# How To - Changing Rear Brake Discs & Pads



## cwiseh_tt (Feb 19, 2008)

May be of use to somebody, so thought i would create it! The only TT specific instructions i found were on a website that thought the TT was a Twin Turbo, nuff said i think.......

Anyway, jack up your car safely and support it, remove the wheel, you'll be presented with this:









Start by removing the caliper, this is fairly easy on this car, you need to remove two bolts, one of which is at the very bottom of the below pic. You need to get a spanner on the nut in front of it, otherwise it'll just spin around with it!

















After you've removed the two bolts (one is at the opposite end of the caliper, not pictured) the caliper will come away from the carrier. I then removed the carrier from the hub, you may be able to get away without removing it but i did it anyway, it's the only way to learn! If you look behind the disc you'll be able to see the hexagonal headed bolts holding the carrier to the hub, remove these and you can take the carrier off.

Now you can remove the disc from the hub, to do this you need to remove the most idiotic locating screw known to man. My advice is ditch these and replace them with a suitable torx headed bolt.

















You may find that even after you've removed the locating screw the disc will not come off. Paticularly with the rears being changed less often than the fronts, they can be paticulalry stubborn to remove. Solution? Hammer! In the end it will come off, trust me  I rekon the discs i removed today were the originals, so have been on for 9 years and 40k miles.









Give the hub a clean and slip up if necessary?









You need to rewind the caliper back in using a rewind tool. Mine was paticularly stubborn so i loosened the brake line and then used the rewind tool on the caliper, this pushed some fluid out but the piston went back in easier. You may need to bleed each rear caliper after this, i've driven my car since the install and it seems ok though.

Refitting is the reverse, disc on, new locating screw, carrier to hub, new pads in, caliper to carrier, wheel back on.

Check everything is torqued up correctly, i dont have the figures i'm afraid, but they should be around on the net somewhere!

Stand back and admire! Remember you'll lose some braking performance untill they are bedded in correctly!









Regards, Chris.


----------



## weekenny (Aug 1, 2008)

Hi Chris,
Just changed my rear pads, originals to red stuff. Your detailed description & photos were fantastic enabling me to complete the job easily and enjoyably.
Many thanks, 
Wee Kenny


----------



## basky (May 26, 2009)

Nice write up Chris, But don't undo your brake lines as this lets air into the system, Simply just remove the cap off the Brake reservoir and this allows the fluid to go back, this way alleviating the problem with bleeding your brakes


----------



## SteveTDCi (Nov 10, 2009)

Good write up, I was going to say about the resovoir cap too, I sometimes drain a bit out, use some hose dip it into the resovoir put your thumb over the end and drop it in abowl or something, try not to use plastic as it tends to melt it !


----------



## tt daz (Feb 18, 2010)

nice write up thankyou , what about the fronts ??


----------



## dazzadrew1 (Feb 6, 2010)

bit confused on how to use the re-wind tool and how you located it on the caliper.. any pics from anyone ta [smiley=book2.gif]


----------



## SteveTDCi (Nov 10, 2009)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165469

the disc part sits in the grove of the pistons then as you turn the handle it rotates the piston back into the housing the plate presses against the caliper housing.


----------



## Thundercat (Oct 24, 2009)

Nice write up mate 8)


----------



## tony_rigby_uk (Nov 27, 2008)

Good write up Matey !!!

We seriously need a Mk1 Knowledge base with all the How to's in !!


----------



## was (Mar 24, 2003)

tony_rigby_uk said:


> Good write up Matey !!!
> 
> We seriously need a Mk1 Knowledge base with all the How to's in !!


there already is one at the bottom of the FAQs page :wink:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8582

viewtopic.php?t=44401


----------



## keith (Feb 15, 2009)

good write up hope you cleaned calipers before you put them back on.


----------



## Gone (May 5, 2009)

Most importantly give evrything a good clean up and lube the pads (backs!) and especially the piston with plastilube or something like it - I didn't do this well enough and had terrible squeal until eventually I got so fed up I paid an hours labour to get them taken apart and cleaned up properly.


----------



## Super Josh (May 29, 2009)

Good write up 

Only two things that I would add.

1. An impact driver is a really good tool to remove those chocolate disc retaining screws.

2. You need to remove the protective anti-rust coating off the discs before fitting them, otherwise the pads won't bed in properly. I use a few squirts of carb cleaner and wipe with a cloth. 

Josh


----------



## christurbo (Mar 6, 2005)

Couldnt you just use a G-Clamp instead of a windback tool? Thats what I have always used on past cars.


----------



## petesky (Jul 24, 2002)

There's a lot of information and links on http://www.wikitt.org/wikiTT/index.php? ... tegory:MK1 including links to changing the brakes already but I guess the more information the better (as long as it's correct :wink: )

Peter


----------



## christurbo (Mar 6, 2005)

christurbo said:


> Couldnt you just use a G-Clamp instead of a windback tool? Thats what I have always used on past cars.


I can confirm that you cannot twist the piston back in with long nosed pliers like I could do on other cars including my Elise and VX. You need the tool


----------



## WallaceTech (Nov 3, 2013)

Do you have a link for the hex bolt to replace the standard phillips head on the disc?


----------



## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

WallaceTech said:


> Do you have a link for the hex bolt to replace the standard phillips head on the disc?


Got mine from Screwfix.

Think it was these? http://www.screwfix.com/p/socket-counte ... f-50/96477


----------



## WallaceTech (Nov 3, 2013)

do you have an item number mate or link to the one?


----------



## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=276728
states they are M6x16 (as per prev edit)


----------



## WallaceTech (Nov 3, 2013)

top man. Thanks very much.


----------



## abbotsmike (Jan 29, 2014)

The disc retaining bolt looks like a torq-set bit, which would explain why so many people have had issues with removing them!


----------



## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

They get cooked in position especially when peeps over torque them. 
Setting is something like 4Nm. I usually copper-slip grease them also.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=170005&p=1730580&hilit=Brake+disc+torque+screw#p1730580


----------

