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Doing your own brake work is relatively easy, rewarding and can save you a ton of money. Here are some basic tools you'll need.

The ability to stop is the most important feature your car has to offer. I know, Apple CarPlay is nice, but slowing down in a controlled fashion takes the cake. Over time, your brake system wears, and you have a choice: Take your car somewhere to get serviced, or, if you’re an aspiring do-it-yourselfer, you reach into your toolbox and get to work!

If you’re just getting started in car maintenance, you might not have some of the tools needed to service your vehicle's brakes. With that in mind, we put together a list of the more common special tools required to do your own brake service. That means we’re assuming you have the basics, like basic hand tools, a jack and jack stands. If you don’t even have the basics, you can check those out right here.

Finally, while brake work is generally straightforward, if you still don't feel confident doing the job yourself, call a knowledgable friend or take the car to a shop.

When servicing disc brake systems, you have to push the pistons back into the caliper before you can install new pads. There are different ways to do this, depending on the number of pistons per caliper, but the goal is the same. On floating calipers, you can get away with using a C-clamp, a large pair of tongue and groove pliers or a pump-action piston press, but fixed calipers require more thought. For those, you might want to invest in this Lang caliper piston press. It sends two paddles out to push the pistons back in equally. While it’s good for fixed or floating calipers up to four pistons, it’s probably not as fast with floating calipers. But if you’ve got a set of four-piston fixed calipers, this is for you.

Many modern cars have the parking brake built into the rear caliper. If you’ve ever worked on that style, you might have accidentally ruined a caliper trying to press the piston in on one designed to screw in. It happens, but it doesn’t have to happen again. There are a lot of these rear caliper kits on the market, but some work better than others. This Astro Pneumatic kit should solve most of your rear caliper problems. It should be noted that if you’re working on a car with an electronic parking brake, reference the service procedure before diving in and accidentally damaging the caliper.

If you’re like me (and I hope you’re not), you enjoy playing with drum brakes. If you tinker with vintage vehicles, drum brakes become a routine part of your life. Enjoy it! You can go spend some big bucks on a tool truck or chase used tools on the open market with varying degrees of wear. Or you can snag this complete drum brake service set from Astro Pneumatic. Sure, these aren’t as nice as what you’ll find from Snap-on, but they’ll help you remove and install those pesky springs safely. It’s also easier than using needle nose pliers and screwdrivers. The shoe retaining pin tools should also help with that sometimes frustrating endeavor. Also, it’s not too pricey!

OK, I’ve mentioned this before, but a good set of flare nut wrenches, aka line wrenches, is paramount to your success when brake fittings are rusty. If you live in winter-free states or only tinker with rust-free cars you might be able to skate by without a set. For those in the Rust Belt, they’re a necessity. You might also decide to snag a set of crowfoot line wrenches if you have to deal with ABS pumps or hard-to-reach areas needing service. But for just changing brake hoses, wheel cylinders or calipers, a traditional line wrench set should get you going.

You don’t even need a full set if you only plan on doing brake lines. If you plan on venturing into fuel systems, you might want to get bigger sizes. All that being said, my go-to set came from SK Tools; note you may need metric sizes depending on your car.

Whatever you do, don’t let the brake caliper dangle by the brake hose. While you can use bungee cords to support the caliper, or hang it off a suspension point, we love these large S hook caliper hangers. There are a handful of companies that sell them in a variety of colors: That way you can match your toolbox or get a high-vis color to remind you to put it back when you’re done.

As we’ve discussed before, air is the enemy of hydraulic brake systems. When replacing hydraulic brake components, you’re going to introduce air into the system. That means it’s time to bleed the brakes when you're done. There are a handful of ways to bleed brake systems, with the most obvious being the two-person method. If you don’t have someone who can pump the brakes for you while you crack the bleeder screw, you’ll have to improvise. Or get a vacuum bleeder to take care of the literal leg work. A vacuum bleeder will let you pull air out of the system by yourself. Most kits also come with a handy cup to gather the waste fluid. As a bonus, the kit above is also useful for dozens of other diagnostic jobs that require a vacuum source for testing.