How to Replace the Front Brakes on a Honda Passport

The brake pads on your Honda Passport come equipped with a wear indicator. This could be a plate with metal tabs or rivets on the pad itself. When this indicator begins to scratch the brake rotor surface, you hear a squealing noise every time you apply the brakes. It is time to change the brake pads. Once you have the new pads for your particular Passport model, you can replace them yourself.

Siphon 1/2 the fluid from the brake master cylinder using a hand pump.

Loosen the front wheel lugs one turn using a lug wrench.

Jack up the front of your Honda vehicle using a floor jack and support it on two jack stands.

Remove the wheel lugs and the front tires off the wheel/hub assemblies.

Unscrew the two mounting bolts from the back of the brake caliper using a wrench or ratchet and socket. On some Honda Passport models, the upper mounting bolt serves as a pivot bolt. So you can remove the lower mounting bolt and turn out the caliper.

Secure the caliper to the car's body with a piece of wire if you had to remove the caliper completely. Letting the caliper hanging loose may damage the brake hose connected to it.

Remove the brake pads, shims and indicator plates from the caliper-mounting bracket.

Set one of the old brake pads over the caliper cylinder and push the cylinder into its bore using a C-clamp. This will give you enough room to seat the caliper over the mounting bracket with the new pads in place.

Apply a light coat of brake grease to the back of the new pads. Make sure not to get any grease on the friction material of the pads or rotor.

Seat the shims on the back of the brake pads and install them on the caliper-mounting bracket along with the indicator plates.

Set the caliper over the brake pads and mounting bracket and tighten the two mounting bolts using the wrench or ratchet and socket. Or rotate the caliper in place and tighten the lower mounting bolt.

Mount the tire and install the wheel lugs using the lug wrench.

Replace the brake pads on the other wheel assembly following steps 5 from the previous section through step 5 of this section.

Lower the vehicle and finish tightening the wheel lugs on both front tires using the lug wrench.

Depress the brake pedal several times to seat the new brake pads properly.

Add new brake fluid to the brake master cylinder to bring the level between the low and full marks.