rear caliper carriers

[mush]

so I’d thought it was time to replace all rear bearings discs and pads.

what a pain of a job, so everything came off fine until I got to the caliper carrier bolts    1st bolt rounded off inside straight away with the normal 8mm allen key, next tried a spline tool which just span around after it biting a bit, bolt was still standing strong, next out came the centre punch hammer, drilled out a hole then tried knocking it round nothing didn’t even budge.

so after 6 hours of this yep I’m very patient I gave up.

so after all this my next day off work I went in with new Silver line bolt removers to which came in a set £35.00 and didn’t seem to fit over the rounded hex head correctly as its in-between the sizes :-( so although I know these are useful not for this job unfortunately,

I then got some extractor bits £12.99 to drill in and try it this way, blunted all drill bits and failed so x1 bolt not even out.

next will be weld a nut on and get that bugger off, I’m going to frame the dam thing when it comes out, ive done lots of work on cars and never come across such a sturdy  bolt this ones in the record books for holding on...

anyone got any other suggestions for me? ive used a half can of wd40 over days of soaking.

[gazareth]

them bolts suck big time . what I usually do is put the alan key bit into the bolt then clamp a vise grip around the outside of the bolt (as tight as you can get it) and turn both at the same time

[weazgti]

A mate of mine had this. Ended up chiseling it off then replacing carrier. Cheap and easy

[The Mighty Elvi]

I had the same joy with caliper bolts.

I got some Irwin Bolt grip nuts. Job done.

[Diamond Hell]

PlusGas NOT WD40.

Or any other actual penetrating oil.  NOT WD40.

And some heat.

And Stilsons, now you've f*cked up the bolt anyway.

It is not welded together, it will undo.  With the right combination of brute force applied correctly to it.

[mush]

ive ordered some new bolts from vw heritage £3.50 each :-(

ive decided to save all the hassle and chop them off, i'll update this post after all is done.

[VW BUSH]

PlusGas NOT WD40.

Or any other actual penetrating oil.  NOT WD40.

And some heat.

And Stilsons, now you've f*cked up the bolt anyway.

It is not welded together, it will undo.  With the right combination of brute force applied correctly to it.

WD40 is a rip off, plain old Paraffin is just as good as WD40 and costs about the same for 5ltrs as thats the base most penetrating oils are made of......
First Formula, Plus gas, or Henkel G40 are all much better due to whats put in them or not as the case may be.

ive ordered some new bolts from vw heritage £3.50 each :-(

ive decided to save all the hassle and chop them off, i'll update this post after all is done.

Use a touch of moly or copper slip on the new bolts for future removal and get a proper set of Allen keys as most round out due to poor tolerancing, sh!t materials, or being badged as 8mm when they are 5/16" dont be fooled by shiney ones into thinking they are good
Bit late for you, but I swap them over to hex headed bolts and never worry again.

[mush]

Thanks for the advice, i normally love working on my mk2 but got to say its been one of the worst jobs so far. I'll try that plus gas as well thanks bush/diamond

[mush]

All done and replaced bolts. Happy that's out the way now . Cooper greased threads so wont be such a pain next time.

removal of the old ones consisted of snap on extracter which has sharpe splines on that cuts into the head of the bolt and tightens until the bolt gives up. Amazing tool although i did borrowed it off my brothers mate.

[rich1977]

Another thumbs up for plus gas, once soaked in that I've never had a boot that wouldn't budge.

Tempted fate now