So I decided to do a better one. This is actually one of the easier jobs and I had the whole thing done in an hour. This DIY is to help those already mechanically inclined but just may mot be familiar with Audi. it assumes you know how to put your car safely on jack stands and remove the rear wheels. Just remember you need to chock the front wheels , leave it in gear or both as you want the rear wheels off the ground with the ebrake off.
Please Note this is for my 2006 A4Q , other models or years may vary.
So here we go ..
1. These are the tools you will need.
13mm wrench
15mm wrench
torx size 30
Large slotted screwdriver
medium size slotted screwdriver
medium or large size channel locks
Caliper retraction tool ( can be borrowed or rented from most auto supply stores )
*impact driver
*5lb sledge
*1/2 to 3/8 adapter
*will make job easier but not absolutely necessary.
supplies needed:
Brake cleaner
Brake slider lubricant
Rust penetrant
anti seize
and away we go ...
First step is getting ebrake cable out of the way. use the large slotted to pry off the spring clip holding the ebrake cable.
now compress the ebrake lever and pop out the ball on the end of the cable using the medium screwdriver , squeeze hard, no.... harder...
now you can pull the cable out of the holder from the bottom and move it out of the way .
now you have to undo the 13mm bolt holding slider pin to the caliper . slide the 15mm wrench between the caliper and bolt to hold the pin and undo the bolt as shown may be tough if you don't have a thin wrench
* you may not even need the 15mm as the pin often seizes in the carrier but more on that later. the bolts may be tight but a few whacks with your palm should do it or your 5 lb sledge.
now the hardest part, well not hard at all but you will have to grunt a bit , use the two screwdrivers to simply pry the caliper off the disk. it may seem tight but it will come
after it is out stick it on top so you are not stressing the rubber line. we will get back to that later.
remove the old pads and hardware sheet metal holding the pads. This is what you are left with
now simply pull out the pins ....hahahahahhahaah... okay well I will show you the theory first ... just pull the rubber boot and the pin and the boot and pin will slide out for you to regrease and reinstall. Clean out the carrier ( the thing the slider pin goes in ) with brake cleaner and dry It . Clean your pin and boot and regrease and slide it back in the carrier.
okay so now we will take a side bar to discuss what will actually happen .. the pin is likely to be rusted in the carrier , this is why you did the brakes in the first place because you could hear grinding or vibration in the back .. it all looked good as the rotor appeared shiny. anywhooo.. don't panic at this point ... you will lift the rubber boot and peak in and you will see all kind of rusted crud underneath where there is supposed to be grease.. this is when you spray in a bunch of rust penetrant. It is usually the lower pin as that where the water splashes up. worse case is you are taking a trip to the wreckers to take one off another car, but with your newfound skills at brakes this should be easy, but lets assume that is not necessary . spray lots in and let it soak. then see if you can work it with the 15mm wrench. even if it moves slightly you have victory. slowly work it more and more. once you can do full rotations you can use the large screwdriver and a hammer to knock the pin out ( be careful not to damage the boot.)
Once out remove the boot and look at what a mess it is .. pin will be severely corroded and boot full of junk. clean it all out. you can go to the wreckers and get more pins I don't think you can buy them without the carrier. i have a wire wheel so cleaned them up. re-greased them and put them back. I also used a steel "test tube cleaner" to thoroughly clean out the carrier of old rust and debris, flushed thoroughly with brake cleaner and compressed air.. re-greased my pin and put boot back on. the one below was actually rusted in place but revived it with above procedure.
okay now the optional part .... replacing the rotor. There has been much discussion on this but mine slipped in an out of the carrier with no fuss.... well AFTER I got the torx screw out. the screw has one function, to hold the rotor in place, that's it .. my recommendation is NOT to put it back in . yes it will be a pain lining up the wheel , rotor and hub while you put the wheel bolt in but so what , man up , that screw getting seized in is a lot worse.
But alas we don't even have it out yet. put your t30 on your 3/8 -1/2 adapter, put that on your impact driver .. hold it firmly in place and give it a good whack with your 5lb sledge.
you do NOT want to strip this screw. or your job just got longer and you will be reaching for your drill and hardened bits. Yours may come out no problem , but don't press your luck if its super tight. go for the impact driver.
okay screw is out and your so proud taking off the old rotor, your next reaction is "holy crap" as you look at the back of your shiny rotor and its all gouged, that's because your rusted slider was stopping the caliper from floating, that means the outside can not pull in making the outside pad look okay, the back side ends up doing al the braking and wears that pad down to the backing plate. if not and its all shiny and lots of pad then your pins weren't seized and its been a breeze so far.
okay so new rotor on you put that screw back even though I told you not to , but at least you put some anti seize on it right ?
now the fun part, you put the new metal hardware in place slide in the new pads ....
i did not show it here as i was taking pics and did not want to get grease on my phone but make sure you grease the ears on the pad backing where it slips into the hardware plates to allow it to slide in as the caliper piston compresses it. .
only problem is that damn caliper we were supposed to come back to.
..and here we are.....
get out your caliper retractor you borrowed from the autoparts store because he thinks you are gonna buy pads and rotors from him , little does he know you got them on line at half his ridiculous price.
anyhow a couple of points here .
1. when you retract the piston you are forcing old dirty brake fluid back into the lines, consider a brake flush after this
2. if some idiot topped up the brake fluid at any point you can overflow the brake reservoir and spill caustic brake fluid everywhere. it will destroy your paint fast.
I was lucky, I always leave the lid on just in case and it came right back to full when I was done. Might be a good idea to keep an eye on this.
so find the right disks in the set and set it up as in the pic. the reason you wind in a German caliper is because it winds out to always take up pad wear , and the e brake will always have the same pull even though your pads wear. quite ingenious actually , well until it seizes then off to the wreckers you go for a caliper.
make sure while winding in that the rubber boot doesn't stick to the piston while turning. just pull it away from the piston if it does. that piston may have been jammed for a while so may be very stiff . it should ease up as it goes in . make sure the rubber boot accordions in properly and manipulate the rubber so it does, you don't want to pinch it later .
Once its in all the way simple remove the tool and slide the caliper back in place. it should slide over pads and perfectly position over your newly greased pins. Put in new bolts if your pads came with it ( mine did ) or put blue Loctite on if you are reusing old, which you really shouldn't use but hey that's life.
you may jamb your 15mm wrench in there while tightening the 13 but just play with it. There is a torque spec for the 13 but its steel into steel so I just give it a couple whack s with my palm on the 13mm wrench . I have never known these things to loosen at all, usually the opposite. I come back two years later and swear a gorilla put them on.
okay so now you can be proud of your work ... well except for that cable hanging down there.
That part is easy, use your gorilla grip to once again compress the ebrake clamp( which is now easy ) slip the cable up through the hole and slip the ball over the end. Then put your little clip back on you took off an hour ago and now cant find.
you are now done .. kinda ...
go back in the car and do a couple of half pumps until the pedal stiffens up.
once you are done put your wheel back on and move around to the other side and start over, the other side will go way quicker.
When done , drop the car, TORQUE THE WHEELS and go for a test drive.
oh jut remember the brake fluid overflow will be more critical on the second wheel.
So that's it . I hope someone finds this usefull
ice..
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Originally Posted by B72011
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