake rotor. Pro Street Online carries a wide variety of brake pads, from Nissin to Akebono to Hawk and today we’ll be installing a set of HAWK HPS Brake pads on a 1997 Acura Integra.
Tools you will need to complete this job:
- Floor jack
- jackstands
- 19mm socket drive
- 17mm socket drive
- 12mm wrench
- 10mm wrench
We’ll begin by loosening your lug nuts on whichever side of the vehicle you wish to start on. Elevate the vehicle and secure it with jackstands on a level area with plenty of workspace.
Make sure the vehicle is secured and remove your rim after your lug nuts have been taken off.
Once you have the wheels removed you are ready to undo the bridge on your caliper so that your pads can slide on out.
Once the wheel is off, remove the top and bottom bolts that hold the caliper to the caliper mounting bracket.
Undo the 12mm bolt that holds the top of the bridge and you can now swing your caliper open to access your pads.
Here you can see the brake pad sliding out. Make sure you remove it with the backing plate, or shim and take care not to breathe any of the dust or brake residue that may be present.
Here is the stock brake pad on the other side. Remove this also.
Remove both brake pads, and backing plates and now you are ready to install your new HAWK pads. Transfer the backing plate to the new pads and make sure your brake shims are firmly and securely in place.
You may need a tool to open or seperate the brake caliper enough so that the bridge can slide back down over the brake pads. If you do not have a caliper tool like the one shown below, you can use a large crescent wrench of monkey wrench but make sure you do not tear or rip the brake piston boots.
Now slide the caliper back in place and tighten the 12mm bolt that holds the bridge in place, put back your wheel and torque to spec.
You are now ready to take on the rest of your brakes, do each corner at once if you do not feel comfortable enough doing a side at a time.
