SON of a B1TC%^&^%&$#^%@$%h.

[ProZak]

Rrrgh.

So, some shimmy under light brakes at speed. Solid bushings and other suspension geometry, no trouble at less than say 60 MPH. Must be the rotors. Easy fix. Order new fronts (and what the hell, rears) from BMA for $197 shipped, Mintex pads and El Cheapo rotors, ought to do me fine. Print out relevant Bentley pages, collect tools, start work.

Please bear in mind I've never even changed a tire on this car, just the stereo.

So I start on the right hand front because ... well, just because. The only bit that gives me some trouble are the break pad carrier mounting bolts, but being on the right hand side, couple of whangs on the wrench breaks them loose. Gravity helps me here. Those of you who've done the brakes, you know what I mean; wrench handle points towards the front of the vehicle, lefty-loosey is towards the ground because the head of the bolt is away from you.

So, right side rotor and pads are replaced. Brilliant. Move to left. Dismount wheel. Remove caliper and pads. CANNOT GET THE FREAKING PAD CARRIER MOUNTING BOLTS LOOSE.

I don't have a lift, I don't have an impact wrench, I don't even (god help me) have any WD-40 or Liquid Wrench handy, so I bang on the bloody things for a good 30 minutes, no traction. It's tough, because I have to push the wrench *up* to loosen the bolts (remember, I'm on the left side now) and I can't get a good swing with the hammer I'm using to abuse my wrench.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

So, it's getting late, I resign myself to leaving the old rotor in place temporarily until I figure out how to get those things off, and drive off into the night with one new rotor and two new sets of pads. I'll leave the rears for later.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for staying with me so far. Besides "pay someone else to do it," "get a lift" or "buy an impact wrench," anybody have any advice?

Thanks in advance. I'm still totally in love with this car.

-Zak-

[SchnellE34]

You weakling! just kiddin man. Yeah I had a helluva time gettin mine off. BTW, its called a called caliper, not brake pad carrier. I think some WD40 should help. Did any of them have the plastic covers over the holes? You may want to invest in those... they're cheap from the stealership.

I thought the story was going to end with you breaking something (i.e. the car or yourself) I guess you can be glad you didn't.

[632 Regal]

Take a breath bro.... you can remove the whole carrier instead of just the caliper, which is what I do since I stripped the caliper threads once. A something .5 tap is real hard to come by so I carefully remove the whole bracket with a wrench and hammer if my palms arent up to the beating.

Hope this gives you a different angle.

While the whole carrier bracket is off you can remove the caliper sliding deal off the studs and clean them up, dont lube them but leave them dry. Install the rotor, new pads and reassemble.

~ I need to pick up one of them weird taps before I strip it again ~

[Bill R.]

loose, You don't need an impact or a lift or anything else. You just need a fairly strong wrench or ratchet and a piece of pipe to slip over the end of the wrench or ratchet to give you more leverage. I have a number of pieces of stainless steel pipe with 1/8 wall thickness cut off to different lengths just for this reason. To give that added leverage needed on some bolts when you can't get a long breaker bar in place. You also need to use a 1/2 drive ratchet on something like this rather than a 3/8 drive

Take a breath bro.... you can remove the whole carrier instead of just the caliper, which is what I do since I stripped the caliper threads once. A something .5 tap is real hard to come by so I carefully remove the whole bracket with a wrench and hammer if my palms arent up to the beating.

Hope this gives you a different angle.

While the whole carrier bracket is off you can remove the caliper sliding deal off the studs and clean them up, dont lube them but leave them dry. Install the rotor, new pads and reassemble.

~ I need to pick up one of them weird taps before I strip it again ~

[Tiger]

Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

[Bill R.]

like toothpicks, they shear right at the pivot.. the craftsmen ratchet 1/2 will actually take more abuse when using long extensions.. i mean really long

Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

[yaofeng]

Flex-bar... breaker bar is available at Sears... $28. There is nothing that I can't get off with this bar.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

I'd like to see you use that 18" craftsman breaker bar to remove the crank bolt on a M60 engine. 325 ft-lbs.

[Qube]

Heh. I feel for you. When I did mine, the rear gave so much trouble... especially the left side because of the exhaust. So little room for leverage there!

[Bill R.]

some of you.....

Heh. I feel for you. When I did mine, the rear gave so much trouble... especially the left side because of the exhaust. So little room for leverage there!

[kick7ca]

keep on truck'n