mawolk

hi i need to change my rear brake pads and i want to do this myself, so can anyone give me instructions on how to change them so i dont do something wrong. :D

If you do have experience the rears are super easy. There are pins and clips holding the pads in place. No real tools needed once the wheel is off. I have 20" wheels and didn't even take my rims off. Good luck

The usual way I find out I need brakes is for my mechanic to tell me - often at the time of inspection. How would I otherwise know it's time to replace the pads? (aside from removing the wheels and measuring the depth of the pad)

The rear of the door is sticking out slightly? That is fairly easy to fix. The door striker (located on the body piller) is adj. Make sure that you mark it first (with a grease pencil or something similar). Then you loosen the two screws and move the striker slightly inwards. Tighten the screws and check adj. I do not understand why the body shop did not want to bother with this, it is fairly simple of a adj.

I removed the black plastic casing around the outside of the striker plate and loosened the top and bottom screws. Unfortunately the plate doesn't adjust. There are holes drilled in the top and bottom. When the screws are inserted and tightened the striker seats in the same location. The plate is not adjustable.

Oddly, even without the striker plate the door edge still sticks out slightly. This tells me it's a different type of adjustment.

I recently purchased a '97 ES300 with 84k miles. Car has never been in an accident, as confirmed by original owner and a professional mechanic.

I noticed the doors (all but the left rear) don't seem to close flush with the body - the doors seem slightly out of alignment. The edge of the door (not where the door hinge is) sticks out maybe 1/8 inch. It's just barely flush. I get very little wind noise, only on the driver's side. Otherwise the doors work fine. I took the car to a body shop for an opinion and the owner said he wasn't sure there is anything he could do and it's probably not worth me paying him to try. He was practically laughing at me because it's barely noticeable and the car is otherwise pristine. He basically said to live with it.

Most people would not notice or care but it bugs me and I would like to fix it.

It's 13 year old car so I accept certain things as normal wear and tear. Any thoughts? Anyone experience this?