Changing Front Pads and Disks, HELP needed!

[zxrmatt]

Went to change front pads and disks last wkend and couldnt get the two retaining bolts undone on the calipers.

These appear to be well and truely stuck. Gave them a good soaking with WD40 and have now rounded off three allen keys trying to get them undone!

Does anyone have any ideas about how else i can get them undone or removed?

thanks
Matt

[Dizzie]

have you tried heating them up?

[zxrmatt]

Not as yet i havn`t.

Gonna have another look this weekend.

Heat up with something like blowtorch around caliper?

[Mr Blue]

I tried heating them and that didnt work and was alot of hassle.

I ended up angel grinding the heads off (it worked)

the easiest thing to do is to bash a socket over the whole bolt and undo it this way. Forgoten what size socket but get one that sits tight

worked (thanx to bolland for the tip)?

[zxrmatt]

ok, thanks.

Quick question, if i`m gonna bash a socket over them.

They have some kind of plastic/rubber cover or sleeve over/around the bolt. Did you cut this off and replace or could you get socket over the bolt without doind this?

[Mr Blue]

i cut them off.

i think you can buy a replacement but i didnt bother. i just covered everything in copper crease after. Make sure you use plenty.

bastad bolts aint they 

[zxrmatt]

You said it mate!   

Thought it was gonna be a quick job. Never even got them undone all day sunday!

[bolland]

Could also try a spline/torx bit in the middle.
You can buy the rubber sleeves from vw if you need to cut them.

[...joe]

yeah this happened to me, i cut the rubber bits off and replaced them, then got some mole grips on it, i tried heating them but got a bit scared! they were so stuck on in the end i drilled a hole through the head, slid an allen key through and used this to stop the mole grips slipping. bit of an effort but it worked!

like blue said these bolts are complete sh!t heads, well he actually said bastid bolts but you know what i mean!

[zxrmatt]

Well, after some helpful advise got back to the brakes at the weekend and job done!

Still a complete pain though and took ages.

Cut the rubber covers, didnt bother to replace, just caked the bolts in copper grease.

Used the "wacking a socket over the head of bolt" technique and it worked perfectly.

Calipers off and now for the grub screw and the disk. Arggghh!!!! some T*** has rounded this off too!

Tried many techinques, including hammering in a bigger allen key, trying to make a slot for a flathead screw driver and also just tryin to wack the head of grub screw around with a punch and mallet.

Finally resorted to drilling the head off, pulling off the disk and removing the left over part of screw with pliers.

Was a complete S**t of a job to do and took hours but next time will be much quicker wish the new bolts and copper grease (i hope!)

Thanks again for the advice, especially the socket one. Top tip!