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Everything but the brake pads is on one stretch of Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti — and the two stores are 60 metres apart. Park once.
Home Depot lets you set Ann Arbor / 3300 Carpenter Rd as your store and see live shelf stock plus a pickup option. Do that before you drive — the disc kit in particular is a low-volume item that not every store carries. Same for Advance: their site shows per-store availability.
A911602 · backer pad with ¼″ shank + 15 discs (fine / medium / coarse)$27.2220-BC, 14 oz · confirm "Non-Chlorinated" on the can$5.80 eaHPL4124N-TD-CM$49.98Copper anti-seize (they stock an aluminium one, which is not the right product for a brake rotor), brake grease, and the E11 E-Torx socket. Those are all at Advance — next stop.
Permatex 09128 (copper or nickel base; not the aluminium version)$8–12AutoZone and O'Reilly both run a loaner tool program: you pay a deposit equal to the tool's value, use it, bring it back, and get the full deposit refunded. It is not a rental fee — it is free if you return it.
Tools relevant to this job that are commonly available on the programme:
The piston compressor and the torque wrench are the two items people most often buy for a single job. Borrow them instead, spend the money on the disc kit and the pads, and leave the garage with tools you will actually reuse.
These are the only things that are not on Carpenter Road.
DP51655NDX · μ 0.52, R90 road-legal, pre-scorched, to 550°C. One box = both front wheels.$107.21Also at CARiD ($107.21) and Summit Racing ($107.99). Rear pads are already in hand — R1 Ceramic 2600-1878-00.
Run the four Go/No-Go gates first. If a rotor is under the thickness limit or the car pulses under braking, this job changes shape — new rotors mean a different procedure, and you would be buying tools for work you are not doing.
Do not double-buy these. Check the garage before the receipt.
| Item | Already owned? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Floor jack | ☐ | Any 2-ton trolley jack clears stock ride height. |
| Jack stands ×2 | ☐ | If not — this is the one purchase never to skip. |
| Socket set 10–19 mm | ☐ | 6-point preferred everywhere. |
| Torque wrench | ☐ | Check its range first — many household wrenches start too high. |
| Breaker bar | ☐ | A long 1/2″ ratchet works in a pinch. |
| Vernier caliper | ☐ | Rotor measurement — already used on this car (front measured 22.6 mm). |
| Hex key set | ☐ | Needs a 5 mm for the rear EPB actuator. |
| Drill | ☐ | Variable speed, or use the hand-pad method instead. |
| C-clamp | ☐ | Any size that spans the caliper. |
| Wheel chocks | ☐ | A brick works. |
A lift turns this job into a comfortable one: no jacking, no crouching, and the caliper sits at chest height. Two hours is a realistic booking for both projects.