Brake rotors will not come off, any tricks?
 

Mines a turbo so its got discs all around wihch need to be turned. Its got 55,000 miles on it (87), but of course its a 15 year old car. Anyway, I got the calipers off and the screws that hold the rotors on but I cannot get the rotors off. I sprayed them with Croyal and WD-40 and let it suck. Was using a rubber mallet but what I thought was rust debris coming off was actually pieces of the hammer. They have not moved at all yet when I hit it (not to hard, don't want to bend them) the whole assembley moves. Is there any tricks to getting these off?

Get a 5 lb. sledge and smack it near the hub.

No no no,

Take a bolt that will fit in the other threaded hole, and just tighten. The rotor will pop out, no problem. I forget the thread of the bolt, I want to say M6x1.0 but not certain.

PaulC

Actually, the screws are the same thread. Be sure you have the right size driver, those things strip like nothing. I still smack it with a hammer to help loosen it up, and relieve my anger :)

THanks, I read the screw trick about the rear but the fronts do not have the other holes (probably why the book only said that on the rears).

discs all the way around? noooooooo...thats unheard of
 

sledgehammer

sledge or a smaller hammer if you prefer the gentler route!

Sorry Felix, I had to drill mine out, so I grabbed my bolt bucket.

PaulC

Man I got the same problem except I stripped a bolt. Just gunna have to take it to a shop to do it.

I had a North east car, and I had to pull the hub and take it to 2 machine shops. The first shop's press wouldn't even budge it. I guess the aluminum in the hub reacts with the steel in the rotors to corrode them together. PITA

When I reassembled them, I put a small amount of antisieze between the rotor and the hub to keep it from corroding together again.

What i did was i got a longer bolt the same thread as the caliper bolt (the big one) adn I jsut ran it against the back of the rotor and slowly pressed it off. Put a piece of wood between the bolt and the rotor to avoid digging up the surface of teh rotor.

whatever you do make sure you don't ruin any threads that are on the hub or bolts or whatever.. you don't want to have to replace your whole hub, or change a stud.

I would make a trip out to the local auto parts store and buy myself some rust breaker (screw WD-40), that should help a little bit. If you can get access to some sort of (reverse) puller, that'd be great.. thread it on the studs, then have the puller go to the back side of the rotor and compress (so it'll push on the hub while pulling on the rotor).. then you can just break it loose with that, or even put a good amount of force on it with the puller, and hit it with a mallet or hammer repeatedly until it breaks loose (probably will try to go flying off if it's under lots of force and what not..)

Yeah its actually called oxidation,and it happened 2 me also.i think what the guy did was just take the whole assembly off,hub,rotor,etc. Placed it in a press and pressed it out,very slowly.It's definately not something u want breaking on u!!

Anyone try a hammer? Works pretty good for me :)

Never thought of using the caliper mount threads. I was going to take the whole hub off but I tried to pry the hub cap off with a small screw driver and the tip bent. Can you hit it pretty hard without hurting anything?

They make Hammers Called Zero Blunt hammers. they are made from Fiberglass or some plastic material. Wont harm wheels or brake rotors but will get them off.

Try a "grandaddy pry bar" w/ like a 4 ft handle, works pretty good. :D