CHANGE BRAKE PADS YOURSELF

with pictures

This site was modeled after another one, which helped me greatly when I decided to try it on my own.  The whole job took about one hour (the second side was MUCH faster!).   This page is intended as a helpful guide.  Use it at your own risk.  Everything went fine for me but I will not be responsible if you make a mistake and end up causing harm to yourself or others.

The rubber mallet and pry bar might be optional for you, but I needed them to do a little "fine adjusting" here and there.
Loosen the lid on the brake fluid reservoir.
These bolts hold the unit in place.

Remove them.

There are very few parts involved with this job, but you should pay attention to what went where when you take stuff apart.

The caliper unit comes off and you can see the old pads resting in place.  Pop them out.  This might take some "gentle persuasion", but do not ruin any of the little clips at the ends (or you'll be making more trips to the parts store).

In my hand you can see the caliper containing the piston that does the pushing.  Later you will need to push this piston back in because it has gotten used to your thinner pads and wont fit over the thicker new ones.

These (yellow arrows) are the little clips that hold the pads steady.

Put the new pads in place.  Once again, this may take some "persuasion", but for me it only took a few soft taps with the rubber mallet.
The C clamp is used to push the piston all the way in.  I had to use a chunk of metal to place over the piston because on my car, the piston end cap thing is just a thin piece of aluminum and I didn't want to mangle it.*

Stop when the piston is level with the seal.  Look to make sure you did not tear the seal.

Put the caliper back on with the two bolts, so it again looks like the 3rd picture from the top.  Keep an eye on any rubber seals that you might have disturbed.

Put your wheel back on.  When you get in the car, pump the brakes a couple times and you will feel the normal resistance come back. 

Tighten the brake fluid reservoir cap.

*I am guessing that some folks might just put the clamp on the edge of the piston and push there, but I like the idea of pushing on the whole surface evenly rather than on any edge.  You can see the flimsy end cap thing in the 4th picture from the top