[Closed] FFS, changing car discs and pads.

Car manufacturer? name and shame please.

Mitsubishi Lancer, 2012 2.0l diesel.

Also the last owner had receipts for new discs and pads 2 years ago, just before I bought it.
There is no way these discs were only 2 years old!
I have a feeling they tried to change them, found the bolts were seized (and probably they rounded them off a bit) gave up, and still charged him.

But you're happy with yourself for trying right?

On both our vans (Peugot Expert 2001 and VW T5 2004) we've done it now and both had issues with seized bolts or not having the right tool or rusted components etc. Luckily none of the bolt heads were especially hard to get at. But then that is why you pay hundreds for a professional, they will know how to do it straight away, have the right tools and know what problems to expect and save you all the hassle.

If you have the time, patience or interest to do it yourself then of course you have saved yourself a load of money, have the satisfaction of learning something new and having done it yourself. Which is exactly why I did it myself, never really done anything with car mechanics before but there's enough help and information out there on the internet to try yourself these days.

People rely on others to do so much for them these days and I find a huge satisfaction in learning to do things out of my comfort zone. But then as I mentioned, requires a certain patience and amount of time of course.

But then as I mentioned, requires a certain patience and amount of time of course.

Yep and 4 hours of my time means I would always pay someone to do it as prices for disc and pad change are fixed price in a lot of places. Last time I had my done it was just over £200 including the discs and pads.

Impact wrench and a full hex socket for getting these off. Using hand tools in there whilst working at ground level is a pain.

But you’re happy with yourself for trying right?

Yup, feel very manly now 💪 👨‍🔧 😉

I'm pretty mechanically minded (teacher of DT, I should be!) But first time changing discs. I've done pads before on other cars.

Happy to have saved a few £100s, just annoyed that it took so long (and that I killed a faithful old tool in the process)

I used to do my own, it's usually a simple job. However sometimes it ain't. A garage is better equipped than I am, and seeing as it's a straight forward job I'll just pay the garage to do it.

I agree, the design on many doesn't help.
VW = multiple different size bolts and torx, many on inside.
Old Yaris - 10mm spanner, on outside, swivel up caliper.
Don't get me started on the daft little retaining screws for discs. I get it's so disc cannot move when changing a wheel, but is it really needed?

I do mine, the Volvo is next. I was worried about the rears being electric hand brake - until I discovered the Vida/Dice has handbrake retract. 🙌

When I switched my mondeo from the original calipers to the focus st calipers, it made the job so much easier- less bolt sizes, better access, easier pad fitting, all that good stuff. It didn't really feel like any of it should be more expensive to do, either, it's just that whoever designed the low end OE calipers was pretty sure he'd never do any maintenance on them

I've mostly got past the stage of wanting to bother to do any of it myself.

I used to do everything myself if I could, now I'd rather go to work for some overtime and get someone else to do it.

I just wish I could find a decent local garage that are any good/trustworthy. The one I go to is nearly an hour away.

Feel yer pain man, feel yer pain.

I changed all four discs and pads and callipers on my TT just before Xmas, it was a decent mild day and fairly warm and dry so I thought “yeah, why not”

All came off surprising easy, except the drivers front disc retaining screw.. which was both rounded off and jammed.. so I hired a small impact ratchet and knocked 24bells out of it and it came undone ...

Both rear callipers had pretty much seized, the discs were so pitted and scored where the calliper was only working on one side that TBH it was downright dangerous... 😵

So I bought new callipers all round, whilst the car was on jacks.

The only issue I had was bleeding the brakes, I had to get my local garage to bleed them for me (which they did without any dramas)

£700 later and the cars stops on a dime, passed it’s MOT without any advisories either.

I killed a faithful old tool in the process

Exploded the internal mechanism or sheared the head? That's the usual method of ratchet death, and the reason why you very quickly learn when working on cars that ratchets are to be used for unwinding/doing up, but not initial breaking/final torquing.

Everyone seems to learn the hard way unfortunately.

Changed rear pads on my 2014 Ford Kuga yesterday without issue. Nothing really seized, only needed a 7mm allen key, parts supplied with the car and a rewind tool. Pads and rewind tool cost about £35 delivered so happy to save a few quid.

sheared the head

This, well the square bit is twisted and holding on by a sliver of metal.

The set it came with was a 21st birthday present from my grandad....so to be fair it's done 22 years of service!

Most are easy but you do get ones where the calliper pistons are seized or leaking, discs bonded to the hubs and fasteners ****ed, that really spoil your day.

Look back on it as a learning experience! Most likely when you do it again, or on another vehicle it won't be as much of a PITA.

If you want an easy life, avoid doing old vehicles, 10 years plus, that have been sat doing nothing, they usually give the biggest headaches 😉

Did the front disc's & pads on my 19 year old Volvo just before christmas. £57 for the parts & 2hours of my time. Feeling smug till the next warning next warning light fires up...

They're designed to make it awkward & make you take it to the deal,who pay the manufacturer for the priveledge. Think of the 200 quid & what you'll spend it on 😁. I did all corners on my 02 Subaru outback it was a right arse 🤪.but it saved me about £450 😁. I prefer to sort the car myself , paying £ 150 an hour labour charges winds me up.

You could aways spray the bolts with duck oil release fluid the day before. It helps no end, brakes are always gunked up
Jet wash
Release oil
Then you can srtip the skin off your knuckles knowing you tried to go about it the right way.

discs bonded to the hubs

As a time served mechanic of 47 years Iv'e had to use some welly in my time to 'release' things from cars, but my own Mondeo had me beat. I took the caliper off & brayed 7 shades of shite out of the disc for 30 mins with a mash hammer, to no avail. Took it to the garage I use for 'stuff I can't do anymore' & they had to cut both discs off with a grinder. The fitter said it was the worst case he'd come across.

paying £ 150 an hour labour charges winds me up.

Your'e going to the wrong garage, mine charges £45 an hour.

Having now put it all back together, I just had a thought....would it have been a good idea to put some copper slip on the bolt threads to reduce the chance of them being seized next time?

Your’e going to the wrong garage, mine charges £45 an hour

I normally take my car for services, etc. to a mate who only charges me £25 an hour. He's a decent mechanic, having worked in various dealerships over the years, and now does a bit of independent, mobile work. Unfortunately he was on holiday this week.

I took the caliper off & brayed 7 shades of shite out of the disc for 30 mins with a mash hammer

That's almost identical to a Peugeot 206 I did that still had it's factory fitted discs 10 years down the line. I started off gentleish, then gave it some (about 40 mins) but kept hitting the disc in different places to even out the load on the hub bearing. The disc eventually broke off like a halo! I was not defeated though and got both off with a combination of heat, chisels and some cutting. It tore bits of metal out of the hub face and disc mating surface. Fun times!

Just did the back pads and discs and a caliper on my C8. Really handy that the braided lines are so well armoured that you can't clamp them. Also ridiculously dangerous state, pads were falling to bits and caliper was pissing fluid out the handbrake ratchet. Worst bit is they never felt any worse than usual!

Like essel the discs in the Mondeo only came off after wailing on them with a peen hammer, think I cracked one in the process.

Top tip, to get caliper bracket bolts undone, set your spanner or breaker in place after using your pen spray of choice and use the jack to get it going.

Octavia rears last year, because as usual, one of the calipers had stuck. First side hour and half because the piston was seized too far out for the wind back tool, the other side was 20 minutes from wheel off to wheel back on again.

My approach to stuck caliper bolts is a decent ring spanner and a dead blow hammer. An open ended spanner will always start to round the bolt, and bashing a selection of ratchets/short breaker bars doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

I spent several hours yesterday afternoon and today trying to do the worst job I have ever attempted...changing the fuel filter on a 2009 Civic Diesel.

Remove Battery - Easy. Remove air filter box - faffy. Remove filter support - easy. Disconnect two fuel pipes - easy ish. Disconnect plug 1 - easy. Disconnect plugs 2 and 3 - arrgghhh! I can either see them, or feel them. Finger cramp. Remove bolts securing filter, first one is OK with about 5 different variations of 12mm sockets and adaptors. Second one, can't even see the thing with two worklamps. Takes about 5 minutes just to manoeuvre the socket onto the bolt by feel. Then it either comes off, or the ratchet stops working as the bolt is loose. Remove filter - stick in vice. Drain diesel. Bolts holding protective cage seized. Water sensor seized in. Filter seized into the fuel heater. Everything covered in diesel and I end up disassembling it all by clamping each plastic component/filter into the big vice and turning the fuel heater. Ignore instructions on new filter and use unapproved strap wrench to tighten new filter. Guesstimate required torque. Hacksaw a slot into the bottom bolt hole as apparently its practically impossible to get the bolt started in the engine bay. Take ages getting bolts tightened up (ratchet not ratcheting, can't reach the sockets to hold them. Re-attach rear fuel line, spring clip overshoots and takes 15 minutes of swearing and various needle nose pliers to get it back over the hose. Reconnected and remount plugs. Disconnect a plug (takes ages - finger cramp) as the loom is too short to get the connectors onto their mounts, mount it, plug back together. Prime filter - bulb hidden under plate. Connect outlet. Reinstall air filter mount, and filter - fiddly. Reinstall battery - easy. (remember, thin work gloves and disposable gloves over, and diesel over everything and all your tools for the entire duration...)

Start car. Test drive. Cancel test drive, yet another headlight bulb gone! Considering the state of the filter, seized parts, and the fact apparently Honda will only change it if you specifically request it, I reckon the filter has never been changed. So the good news is that the new one should last at least another 170,000 miles so I doubt I will repeat this procedure again 🙂

Ive done the fronts on my 09 focus. Not too bad. Needed a 7mm allen key, And I mixed up tight and loose because it was on the back of the caliper so cracked the caliper carrier! Oops! Quick trip to scrappy and £10 got me a new one.

Didnt need a piston reset tool. Just did it with a G clamp and some thin ply for padding.

Honda seem to excel at making fuel filters difficult to change. My old diesel accord had it at the back of the engine sandwiched in front of the scuttle panel. Almost impossible to work on. Similarly to yours I think I was the first person to change and drain it and that was at 60,000 miles. It was supposed to be done every other service and had a full Honda service history up to then. Bit like the pollen filter on another car. Had to remove the glove box and unscrew a panel. Again full dealer service history when I bought it but clearly the pollen filter had never been changed. That's my beef with some dealers/mechanics. They claim to have done stuff and clearly don't do it all.

esselgruntfuttock

As a time served mechanic of 47 years Iv’e had to use some welly in my time to ‘release’ things from cars, but my own Mondeo had me beat. I took the caliper off & brayed 7 shades of shite out of the disc for 30 mins with a mash hammer, to no avail. Took it to the garage I use for ‘stuff I can’t do anymore’ & they had to cut both discs off with a grinder. The fitter said it was the worst case he’d come across.

I had that on mine, eventually I pointed a blowtorch on it then went away inside and did something else, when I came back out everything was a nice cherry red and the plastic insides of the arches were going droopy which seemed a good sign, a couple of good golf swings with the sledgehammer had it off. Used up a whole big can of map though

This along with some suspension bushings will be my job once the kids are dropped at school. If they're a bugger to get off its my fault as i did them last time although i did replace them with a wee bit of copperslip.

Piston rewind tools are amazing, once you use one you wonder why you ever faffed about without one. Mine was out and back in the case in about three minutes, most of that time was spent getting it into the very extended caliper.

That fuel filter reminds me of my Mondeo pollen filter. Never has an easy job been made so difficult by virtue of the fact it has been put in a place that it only accessible before the wiring loom is installed. My C8 gets no back of engine work done at all, the EGR was bad enough, everything needed a mirror and torch to get done.

Is there any earthly reason why all the bolt heads on the caliper should be on the inside, thus making it almost impossible to get a socket wrench of any decent length in there.

Yes

Yup it's a nightmare last time I took mine for new brakes and discs there was nothing on at the cinema so I had to sit in Costa with the yummy mummies.

Piston rewind tools are amazing, once you use one you wonder why you ever faffed about without one.

I agree until you try to use one on an Alfa as they have a LH thread on one of the rear calipers!!!

disc bolts are fine if they are copper slipped. Sadly manufacturers don't copper slip anything to save £, time and mess in the factory and lots of mechanics or DIYers dont either. Pretty much every bolt and pin on my car gets a liberal coating of the stuff. Drop link ends get coated in underseal. Brakes get reassembled with brake grease not copper slip on all the moving parts.

Got the fronts to do on the merc, might do the back while I am at it as the parts are £100. Shouldnt need doing but I noticed my NSR was a bit smelly and warm yesterday so I think it's time to give them a complete overhaul. Already had to fix one of the drum shoes that the garage I bought it off didnt put back in properly giving me 1mm of liner/drum contact on a small lip inside rather than the braking surface.

Also got to get under the front to check for a split boost hose and reconnect the rear washer pipe. Wish I could remember what size the captive/clip on nut things were on the undertray as I want to replace them all as a lot of them are stripped (self tappers into rusty metal).

Also got to take the rear bumper off to fit a the tow bar, easy enough but I am wondering why i bought the extra wiring kit for a caravan that needs wiring to the battery up front but I don't have a caravan...

These stories remind me of trying to keep on top of maintenance on my 1986 Land Rover; most nuts and bolts were rusted solid so I learned to go and buy a new one before removing it because removal often meant destruction with my favourite Land Rover tool, the angle grinder.

At last with the Landy everything in the engine bay was accessible; you could swing the bonnet right up, climb in and stand on the chassis if you wanted!