I know some folks have some less then amazing stories changing their break pads on Corvette C8 without disconnecting the battery first. God bless mechanical handbreaks and mechanical systems in general
I did the rear brakes on my mom's Subaru. Shop manual indicated scan tool for service mode, etc. Managed to find in another section of the shop manual "how to replace pads if Subaru tool XXXX is unavailable." It mentioned a specific Subaru hand tool to rewind the brakes calipers. This tool turns the caliper while simultaneously pushing in on it. The equivalent of that Subaru tool is here (and is the one I used): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWND7XVR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
I successfully used that tool to replace the rear brakes on her Forester. I disconnected the negative battery first and also unplugged the wire pigtails from the caliper assembly. After putting the new pads and rotors on I hooked all the electric stuff back up. Before starting the vehicle I pushed on the brakes to try my best to seat the pistons. I then (per factory shop manual) started the engine and applied and removed the parking brakes a few times with the electric switch. Had no problems with this procedure at all.
