Pontiac Grand Am owners are no strangers to replacing rotors. Expensive replacement charges have frustrated them for years. It's not uncommon for the front rotors to warp and create a pulsation when braking. The root of the problem has been argued back and forth. Replacing the rotors yourself--provided you have the proper tools--is not overly difficult and can save you some major repetitive labor charges.
Park the vehicle on a flat, level paved or concrete surface. Release the hood latch. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and place the vehicle in park or gear. Apply the parking brake and turn off the vehicle completely.
Place a wheel chock behind one rear wheel. Break the lug nuts loose on both front tires using a 1/2-inch breaking bar and 19-millimeter socket. Do not loosen too much and do not remove the lug nuts. Simply break them loose.
Lift the front left quarter of the vehicle with the floor jack. Install a jack stand under frame or rocker panel.
Remove the lug nuts on the left front tire and take the tire off. By turning the steering wheel all the way to the left, you have extended the caliper past the tire well and will now have more room to work on it. Reverse this procedure to work on the right side.
Remove the caliper bolts using a ratchet and appropriate sized socket. Pry the caliper off with a large straight-edged screwdriver and remove the pads from the bridge, taking note of how they are placed in order to replace them in the same manner. You may need the screwdriver to pry them from the bridge.
Remove the caliper bridge using a ratchet and appropriate sized socket. These will take a degree of tenacity and strength to remove safely. If you have enough room, try using the breaking bar instead of the ratchet.
Remove the rotor. You may have to hammer it off with a ball peen hammer if it's stuck on the hub of the bearing. Do so by hitting it from behind in as many areas as you have room, being careful not to hit the fender.
Clean the edge and facing of the hub with sand paper.
Clean the new rotor with a spray brake cleaner and a shop rag. Rotors come packaged with an oily based coating to prevent rust from condensation in the air. This coating needs to be cleaned off thoroughly.
Replace the caliper bridge and tighten the bolts very tightly.
Replace the brake pads into the bridge the same way they were removed.
Squeeze the piston of the caliper in all the way with a C-clamp or an extra-large set of channel locks.
Place the caliper back over the bridge and tighten caliper bolts.
Replace the tire and lug nuts. Tighten the lug nuts as much as you can with the tire elevated. Lower vehicle and torque the lug nuts in an alternate fashion with an adjustable 1/2 inch drive torque wrench set to 100 foot pounds and a socket.
Repeat the same procedures on the right side.
Pump the foot pedal in the vehicle when you're done to restore hydraulic pressure to the front calipers. Failure to perform this task could result in hazardous conditions. Four or five pumps should do it until the brake pedal feels normal.
Open the hood and adjust the brake fluid level in the master cylinder, but only after you've pumped the foot brake pedal. Remove the wheel chock and test drive.
