Eight hours to change brakes

[anonymous-user]

I'm knackered and dirty, and sick of the sight of brake discs and pads. I whipped the wheels off the 106 Rallye other day after a nice wash and wax just to have a poke around to see the state of things, and noticed the discs were pretty shot on the front. The brakes have always been a bit wooden, so I thought I'd get some new ones. The pads had a fair bit of life left, but I thought I'd do it all at the same time.

So, £51 later I've got some new vented discs and some OE Mintex pads on their way from http://www.brakeparts.co.uk (Excellent service BTW).

At 10am this morning, the first side starts well, wheel off in 30 seconds with my new impact gun, notice that the French have decided to use a pair of torx bolts to hold the piston on instead of normal bolts. Not to worry, crawl out from under the car and find my torx set and eventually get them off.

Then I notice that there's a bracket that holds the caliper to the hub, and you can't take the disc off without taking this off first. Fine, look round the back and it's 2 x 19mm bolts as usual. Get the ratchet on them.... nothing. They're a bit tight. No worries, I'll get the impact gun on them. Can't because the driveshaft is in the way. Great. I'm under the car wriggling about trying to prise them off by hand. They aren't budging. I'm getting angry by this point and it's starting to show. Try again with the ratchet.

After 10 minutes of struggling, I'm very pissed off. Stand up and launch the wratchet into the garden with a big "fk OFF". Neighbour comes over chuckling to see what the problem is, gives some useless advice about WD40 (I'm soaked in the stuff already), tells me about his tiling on the kitchen floor, then says he's off to the pub to let the tile adhesive set before coming back to grout later. Half tempted to go down to the pub myself, but no, I need to crack on.

Back into the garage to find the large breaker bar, and put an impact socket on the end. Very angry now. Manage to crawl under the car and get myself enough of an angle to get the breaker bar working. After much straining and gurning it moves! Hallelujah! Retrieve the ratchet from the garden and finish it off by hand. Copper grease on the hub, new disc on, clean with brake cleaner, wind caliper back, new pads in, caliper back on. In the words of Gordon Ramsay, DONE.

Onto the next side.

Jacked up and wheel off in record time, piston off, pads out. Hmmmm, the torx bolts aren't fitting this side for some reason. How I love the French. Crawl under the car and spot they are totally different this side. They're not regular bolts, they aren't torx bolts, they're some weird hybrid allen bolts. Back into the garage to find the allen attachments for the ratchet. Get one that fits and try to undo them, what a surprise. Nothing. Try a bit harder. Nothing. Try coating with WD40, tin of WD40 runs out, fk!!! Put tools down and get in the wife's car and go to the nearest shop that sells WD40. Apply very liberally. Try again, nothing. Decide to spray more WD40, whack with a hammer a few times to try and loosen it up. Decide now would be a good time to grab a quick sarnie and let the 'penetrating fluid' penetrate. Back out after 30 minutes. Try again. Nothing. Right, a quick swap of attachments and the allen key is on the end of the impact gun. Crawl under the car and just about make room and smash it up with the impact gun for what must have been 30+ seconds. Didn't budge at all, and only succeeded in getting rust in my eyes.

Try again by hand, and I use so much force that the inside of the allen nut rounds off. Brilliant. Try hammering a socket over the end but I can't get enough room for a good swing so end up with a real limp wristed attempt at hammering a socket on the end. Give up on a bad idea. Phone a mate with a welder to see if he can tack a bolt on the end so I can try the impact gun again. He's working away and won't be back until late, but can do it tomorrow. No good, I'm angry and need a solution NOW.

Decide to reassemble everything and drive to the nearest garage for some professional help. Get laughed at. Bloke comes out with air tools, tries what I tried, and nothing. Out comes the gas torch for a liberal application of heat. The bolts are now glowing red hot, and after about ten minutes of persuasion with numerous air tool attachments, they give in and come loose. Give him a fiver to buy himself a couple of beers. Walk to the bolt shop 100yds away and buy two replacements (that was lucky eh!). Realise I'm now away from home with my brakes in bits. No option but to reassemble everything again with old discs and pads and drive home.

Car back up on axle stands, wheel off for the third time, piston off for the third time, pads out for the third time (I'm getting quite good at this at this point) and finally get the bracket off. HURRAAH! Repeat steps, copper grease on the hub, new disc on, clean with brake cleaner, wind caliper back, new pads in, caliper back on. In the words of Gordon Ramsay, DONE. Check everything is tight, tidy away tools, go and bed brakes in with a few 50-30mph and 30-0mph stops. Come back and put car in garage. Look at watch - 6pm.

Eight fking hours. At least I saved myself £50 labour

I keep telling myself "it's the satisfaction of doing it yourself".... Am I mad? Please tell me I'm not the only one who has luck like this when working on my own cars

[carreauchompeur]

This is why I rarely try anything technical

[bigdavy]

Sorry 5/10, definetley not enough swearing in there old boy

Sounds pretty much like most of my half hour jobs to be honest!

These jobs always go bad in my experience, it's only when you expect these problems and set aside a full day for a small job that things go well.

Think positive, £50 in the back pocket for beer.

[chris1roll]

If it makes you feel any better I did my wifes rear discs and pads on Saturday.
Took me an hour.

[Graebob]

Good lad. I use my mates garage at the minute, it's a pain in the arse for both of us, but I'm not paying to service an '89 316i, it's just not good enough!

Swapped the rad in 7 hours weekend before last, I had a whale of a time. Bonnet hinges forward, so you have to take that off Then get the old one out, then realise I don't know how to properly refill the system without airlocks (never done it before). About 2 of those 7 hours was spent on the internet looking for answers

Or how about trying to fit normal springs to my old 530i after the previous owner had cut them and ruined the shocks? Took 2 days. Having a spring compressor go off and fire the spring as high as a 2 storey house is enough to scare the bajesus out of you

Edited by Graebob on Monday 12th April 19:11

[Graebob]

Oh boobies, double post

Edited by Graebob on Monday 12th April 19:11

[Herman Toothrot]

Sounds a horrid brake setup. On the MX5 it takes removing the wheel and ONE bolt and the caliper swings out of the carrier leaving enough room to lift the pads out and tilt the disc to remove it. I've only had one french car and I did hate it.

[shalmaneser]

I'm surprised you had that much trouble. took me ten minutes a side to put new discs on the rear of my 205 a couple of days ago.

[anonymous-user]

Herman Toothrot said:

Sounds a horrid brake setup. On the MX5 it takes removing the wheel and ONE bolt and the caliper swings out of the carrier leaving enough room to lift the pads out and tilt the disc to remove it. I've only had one french car and I did hate it.

I loved working on my MX5, everything was well thought out an accessible. Changing the rad took about 40 minutes start to finish. French cars, well, they're generally held together with whatever was in the parts bin that week by Pierre and his smelly mates.

[mybrainhurts]

Graebob said:

Oh boobies, double post

Edited by Graebob on Monday 12th April 19:11

You can delete it, you know...

Well, you could have...until I quoted it...

[anonymous-user]

shalmaneser said:

I'm surprised you had that much trouble. took me ten minutes a side to put new discs on the rear of my 205 a couple of days ago.

Would have been easy if the damn thing hadn't rusted together!

[MarkRSi]

carreauchompeur said:

This is why I rarely try anything technical

+1

Plus I seem to spend 90% of my time yo-yoing between the car/bike and the garage and spend ages trying to find tools/WD40 etc.

[spaceship]

carreauchompeur said:

This is why I rarely try anything technical

Must admit, i'm the same. I'm quite technically minded and handy with a socket set etc (use the stuff often enough at work) but i rarely attempt stuff at home. I don't have a garage and hate lying under a car unless the weather is perfect. I also don't have the huge supply of tools that I do at work and it's almost never straight forward when it comes to car maintenance.

I totally feel for you mate. It's so frustrating. Should have been an easy job too.

Better luck next time.

[Deluded]

I totally feel your pain.

Replaced the centre section exhaust on my Vectra B the other day. Snapped the heads off two bolts so had to remove the whole manifold and cat section, drill out two bolts and then realise I had been at it for 4 hours and it was 8:30pm and no shops were open to buy new bolts! Put it all back together except for the two bolts joining the centre section and cat section.

I then got up early to be at B&Q for 7am to buy the bolts I needed and be back in time to fit them and be at work for 9.

Job well done in the end. fking furious though as the flexi section on the downpipe is blowing now so it's all got to come out again! At least I know it will be straight forward this time!

[Hitler Hadrump]

First time I ever did brake pads, on my first car (a Fiesta), it took all day. That included a trip into town to buy a No.7 allen key, and an age to bleed the brakes thanks to poor technique.

[rhinochopig]

Many years ago I fitted new discs and pads on my old Mi16. They were held on by screws which were totally seized in place. After pen oil, heat etc. I stripped the screw heads. Cue having to drill the bds out and then re-tap the threads. Fortunately this was done at my fathers who is an ex tool maker so he had all the kit. I recall that taking most of the morning.

If you have the option of working overtime, I'd rather work the extra hours to pay for an expert to do it. Could I do it - Yes. Do I have the inclination to get my hands dirty these days - not really.

[Deluded]

rhinochopig said:

Could I do it - Yes. Do I have the inclination to get my hands dirty these days - not really.

Pretty much how I feel. I used to love fiddling with cars, servicing etc. but these days, I just find it a chore. I do enjoy it, but it can be such a pain in the arse sometimes.

[Wing Commander]

Hitler Hadrump said:

First time I ever did brake pads, on my first car (a Fiesta), it took all day. That included a trip into town to buy a No.7 allen key, and an age to bleed the brakes thanks to poor technique.

Poor technique indeed! Why did you have to bleed the brakes after changing the pads?!

[varsas]

It's not just you. Took me about the same time to do the shoes/drums on my Stag. No real problems as such, just a lot of struggling with cross tension springs that wern't very springy any more and the lack of clearance meaning I had to put them together/take them a part about 4 times each side before it would all fit properly. Also the haynes manual says you can adjust them after they have been put on. No. You really can't. You have to set it first and then be very carefull you don't pull the calipers apart while fitting the springs otherwise they'll adjust out and you can't get the drum back on...also didn't helped that one of the wheel cylinders sprang a leak after I had removed the shoes.

[Gaspode]

You have my sympathies, but it made an excellent story. You probably know this, but it's worth investing in some proper penetrating fluid. Plus Gas is loads better than WD40 for this.