Thought I'd have a go at the brakes.. simple enough job, with the guide on here.

Passenger side first .. all comes apart, apart from one of the pins .. wont come out ..

Fast forward two weeks of grinding and drilling and finally in the ice and the snow it pops out..

YAY

Onto the drivers side .. can't undo the ****ing caliper bolt ..

Why did I even think I could do this .. now I have one new side and one very very worn side ..

Am I ok to drive to the garage to let someone with some sense look at it ?

 

yeah it will be safe, it may feel weird under braking if you have brand new pads that havent bed in on one side and old pads that bite the other, so maybe not in thick snow but the car wont explode

I used a bar with socket and a trolley jack against it on hard to shift bolts,
so the weight of the car is helping remove the bolt.

 

I use a six foot length of scaffold pole... to provide more leverage..... most nuts come of easy with that....

 

how the hell does he get that under his arch lol

 

like it

 

Turn the steering full lock

 

As above use a big bar and some wd40

 

Try little bit of heat

 

Some dragon's breath would do it but then you risk wrecking seals etc. WD40 is probably safer

 

WD40 and have a cuppa while it does it's job..usually does the trick. Hate doing things like this and wish you hadn't started though!

 

Always lube up bolts the night before... makes things easier

 

I cant remember where i saw it but you can buy a freeze aerosol, spray it on for around 30 secs and leave the cold cracks the rust away leaving everything easy to undo

 

Wd40 didn't help ..

 

Overnight Pimmo it will help. Or plusgas. You will need a breaker bar of some sort on brake bolts though especially if they haven't been shifted for a while and are seized. Get the right tools, job done

 

The famous 'prize' bar

 

The brembos tend to snap when seized,i did all my brakes on my old sti,got all off till the very last bolt on the rear,it snapped ! Had to remove caliper and retap.not what you want on the cold wet floor on a trolly jack !

 

Ok using a bar but if it or the socket slips, you'll probably end up with rounded heads.

I just pre soaked mine with some Penol from work the night before.

If it wasn't for bushes and pipes, a bit of heat would work wonders.

 

Trouble is with brutally attacking a bolt in an ally thread is chances are your either going to pick up on the thread on the way out which strips the ally thread and comes out with the bolt, or the bolt will snap.

Plenty of penetration and a constant weight behind a breaker bar rather than constantly jolting it, and if its stiff try doing it up a little bit more before slackening it off, often helps I find if you can tighten it that is, if its tight coming out keep penetrating it and work it in and out, rather than trying to wind out the bolt all the way tightly as chances are it will pick up on a thread, not always but its a bitch if you ain't got the tools to do it and have to píss about running around etc

 

As above lube it up the day before, another little trick is to hit the head of the bolt with a lump hammer a few times just to crack any rust inside, which helps the lube to get through, but don't go mental just a few firm taps is enough.

 

Or a copper hammer if you have a comedy swing

 

+1