How to Change the Rear Brake Rotors on a 1997 Buick

The rear brake rotors work together with the front rotors on your Buick to stop the car evenly when the brake pedal is depressed. The rear rotors wear down over time, but damage to them happens most often from worn out brake pads. Driving your Buick down mountainous roads can also wear down the rear rotors because they have to work harder to stop the car. Damaged rear rotors can cause your car to lunge forward and dramatically decrease the cars stopping ability at high speeds.

Instructions

Place a wheel block firmly in position in front of both driver and passenger front tires on your Buick.

Loosen the lug nuts on the rear passenger-side tire slightly with a lug wrench and then raise the car with a car jack.

Position a jack stand on the right of the car jack no more than 3 inches away. Raise the support arm on the jack stand to equal the height of the car jack and then lock the support arm in position.

Remove the lug nuts from the tire and then slide the tire off the lug studs using both hands. Dont allow the tire to drag across the lug studs.

Loosen the top caliper retaining bolt one-quarter of a turn counter-clockwise with a socket wrench. Then remove the bottom caliper retaining bolt completely and pivot the brake caliper upward off the brake pads.

Rotate the piston on the brake caliper clockwise with a pair of 6-inch needle nosed pliers until its fully seated into its bore. The cut-outs in the piston have to line up horizontally with the two caliper mounting bolts. Even though you have the caliper pivoted up, you can still do this by rotating the piston counter-clockwise if needed. The cut-outs should be at six and twelve oclock.

Lower the brake caliper back down into its original mounting position and then re-thread the bottom mounting bolt by hand. Set your 3/8-inch drive torque wrench to 33 ft-lbs. and completely secure both top and bottom caliper mounting bolts.

Hook the 10-inch bungee tie-down cord around the top of the shock tower. Leave one of the hooks on the cord available and hanging down near the brake caliper.

Remove the two bolts from the caliper mounting bracket at the rear. The bracket is what the brake caliper attaches to, so dont remove the calipers bolts again.

Lift the mounting bracket and caliper off the brake rotor, and then hang the entire assembly on the bungee cords hook. The brake line can not support the weight of the assembly, so dont hang it by the brake line, use one of the available bolt holes.

Remove the rotor by sliding it off the lug studs toward you.

Install the new rotor just as you remove the old one. Mount the bracket assembly back over the new rotor and then tighten both of its bolts to 80 inch-lbs. with the 3/8-inch drive torque wrench.

Remount the tire onto the lug studs and tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern until theyre snug. Remove the jack stand and then lower the car until the tire touches the ground, but not all the way down. Reset the 3/8-inch drive torque wrench to 100 ft-lbs. and fully secure the lug nuts then lower the car completely.

Pump the brake pedal until you feel the pedal stiffen and then immediately stop pumping. Repeat this entire process to change the other rear rotor on your 1997 Buick.