I am planning to replace my front brake pads myself. I am more of a tech person and not an automotive person, but am trying to learn what I can so I do repairs and maintenance on my own.
I've been watching YT videos that would relate to replacing the brake pads and rotors. From the videos I've watched, they mention to compress the brake caliper pistons and not to open the brake line, as it should not let air into the braking system.
I was watching a video from power stop and they also compressed the piston but later said to bleed the brakes, which is what confuses me, as I thought as long as I don't open the brake line, and just compress the caliper piston, I should not have to bleed the brakes?

Side question, which brand of rotor and pads do you guys recommend? I am looking at rockauto atm and thought about powerstop?

 

its a good idea to bleed the brakes in general to maintain the quality of brake fluid. fluid goes bad, absorbs water from the air, get dirty from corrosion, and seals can leak and introduce air, especially when compressing pistons.

when pistons are extended, they are easily vulnerable from corrosion, especially if the piston boots are not doing their job. they will pit, so when the piston retracts, it will draw in air under the seal. which is also why you want to check under the piston boot for corrosion before pushing the piston back in...

its just a good idea to bleed brakes when doing a brake job. its the right time to do it.


i dont recommend power stops. slotted brakes dont do enough benefit for the cost. you can pay the extra for the aesthetics if you want.

i recommend centric rotors and any ceramic pads for street use. they wear well, are quiet and perform well for street use.

for race/track use, get an actual race pad and cheap disposable rotors. replace/swap pads and rotors before track days. dont mix pads on rotors.

dont get middle of the ground pads like hawk HP+, theyre too much bite/wear for the street and not enough for track.

 

Do not get power stop pads. I bought their complete kit for my dd s10 and they started squeaking within a month with the break in procedure followed to a t. Same thing on my brothers tsx. I swapped to cheap centric pads on my truck and they’re good to go. For my integra I just ordered centric rotors, hawk hps pads, braided stainless lines, and ap 5.1 fluid to do a whole flush. I’m thinking this should be a solid street set up. I’ve ran the hps pads on my old 400whp ls1 firebird that was my dd for a while and really liked them. If the car is older you may want to get a caliper rebuild kit and new pistons, theyre cheap, and flush the fluid. But I agree with the above post, bleed the brakes when you’re done either way .

 

I have the Z36 Powerstop pads and don't really have anything to complain about.

 

its not that crazy of a job, depending on the honda...
just remove one slide pin bolt and you can swing the caliper upwards or downwards depending on which bolt you wanna remove, you can easily replace the pad that way without getting too dirty or into it.
but more often than not, when the old pad is worn down, the piston is extended and you can use a c clamp on the caliper body and one remaining pad to evenly compress the piston. then replace the metal shim hardware if needed, grease them, pop in the new pads and youre done!
Changing/bleeding the fluid is recommended while you are down there but can be considered a separate job.
dont use power stop, there are better options on that price range, like centric or oem.