Thread: Removing rear rotors

I'm probably missing something, but I can't get the rear rotors off. Tire is off, calipar is off. I found the two TORX screws behind the rotor. The one closest to the rear is a little difficult to get to but I can loosen it and can remove it easily. The other TORX screw is behind the parking break line, I think. Do I need to loosen and/or remove it as well to take the rotor off? I've got some torx bits, but I can't quite fit it in there. Do I need to get a special longer TORX bit or something to reach it? Or do I just need to beat the crap out of it with a hammer after spraying plenty of PB Blaster on it?

If the caliper is off and the e-brake is released, it will come off. Use your BFH on it.

Do the TORX bolts need to come off?, or should it just come off with the parking brake of. I don't have a set of right angle torx wrenches anyway, so I'm going to pick up a set regardless. And where's the best place to hit the rotor? There's a small area towards the front that doesn't have a metal shield of some kind. Is it OK to hit that shield all over the place, and then just bang it back straight once the rotor is off?

Just hit the face of the rotor you can see.

Yeah some times using a little bit of w240 will help you out then hammer and some man power. But make sure you loosend everything that holds the caliper in place.

Combination of waiting, PB Blaster, and BFH got it off. No sweet on the other rear rotor. Then I moved the front, and the caliper bolts are stuck on it. Squirted one down with PB Blaster and I'm gonna let it sit overnight. Hopefully that will loosen that one up. I'm not going to attempt the other one until I know I can get both calipers off.

Glad to hear you finally got off those rear rotors. I was tempted to post a motivational message suggesting you man up a bit instead obsessing of those torxs bolts.

Anyway, just some words of wisdom just incase you check this post in the morning. Having done brake jobs on both my GPs it seems to me those caliper bolts come loctited and super torqued from the factory. And I’m sure most shops do the same thing. Regardless, my point is your going to need a breaker bar. PB blaster IMHO won’t help at all in this particular situation. You could also get by with a wrench and a cheater pipe, or something similar. Turning the wheel a bit gives you clearance for those cheater bars. And one last item, be sure you lube up that caliper locking bolt with high temp grease. Good luck.

Yeah, tomorrow morning it'll be a trip out for a breaker bar. I didn't put any locktite on the rear brake calipers, nor did I grease them up. The rears looked full of grease as is. I could easily unscrew them a bit and put the locktite on and probably grease for the rears. Guess I should also pick up brake grease as well for the fronts for sure. Which lock-tite should I god with? Blue, green, or red? I don't know if I'll have the car long enough for me to change the brakes again, but then again it may keep on trucking past 200K (Just hit 130K).

I have never used loctite on any brake system bolt. I was just saying earlier that IMO the factory does, and it makes the calipers a PIA to get off the first time. One method I do use to keep bolts tight is always clean any re-used bolt. I pay special attention to the threads and the bottom side of the head. You would be amazed how many people don’t bother cleaning the head of a bolt, most people stop at the threads. Torque down a bolt with a piece of junk stuck under the head and then check to see how tight it is in a month.

On we go to the bolt grease. Seriously, you need to grease the caliper locking bolt. And only that bolt, not the others. If you don’t I guarantee it will eventually cause your brakes to fail. Also, just incase your lost with the whole locking bolt thing. It is the one bolt (of two) actually securing the caliper. It is easily identified by the extra (locking) threads at the end. The area between the threads needs to be greased. And don’t be afraid to load it up a bit, a little extra won’t hurt. For my last brake job I sprung for a can of high temp grease, it cost me like a whole $5. Honestly just about any grease you have laying around would probably work, I used regular bearing grease for many brake jobs.

I was also thinking that your rear brakes will be just fine if you didn’t wipe off locking bolts, and left the existing grease in place. But if you did wipe them down, I’d go back and grease them soon.

I use the closed end of a combination wrench and a rubber mallet to break them loose. Have not had one yet that wouldn't break free that way.

I tired using a socket and rachet and then kicking it, but all that managed to do was to knock it off a few times. I'll go ahead and get a breaker bar, since I don't have one and I'm sure I'll need it again when I change the Impala brakes in a year or so.

Regarding the part that needs to be greased on the calipers, it's the bolt with the little rubber gasket around it? That's for the caliper to move, obviously, and still be protect from the outside elements. I actually didn't separate the rear brake calipers purposely. One came apart as I was trying to slide the pads in, and that's when I noticed it was well greased. I kept the other one together when I put the pads on. But the rears are also a bit easier to deal with. I'll take the time to separate and grease the fronts since that's where most of the stopping power is.

I can't freaking win. Got the caliper off with a breaker bar and a jack. Replaced the brake pads, and I am glad cerick, you said to get some grease. The fronts were bare. Greased them up, everything re-assembled, then put the wheels and lugnets on. It was going too smoothly, so sure enough, one of the lugnets either went on crooked or the pin was messed up, because it wouldn't tighten correctly. Removed the lug nut, and used a spare I had. It too was going on weird, and now it was messed up and won't fit anywhere else. Just barely put on a THIRD lugnet, screwed it up. So now I have to try Autozone, and baring that, head to a junk yard and pick up a few pins and lugnets. And that's fun to do when it's 100+ degrees out! Luckily I don't have to remove the brake caliper to get some of the pins, just a good hammer to smash them out.

You should use blue loctite on the caliper bracket bolts.

Well, I’d say mission accomplished. To bad about the cross threaded wheel stud. I’d say it might have been the same crack mechanic that didn’t lube the locking bolt. Or maybe it was lubed, but with the wrong stuff.

I’m glad I could help, it is amazing how little tid bits of info can make a job go 1000% better.
I knew you would need that breaker bar. And besides they are cheap and now you will have it available. Wait until you do your first half shaft or hub replacement, you'll want to put me on your Christmas card list.

Got some replacement studs and lug nuts today, and finished up with just about everything. Just have to get some washers on the way home from work tomorrow to tighten down the stud.

When it's time to change the Impala brakes, I'm going to make sure my friend who has access to a lift is available. Doing this when it's 95+ degrees outside wasn't fun, along with the 3-4 trips I had to make as I needed more and more parts and tools. But it was a learning experience, that's for sure. Instead of the 10 or so hours it took not knowing exactly what I needed, I'll the Imp knocked out in two hours.

Knocking out that Imp will be easy with your current experience, tools, and a helper.

I can save you that trip to get the washers. Just pound out that old stud, push the new one in as far as you reasonably can. If you can get it so the pongs start going through your golden. Then put your spare tire on (or your regular tire if it will poke through enough). Then put the lug bolts on, I’d put them all on. Get the “good” four snug, NOT super torqued. Then slowly draw in the new stud. And then fully torque things towards the end when the stud is near fully seated.

That was so easy, I don't know why I didn't even think about it. I was afraid as I was tightening everything else up to take it off the jack last night that something might break as I tried that. But sure enough, it worked like a charm. I could keep tightening the nut on the stud, and eventually it would tighten no more. A quick comparison to where the end of the stud was on the nut next to other studs showed it was all the way in.

Next up, new tires!

A large nut the is bigger than the shaft also works great for pulling them threw.

Took it out for spin, brakes worked great, no wobble from the wheel with the new stud. All good, thanks everyone.