Tips on removing stuck/seized disc/rotor

silverblack said:
It took me and the brother about 2 mins of hammering and that broke the seal of rust and the disk fell off.
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Will bear that in mind if the caliper bracket trick doesn't work.

Six6siX said:
That nut/bolt/washer method worked absolutely brilliantly for me when I did my brakes.
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Good to hear! Not quite sure why I didn't think of it, I'd contemplated how to get a G clamp (or my caliper wind back) between them and the rotor...

adam cool dude said:
Most cars have a threaded hole in the disc. This is to put a bolt in to pop off the discs. If not the bolt through the caliper brackets works a treat.
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Seemingly not mk7 Fiestas! Quite surprising really, Ford are usually good for design features like that. Unless of course someone before me fitted different discs.
 
The screw that holds them on is not always a good thing.Mine were solid couldn't get them undone either had to drill them out then retap them and put a new screw in.
 
Gayjin said:
A club hammer wrapped in a rag has never failed to get discs off a hub for me. Plenty of approaches above - i'm sure a combination of them will get it off.

Make sure you put a bit of copper grease on the hub face of the new ones!
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Same, the old 'whack, turn disc, whack, turn disc some more' method always works for me after a while.
 
Solid strikes with a lump hammer will get them off. Hit the central part of the disc, this is the area that mates with the hub and rusts together. Stand with the back of your legs resting against the car, bend over and swing downwards onto the disc, you get a really solid swing doing it this way.
 
Haha yeah, finally sorted them yesterday after checking I still had my man card in my wallet.

Bought some M10 long bolts, nuts & washers (pack of 100 ffs @Screwfix!) which I didn't end up using. Speaking to brother in law on saturday he gave me a few tips (runs his own garage/VAG dealership) - get the car higher up on the axle stands, secure it more with blocks, get behind the discs and drive them off, not little taps. Use a block of wood to spread the blow and not jar hammer/arm so much. Also take the car out for a rag first to warm the discs! Got them a little too warm and burnt a finger! ;) :o

Some of the advice here was great, but I think before by hammering the central part of the disc face to 'break' the rust seal didn't really do very much for me as the interface was so tight for clearance & so corroded/rusted. Driving them off from behind it was clear the rotor\disc needed to move 1/2" or more to really break free of the rust. Hitting the edges from the face wouldn't provide enough power/leverage.
 
Any recommendations on a good quality socket set & spanners I can request for xmas? Say <£150.

I bought a £30 3/8" ratchet from B&Q that didn't live through this job. Felt quality but obviously cheap inside. Replaced it with one from Screwfix for £17 and it feels more solid but the mechanism is rough as hell and I can see it causing me issues and jamming in future. Spanners I have are all imperial handmedowns (wtf!) and the adjustables I have are all quite small. My only 6" one is obviously quite cheap as mechanism now quite bent and the faces very marked.

My sockets are otherwise all 1/4" but nothing larger than 15cm (cycling orientated). I'd quite like larger sockets for this kinda job and others in future, should I go up to 1/2" for this?
 
Roady said:
Any recommendations on a good quality socket set & spanners I can request for xmas? Say <£150.

I bought a £30 3/8" ratchet from B&Q that didn't live through this job. Felt quality but obviously cheap inside. Replaced it with one from Screwfix for £17 and it feels more solid but the mechanism is rough as hell and I can see it causing me issues and jamming in future. Spanners I have are all imperial and the adjustables I have are all quite small. My only 6" one is obviously quite cheap as now quite bent and the faces very marked.

My sockets are otherwise all 1/4" but nothing larger than 15cm (cycling orientated). I'd quite like larger sockets for this kinda job and others in future, should I go up to 1/2" for this?
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Wait for the Halfords pro stuff to go on offer, they usually do a full set for £120 notes.

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-to...MI7dmYxq-s1wIVGoGyCh183A6hEAQYASABEgJI5PD_BwE
 
Although you have already done this, the easiest way by far is to make a cut in the disc with an angle grinder and then split it with a hammer and big chisel.

Takes seconds and minimal effort.
 
kindai said:
Wait for the Halfords pro stuff to go on offer, they usually do a full set for £120 notes.

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-to...MI7dmYxq-s1wIVGoGyCh183A6hEAQYASABEgJI5PD_BwE
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Seconding this.

Have a look at their black friday/cyber monday deals. They seem to always without fail have a 50% off sale on their pro kits.

I got the 170 piece which is normally £300 down to £150.

Edit: The sale is on now actually.
200 piece - was £350 now £175
170 piece - was £300 now £125
150 piece - was £250 now £125

Also check out cashback sites, as you can normally get another fiver off.

Worth buying now ready for christmas!
 
Hammering discs off runs the real risk of Brinelling the hub bearings. What often works is a variation of the spin the hubs up off the ground with the wheels off trick cited earlier. Leave the car ON the ground, loosen the front hub nuts or bolts about two turns, then drive the car about 20 MPH and hit the foot brake hard. The inertia of the vehicle puts a LOT more torque into the disc / hub interface than it does with no wheels on and no vehicle mass to retard. It usually breaks the rust bond without risking bruising the tracks of the hub bearings.
 
Lopéz said:
Although you have already done this, the easiest way by far is to make a cut in the disc with an angle grinder and then split it with a hammer and big chisel.

Takes seconds and minimal effort.
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I'd have needed to buy an angle grinder... Also wheel studs are hub mounted, I'd have needed to split the rotor/disc in 3-4 places and still also risk damaging them.

Semple said:
Seconding this.

Have a look at their black friday/cyber monday deals. They seem to always without fail have a 50% off sale on their pro kits.
<snip>
Worth buying now ready for christmas!
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Good shout & thanks. We all think the Halfords 'Advanced' kit is good enough quality?

Chris Wilson said:
Hammering discs off runs the real risk of Brinelling the hub bearings. What often works is a variation of the spin the hubs up off the ground with the wheels off trick cited earlier. Leave the car ON the ground, loosen the front hub nuts or bolts about two turns, then drive the car about 20 MPH and hit the foot brake hard. The inertia of the vehicle puts a LOT more torque into the disc / hub interface than it does with no wheels on and no vehicle mass to retard. It usually breaks the rust bond without risking bruising the tracks of the hub bearings.
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Although a good idea in principle I'd rather not drive the car at 20mph with loose wheel nuts around the street! :o

I did try it with the wheels in the air on axle stands but figured the wheel hub rattling on the outside of the disk wasn't doing more than me smashing the face of it with my hammer.

I've had a wheel work itself loose when moving on a van before now, didn't come off but caused quite a bit of damage to the studs!
 
I had to cut a front disc from my sons mondeo a few weekends ago, no amount of hammering was freeing it.
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Chris Wilson said:
Hammering discs off runs the real risk of Brinelling the hub bearings. .
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Thats the one that has always worried me about just whacking them off,

And the trick of jacking them off using the brake calliper mounting risks bending the mountings if they are really tight, so it has to be carried out with care.

Of course in an ideal world the manufacturers would think about this sort of thing and produce vehicle designs that were actually capable of being maintained, but hey ho, .... :/
 
Burlsey said:
I had to cut a front disc from my sons mondeo a few weekends ago, no amount of hammering was freeing it.
IMG-20171029-WA0003.jpeg
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Yeah, I understand the concept and would've just paid a garage to do it for me rather than buying an angle grinder & risking damaging the hub & studs! Did you break the disc at the 2 o'clock position trying to hammer it off? How did you avoid damaging the studs, or just not worry?

My discs look similar to yours, maybe a little less rust on the centre but much more rust and marking around the edges, with quite a distinct lip on them not evident on yours...

Skiddley said:
I would buy some copper slip too :)
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Sorted! Already had some suitable (bike maintenance). :cool:

Orionaut said:
And the trick of jacking them off using the brake calliper mounting risks bending the mountings if they are really tight, so it has to be carried out with care.

Of course in an ideal world the manufacturers would think about this sort of thing and produce vehicle designs that were actually capable of being maintained, but hey ho, .... :/
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Yup, I had intended on adding some pressure to them using the caliper mounts and then jarring them with a hammer. Thankfully didn't need to!

The cheap(ish) replacement discs/rotors (Eicher) I've fitted have screw holes in the face you can use to aid removal. Whatever discs it came with (I'm guessing as low mileage) have nothing like it, which I'm quite surprised about being a Ford... In my experience Ford have always previously been fairly good/easy to service and is one of the reasons I chopped the Audi in for it 4 years ago! :rolleyes:
 
The disc just shattered in a few places. I was not worried about the studs, the angle grinder was never near them, I was more worried about damaging the wheel bearing, which is why I cut it.
 
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