Went to work on the girlfriend's brakes over the weekend. I can't seem to get the front rotors off to save my life. I have new rotors ready to go on. I've removed the caliper and the caliper bracket, and removed the two phillips head screws that were in the hat screwed into the hub. First I tried a rubber mallet, then a 2x4 with a 16 oz hammer, then the 4lb mini-sledge. After about 1.5 hrs I gave up on it, and it's still sitting in my garage. I sprayed the crap out of it with PB blaster. I even tried heating it up a bit with a mapp gas torch. Didn't get it real hot though, I was afraid of cooking the wheel bearing.

Is there something that I missed taking off and is still holding it on? I looked it over a few times, and I can't see anything.

I do have a large gear puller I might give a shot after work, not sure if it's big enough to go over the rotor, but we'll see.

Any suggestions?

 

I don't know if you've searched on this, but you should. Lots of folks end out needing to have them shattered off.

One thing that could help us here though, is what year is the car? Some early models have what is referred to as "captive rotors", where the rotor is BOLTED on to the hub. You sound like you have a clue though, so I'm sure you woul dhave noticed that (not the 2 small screws.)

 

My rears came off after hitting them around the center with a hammer, but yours are probably worse.
My front ones had been replaced recently, and there was a mark on the hub as if someone DRILLED a hole between the rotor and the hub. I suspect they did that to get it off (by inserting something in the drilled hole and prying i guess), not sure how that would work tho.

 

sorry, i meant to put the year in, 2000. 4 wheel discs. I'm fairly certain I had read on here that the captive rotors were only 97-99. The hats on the rotors are smooth. I recall seeing some pics people posted of captive rotors, and they had some groove type cuts in them. The ones I have on the car don't look like that.

shattered off, eh? that sounds like alot of fun (sarcasm). So how does everybody go about it? I searched but didn't find much on shattered rotors. I'm imagining you have to cut some slots in the rotor & start pounding with a chisel?

 

Use PB blaster, and metal-on-metal contact to work it in. Something about the metal vibrating makes the pb blaster work even better. It says so on the bottle. After 15 minutes or longer (longer is better), hit the fuxor out of it with a rubber mallet. Mine were on pretty good but came off without shattering them. They are not pressed on, they are rusted on. clean and paint the surface before you reapply the rotors.

 

I had the same problem last week, I just sprayed them down real good with lube and put a pulley puller on and ratcheted them off real easy

 

8lb sledge wink1.gif. Works wonders.

 

Wailing on it might end up with you needing new ball joints or wheel bearings. Just be careful.

Soak them in PB blaster, or if you can find it, use BG penetrating oil. Let it marinade for a couple hours. Come back to it again, soak it down one more time, and try to knock them off.

I assume you've already tried using the longer bolts in the screw holes, right?

And do something to prevent it from happening again. Painting works too, but I like to use nickel anti-seize compound.