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Ford Crown Victoria /
Mercury Grand Marquis
Rear Brake Rebuild

Introduction

The following is a step-by-step rebuilding the rear brakes on your Ford 1994-2004 Crown Victoria and/or Mercury Grand Marquis. The instructions would probably also be equally applicable to a Lincoln Towncar from the same years but this has not been verified. This is not a difficult job by any means and most folks with even modest mechanical ability would pile right in even without instructions. That said, even if you're an accomplished do-it-yourselfer we have documented the process and some of what you'll find in these instructions might save you some time and headache. Although not designed to be completely exhaustive in nature (i.e., idiot-proof), anyone with even the most modest mechanical skills and some relatively common tools should be able to readily accomplish the procedure described. That said, your brakes are a critical componenet of keeping your car safe and roadworthy. If you read through the described procedure before beginning and get concerned about your skills to accomplish the task then take your car to a reputable repair shop (if you can find one) and have them rebuild your front brakes. If you do decide to take on this procedure yourself please drop us a line and give us some feedback on the content of this site. We're always trying to improve our content and we love getting feedback from fellow Do-It-Yourselfers

Getting Started

Rebuilding your rear brakes usually involves two basic brake components; the rear brake pads and the brake rotors. The brake pads become worn through normal use. Since the brake pads "grip" the brake rotors to stop your car the rotors wear right along with the pads. Anytime your replace the rear pads you also need to have the rotors resurfaced (turned) or replace them altogether if they are too worn (too thin) to be resurfaced. Don't ever replace your brake pads without resurfacing or replacing the rotors as well. These two components are designed to "wear" and break-in as a pair and you will shorten the life of both if you replace one and not the other; not to mention your brakes won't perform as they should. If you try to go the cheap-O route and just replace one we'd question your manhood and call you names behind your back.

The design of the rear brakes on these cars makes brake rebuild quite simple. The rear rotors are designed to be easily removed/replaced and are a seperate from the rear axle/bearing assembly. These instructions that follow will show you how to remove/replace the rear brake pads and install new rotors. Let's get started...

This is one of the simplest procedures on Autoclinix and it does not require many tools. Although the list is short, if you the necessary tools at your side when you need them it will save you some time. A floor jack or a bottle jack is always handy for this type of repair. You could of course use the jack that came with your car but they are usually a pain to use and will slow down your repair. If don't already have them, get a good jack and a good set of jackstands from your local parts store or Wal-Mart. You'll spend less than $30 and you can use them all sorts of repairs.

• Floor jack or bottle jack
• Jackstand
• 10mm wrench
• Lugwrench
• Brake spreader OR large C-clamp
• Flat-blade screwdriver
• Rubber mallet
• Chisel (optional)

The picture below shows the "before" picture of our test car's rear brakes. Some of the basic brake components are labeled.