Cleaning brake pads

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

if you have a copy of the Haynes manual, it should be quite easy to take the pads and discs off....

although sometimes the disc (which is held on by a small phillips grub screw) is difficult to remove from the hub...... it sorta "welds" itself on (via heat and cold...expansion and contraction)

only in some instances tho'.....dont let it put you off.

by the way, i changed the pads and discs on my mk4 and didnt bleed them?!?!?!
you have to push the caliper piston back though before you can put new pads (which are thicker) back around the disc.......a v.big pair of pipe grips does this a treat

its not that hard, just have a crack at it, whats the worst that can happen??

(ps, pump the brake pedal a bit after you have changed the brakes, and test at low speed if at all wary )

Before you (depending on whether it's the front or rears) push/wind the pistons back, make sure you take the lid off the brake fluid reservoir, to relieve some of the pressure, as you don't want to split any of the piston seals.

[welshgar]

Before you push/wind (depending on front or rears) the pistons back, make sure you take the lid off the brake fluid reservoir, to releive some of the pressure, so you don't split any of the piston seals.

forgot to mention that... :embarassed:

cheers Ivormk4T

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Sounds like it something I can do so will definitely give it a go when it needds doing. Will read the haynes and familarize myself with the particulars. I've got a c clamp which should help me push the piston back to allow room for the new unworn pads.

Rest of kit isnt hard to get, I have most of the basic toolkit other than a gizmo to do the bleeding. Read a couple of guides last night about it. Only thing I dont have is axle stands. They say dont just use a jack secure it properly. Still cant do no harm getting the correct kit as over the years I will no doubt be handling all my own repairs. Might have to shell a few quid out on these things but worth having.

Will go over the haynes this weekend when I have the time. Basically a matter of working your way around the car doing one wheel at a time, removing the wheel, pads (caliper) disc (propbably more figity than it sounds) and doing the reverse adding a little grease to the back of the pads and bleeding each wheel in turn, in a nutshell. But as I say I have not read the procedure properly so I may have misssed something.

My car is a vw golf 1.6s petrol 2001 which leads me on to my next question where do I get the parts I will needs the pads, discs, grease (hopefully all from same place)

Local garage quote me £370 to do front and backs, but I want to do it myself.

Yeah, def have a go yourself.  You can get all the parts from www.buypartsbuy.co.uk very cheaply.

VW wanted £250 just to change front discs & pads.  Parts from said website cost about £67!!!

[soulman_uk]

Great stuff guys!

Just what I needed. Cheers for the tip on opening the brake fluid res. I had no idea about that. 

I cant believe how much garage charge to do something like this! I'll save a mint and have the time to do it ... what sunday afternoons are for 

Hopefully thats all I need to know to do this. Will go over the fine detail again before I do it, just to make sure i haven't missed anything ... dont fancy going cap in hand to a garage and telling em' I nutted something up 

[GolfGL]

Just an idea of cost for you mine was £25 for each disc (brembos) from GSF and the pads from VW were £32 inc vat after trade. At halfords we sell discs and pads for your car for about £50-60. Make sure you know what pads you have before buying them as some have wear indicators. Rears should be just a bit more than half the cost of the fronts. Piston windback tools cost about £10 to £20.

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Yep, you'll need that special tool for the rears (look on ebay or borrow one like I did), 13 & 18mm socket, 13 and/or 15mm spanner, 7 or 8mm allen key, copper slip or brake pad grease, flathead/phillips screwdrivers. (I think that's it!!! ).