Auto maintenance can be expensive and can add up over time if you’re on a budget. Whether it’s your daily driver or your classic cruiser most anyone can change their brakes with a only a few tools and a little research. With DIY Tutorial Channels Like the Eastwood Channel , you can learn how to do many tasks that were difficult to complete. Below we list our top brake tools to have in your home garage for doing brake jobs on most any car.
- Brake Flaring Tool- Having the ability to flare your own brake lines allows you to do repairs and total replacement of brake lines yourself. Over the years and different brands of auto manufacturers there are a number of different types of brake fitting sizes and styles. A Professional Brake Flaring tool will be the only tool you’ll ever need to purchase for flaring brakes. It can handle every type of brake line material (including stainless brake line) and will do all of the standard brake flares like double flare, bubble flare, DIN, and even AN flares commonly used on fuel and other lines on high performance vehicles. If you need to do double flares on the vehicle you can add the On-Car Brake Flaring Tool to your toolbox for spot repairs of damaged or rusty brake lines.
- Brake Bleeding Wrenches- Bleeding brakes is one of those jobs that usually requires a helper but we’ve developed a set of Brake Bleeding Wrenches that will allow you to bleed brakes yourself. This brake fitting wrench set fits most common bleeder sizes and seals around the bleeder screw to keep brake fluid from getting everywhere. It’s as easy as pumping the brake pedal to build pressure and then loosening the brake bleeder with the special wrench and watch the air bubbles and brake fluid flow out into a cup. After doing that procedure 2-3 times you should have a braking system that is free of air.
- Disc Brake Wind Back Tool- Many modern cars have disc brakes and the rear brakes on a number of them require you to actually thread the caliper piston back in. The fitting or tool required to turn the piston varies by manufacturer and using adjustable or locking pliers could damage the boot or piston itself. The Rockwood Disc Brake Piston Wrench Cube has the most common piston fitting sizes and styles all in one small handheld tool. Use this tool to turn the caliper piston in and allow you to install new brake pads on the rear of most modern vehicles.
- Tubing Straightener- When replacing long runs of brake line you need to make straight runs and brake line comes in coils. While you could try and straighten it by hand it never turns out nicely and there will be waves and kinks in the line. A handheld brake line straightener is quick and simple to use and can be stored in your tool box easily. One or two passes through the tool will make laser straight lines that are ready for bending or flaring.
- Tubing Cutter– Whether you’re installing a fresh new braking system or patching a rusty brake line on your daily driver you will need to make clean, straight cuts in the tubing to get a good flare and positive seal of the brake fittings. The easiest way to cut thin brake line tubing is with a tubing cutter. This tool is as easy as tightening the thumb screw progressively as you spin it around the tubing. The result is a clean cut that you can deburr with the attach deburring attachment.