Dumb idea or not – car discs and pads

Once I have a wheel off I pop it under the wishbone/axle/somewhere similar, laying flat, if anything does slip off it’s less likely to hit the ground/me.

This. I’d been given this tip by a friend before working on our first car outside my Father in Law’s house and he was mocking me for doing it. He then managed to knock the car off the jack and the wheel stopped me being crushed.

disk brakes are fairly straighforward unless they are mounted behind the hub.

I`ve done citroen c4? brakes before i think. and a few others.

the comment above about doing it while the motofactors are open (especially as its your first go) hasnt had enough likes! its a right bugger to have to leave it in bits for a few days – especially if its on teh street.

So – thoughts on needing discs too, or is pads on old discs on a low-performance car that barely gets up to 60 downhill, less if the aircon is on, a sensible compromise (safety is a consideration too, just that pads looks a piece of piss, pads and discs increase the jeopardy by 3 more bolts)

Modern discs and pads should always be replaced at the same time, they wear at similar rates by design.  Back when the pads were asbestos you could do 2-3 pads per disc but the new pads are a lot more aggressive.  Plus being your son’s car it’s a small price for piece of mind.

The C1 is probably the easiest modern car to do brake work on.  Single piston caliper that doesn’t require any special tools to wind back, simple hub where the disc is held on by the wheel (so no dismantling of hub to worry about) and silly cheap parts if you break anything.  Just take your time and refer to instructions/video as you go along.

On a simple car like a C1, you shouldn’t come across any problems. As others have said, biggest issue is going to be a seized bolt so maybe give everything a bit of a soak with WD40 and then go and make a brew before you attack them. Oh, and remember that its quite hard to remove the discs when the handbrake is on 😀

There is a single machine scew holding the disc on. Snapped one off as it was seized then used an ‘easy out’ to remove what was left.

WD40 is not penetrant, although they do make one.

That little countersunk bolt – I always drill the head off, then the disc comes off and I am able to get molgrips on the stub and undo it. Sometimes helps to bend it with a hammer then you have something to turn.

so in prep for that, where do I get a replacement from (noting previous post saying it only locates the disc, the wheel nuts hold it on)

(and I have an impact driver on order as well)

WD40 is not penetrant,

I was always of this opinion, but it’s all GE use when they come on site for outages, and they’re serving industrial gas turbines, not French city cars. Dunno why, I’ll try to remember and ask next time they are on site.

so in prep for that, where do I get a replacement from

Buy decent quality parts and they will come with a new screw. Only the cheapest of cheap don’t.

I did it on a Toyota IQ and it wasn’t too bad.

I used the scissor jack with the wheel underneath the car in case it falls (not that I was underneath it) and used my bicycle headset press in reverse to push the piston back in.

I’ve spent the best part of an entire weekend doing exactly this when I’ve stripped a bolt or 2.

I’d encourage anybody to give it a try, and it can save a ton of money. Just be prepared for things to go wrong.

My advice would be to make sure you have the correct tools. You can easily lose half a day hunting around the house for a 10mm spanner, or an entire week if you try your luck with the 11mm one or mole grips instead.

If you really want to make life good, get an impact wrench. (I see the investment in tools as a future cost saving).

Watch a load of YouTube videos before you start to get an idea of what’s involved and the problems you’re likely to run into.

Nobody on here put some copperslip on the back of the pads to stop the squeal?

I’d take photos of clips etc before you take them off, so easy and hour later to go what way does that clip sit

Brake cleaner aerosol always handy

I changed a caliper on the Z4 and bled the brakes by gravity into a glass

Brakes no longer use copperslip. You get squidgy gell stickers to go between the pistons and the backs of the pads nowadays.

Agree with much of the above. DO open the bleed nipple when pushing the piston back. Don’t force crap through the ABS pump.

Front only needs a 6″ G-clamp.

Impact driver for the disc retaining screws, when I did the wifes pug 108 it was an excuse to add to the DeWalt cordless tool selection with an 18V impact driver.

Finally, having just looked at the puggy, Bosch calipers with the usual pad guides top and bottom of the mounting bracket. So while you’ve got the bracket off the car, pop the guides off, and give the bracket a good wire brushing or screwdriver chipping off any rust behind the guides. Rust being more volume than the iron it started as, makes the pads tight. Smear the channels with brake grease, pop the guides back on, and a smear of grease on those. Pads should pop back into the guides and move freely. Obvs careful not getting grease onto friction surfaces!

Your supposed to use new guide clips, but it years since I had new one supplied with pads, so no worries imho.

Oh, I’ve stopped worrying about branded discs n pads. Did my Avensis last week, eBay pads, vented discs £81, comline brand. They’re fine, and much cheaper than eurocarparts. Rears where about £60 I think.

well, good and bad (or bad and good)

Excuse for axle stands, and on the vids there’s a front to back solid member that the axle stand went under nicely.

But the issue was the wheelnuts – fortunately I’d seen another recommendation on here a week or two ago about an extending wheelbrace, and jumping on the end of that won the day.

Then I couldn’t get the wheel off, rusted onto the hub, but some judicious application of a big hammer to the back of the rim (cheap steelies!) while making sure the axle stands weren’t rocking won that one too. Any then I finally see the totally rusty disc centre (whatever it’s called, the bit that goes on the hub) and the almost rusted over retaining screw and I think ‘**** this, this has potential easily to be £100+ worth of ballache’. So after all that, it’s a garage job, not prepared for the risk.

However, I also got to check the discs and pads properly and 18.5mm on disc but a decent surface, and 6mm or so on pads so a few miles yet on them. I have in mind 40-50k per pads, about 10mm when new, replace at 3mm, so a bit more than half way =15-20k more miles possibly.

And I now own a pair of axles stands and an impact driver.

Whereabouts in the world are you?  I’ve got all the tools that you’ll need and I’ll do the job for you (or watch while you do it using my tools) in exchange for several tins of beer. I’m near Mansfield.

Thanks, but down south

Can’t believe it took 20 hours for someone to finally mention letting the old fluid out of the bleed nipple when pushing the piston back rather than sending all the seal debris etc back through the ABS manifold 🙂

This then leads to the joy of old cars and tiny seized bleed nipples which have a hole down the middle which further weakens them and makes sure they snap just when you don’t want it…… Which is a really good reminder to change the fluid every 2 years which regularly disturbs the nipples and stops them seizing in the first place.

Beware a seized bleed nipple!

almost rusted over retaining screw and I think ‘**** this

Try and undo it – if it rounds off or chews up just drill the head off as mentioned above. My Pug partner has a snapped one – even though I have Dormer extractors, rothenberger MAPP blowtorch, every handtool you can think of and access to a full machine shop at work……I’ve not bothered removing it as they don’t actually do anything.

Although sounds like the Op won’t need the tip, another thing not mentioned when swapping discs is making sure the hub surface is very very clean before you put the new disc on – a tiny bit of old built up muck, rust, whatever, under there and it’ll cause some run-out on the disc; a thousand miles later you’ll be doing the job again as the new discs warped. Guess how I learnt this…

And buy the big squirty aerosol cans of brake cleaner anytime you see them reduced, then apply liberally as you go 🙂

@redmex copperslip is horrible shit on brakes, gets hot, sets and corrodes. You want the silicon grease, you get a packet in most pad kits and Euros sell a tube of it for bugger all. I usually clean the pins out and put a bit in as well.

@theotherjonv the screw can be thrown away. I bought ones for the very first set I did and I still have them in their Honda packets to remind me how much of a bastard it was to get the old ones off, needed an impact driver and a lot of swearing. If you get stuck then Dart Ti-N bits chew through anything. Tbh you can take it easy and just gradually get everything unseized, time is on your side and there’s no point of no return unless you take a ball pein hammer to the disc. Also done that. But by that point you’re on the home straight.

Oh, I’ve stopped worrying about branded discs n pads. Did my Avensis last week, eBay pads, vented discs £81, comline brand. 

come back in 6 months.

I used to not worry and get what every the factors had on the shelf cheaply  . then i realised i was changing the cheap shit pads and disks every year at MOT time due to heavy corrosion  (no longer a fail so long as the force is adaquate)

soon as the penny dropped i changed to decent branded pads and disks and i dont suffer corrosion of the same ilk down to worn out time.

Not sure if it’s been said but keep an eye on the rising brake fluid, use a syringe to remove some if need be.

another thing not mentioned when swapping discs is making sure the hub surface is very very clean before you put the new disc on

Oh yeah – buy a wire brush for your drill and get all the rust off the hub face and the disc (if you’re refitting an old one). This prevents the pulsing under braking that you get if the discs aren’t mounted true.

RE the stuck wheel..

Often they need a proper hoof to the tyre to break it free!

I was on a ride once, and popped to a garage to buy a mars bar (other snacks are available). 2 young lads were trying to change the flat tyre to the spare, but couldn’t get the wheel off.

I clip-clopped over in my SPDs, gave the tyre/wheel a hefty boot, and the wheel gently popped off!

#heroeswearSPDs

DrP

Get yourself on youtube, chances are there’ll be a how-to for that exact car that’ll tell you if there’s any gotchas,special tools, random manufacturer ****ery etc and will let you judge it for yourself.

“random manufacturer ****ery” was very much the case when I had to do the obviously simple job of replacing a front sidelight bulb on an original model Puma. No YouTube videos available in the very early 2000’s, and the handbook described it as “a roadside repair”.

Cue hollow laughter. 45 minutes, and having to find a large Torx wrench when such things were hardly known about. I managed to get it done, and I probably saved myself around £100 even back then.

Brakes I leave to whoever does my MoT, if anything needs replacing.

My local garage quoted me you buy the discs and pads we’ll fit for £50 cash….

This is what I’m going to do

Often they need a proper hoof to the tyre to break it free!

My Mondeo took a sledgehammer from behind round the entire circumference. Top tip: when the “pointless” centre cap breaks, replace it.

Come to think of it that might also be why the bearing has gone. Huh.

Regular issue round here, wheels seizing to the hubs with all the crap on the roads for 5 months of the year. On the plus side, i change the wheels twice a year, so it’s only 6/7 months worth of crap.

I keep a sledge hammer and a block of wood in my “tyre changing pile of stuff”.
Saw one poor bugger knocking his car off the jack trying to free it off to put his spare on after a puncture.

Oh, I’ve stopped worrying about branded discs n pads.

Did that on my father in laws skoda, he bought the cheapest pads he could find (About 30 quid for 4) by the time they were worn out (20000 km maybe?) the OE discs were also mangled beyond use (they were about 30% worn when i fitted the pads).
The decent branded discs and pads we put on to replace did another 50 or 60 thousand km without complaint. Then the car got sold. The decent pads were only about 15 quid more.

When changing a caliper on mine I found the wheel was stuck on, no amount of whacking would get it off. Half a mile (very slowly!) with loose wheel it’s had it free.

I’ve found some cars are more prone to the wheels being stuck on than others. I had a bmw that was terrible for it, even after a couple of months.

amount of whacking would get it off. Half a mile (very slowly!) with loose wheel it’s had it free.

Had to resort to this tactic a couple of times when a mash hammer wouldn’t do it. No need to drive anywhere, rocking the car back and forth in the drive and jabbing the brakes can do it.