Removing Front Brake Rotors w/o self tapping bolt holes ...

I'm using the Chilton Saturn manual to help me replace
my rotors. The manual says to use, "two M8 x 1.25 self
tapping bolts into the holes provided on the rotor."

The new rotors have the holes but the rotors on the
car now don't have the self tapping bolt holes.

Can anyone suggest how to remove the non-bolt hole
rotors? It's a 97 SW1 with 111k and the brakes have
never been touched. I'm replacing the pads too. The
only thing I don't have is the brake pad retaining
clips but I plan to get the clips before I start.

I really appreciate the help,
~

 

I guess I don't really understand. Whenever I've worked on brakes (both
Saturn and non-Saturn) that had rotors, all you had to do was to remove the
wheel and then take off a few screws to remove the brake calipers (hang it
off the spring with a coat hanger). Once the caliper is out of the way the
roter just comes right off. No big deal at all. To put them back on you can
either use a tool to force the brake caliper apart (which, oddly, is what my
Haynes manual suggests doing) or (what I prefer) just open the valve on the
brakes and you can pull it apart fairly easily. You'll just have to bleed
the brakes afterwards.

I've *never* had to use tapping bolts to pull off rotors or to do any other
work on a car (not that there aren't situations where they may be needed
but, for the average person working on their car, they aren't).

Do you have any other details?

Thanks,

Brad

 

I guess I don't really understand. Whenever I've worked on brakes (both

Thats pretty much my feelings. Don't know where you'd need self tapping
bolts......

Worse comes to worse you may have to tap on the rotor a little bit to free it,
but usually it slides right off once you get the caliper out of the way.

I wouldn't open the bleeder valve. Rather, remove the reservoir cap and use a
C-clamp to compress the piston so it fits with the new pads and rotors. Keep an
eye on the fluid level as it may overflow when you are compressing them.

 

I assume you are not talking about cars where the rotor is intergal with the
front hub (like the front rotors on most US rear wheel drive vehicles).

For cars where the rotor is a seperate removal piece, they can freeze on the hub
due to corrsion. I have heard of cases where the rotor had to be heated with a
torch, cut with a sawsall, or beaten off with a hammer becasue it was "corroded"
in place. This sort of problem is most often seen in areas where salt is used on
the roads in the winter. I've never had this problem where I live (North
Carolina), but I think the addition of holes for for jacking screws is a good
idea.

If my rotors were corroded in place, I'd soak the hub/rotor interface with a
good penetrating oil (PB Blaster is my favorite) and tap the rotor with a hammer
to loosen it. If you have access to a torch, lightly heating the rotor might
help (don't cook the hub!). I have heard of people deliberately leaving the lug
nuts loose and driving the car very short distances (not out of the driveway)
and sharply applying the brakes while rocking back and forth to beak the rotors
loose. I think this is a bad idea and would never try in myself. Another
solution is to make radial cuts in the rotors with a sawsall and the hit the
rotor sharply with a hammer to break the rotor into pieces.

Ed

 

Use a can of penetrant and try to get it in between the rotor and front hub.
Then beat on the rotor backside with with a hammer. A big hammer. I'm sure
it would be safest to the bearings in the hub if you never had to do that,
but I haven't found any other way when they are rusted on and will not come
off by any other means.

My Haynes manual suggests the bolt method, but I never could get that to
work in a rotor that did have the holes. Even with the hardest grade bolts
I could find, they wouldn't thread in.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

 

If my rotors were corroded in place, I'd soak the hub/rotor interface with
a

Wow. I've never see rotor corroded in place and never even considered it.
I'm sure it happens, it just never even occurred to me.

Thanks for clarifying.

Here's another Saturn brake issue:

My rotors are warped (again). I replaced them last spring and by the end of
the summer they were vibrating pretty hard. It seems to be very temperature
sensitive, though, as when it cools off outside the brakes are fine but when
it warms up, they vibrate quite a bit. I've never had rotors that were
sensitive to the outside temperature (or that I ever noticed being
sensitive). I'm wondering if they are just defective. Obviously, it's time
to replace them again.

One my original Saturn (1994) I had to get the rotors replaced at 20,000mi
due to warping. Those rotors lasted until 150,000mi when I traded it in on
the current (2001) Saturn. I was hoping to have these new rotors last a
while but they didn't even last 6 months. I don't think it's due to hard
driving as my final rotors on my previous Saturn were fine with 130,000mi on
them. I haven't changed my driving habits.

I don't want to keep buying rotors, though.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Brad

 

I have some thoughts. I've found that you can use cheap (the $20 Chinese
ones that you get at any of the usual auto parts stores). However, get
yourself a good torque wrench, and tighten all of the lug nuts to the
correct torque (103 ft lbs).

Tighten in two steps - first set all of them to 50 ft lbs in a criss-cross
pattern, then torque it up to 103 in a criss-cross pattern.

I've done this and never had a warped rotor issue.

 

I specifically torqued to 100 ft lbs when I put the rotors on in the spring
but it is a possibility that somewhere along the lines someone rotated the
tires and just clamped them down with their air-wrench.

What a pain.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Enjoy!

Brad

 

Sometimes when you think the brake rotors are warped, they aren't really warped.
Instead there is a spot on the rotors where the lining material has transferred
to the rotor creating an area with a different coefficient of friction. As this
spot passes under the pads you get differential braking action and that warped
rotor feel. This is often caused by hard braking on new pads. Apparently the
binding agent in the pads transfers to the rotors. Lightly sanding the rotors
might help this. Or a different type of pad. Another cause of that warped rotor
feel is a tire with a broken belt. Swapping the tires around can identify this
sort of problem.

Ed

 

Sometimes when you think the brake rotors are warped, they aren't really
warped.

Good suggestions. I'm going to do the oil changes / plugs this weekend so
I'll take the tires off while I'm there and lightly sand the rotors to see
if it helps.

Thanks,

Brad

 

More info can be found here:
http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/warped_rotors_myth.htm

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

 

Ditto about the torque wrench - the only piece I add is to retighten again
after 30-50 miles of driving (my front's tend to back off a little from the
initial tightening)...