A4wheelin

If some of you remember, the dealership tried to charge me $550 to do my rear brakes. There is no way I'm paying that. Besides I'm in between jobs right now and my budget is super tight. Plus, I'm an aircraft mechanic so how hard could brakes be! I called a buddy of mine (also an aircraft mechanic) who has rebuilt cars before to help me out. It took us about 3 hours to finish one of them. My friend was pretty pissed at Audi for making the job so complicated. He said that he could have changed all four brakes on his car (Camaro) in this time. Well, then on to the last brake job. It just started off bad, the F-n tire was stuck on. I was kicking the **** out of it trying to break it loose. I almost gave up on that! It was really stuck. My friend finally was able to kick it loose. Then I really started to get pissed. The top bolt for the caliper decided to strip on the first attempt at breaking torque. So that took way too long to get off becuse I was trying not to strip it anymore. The brake lines are in the worst location btw, they're right behind the top bolt and you can't get a socket on it. Second bolt came right out. Then on to the carrier bolts. The bottom one I'm convinced is impossible to brake loose. The way it's turned I couldn't get the allen key in there straight, so there is no way of breaking torque. And of course the shock is right there in the way so I can't use a ratchet and allen head socket. We decided to close up shop last night at 8:30 after we lost the sun. So we're going to go back out and tackle it today. Hopefully. Wish me luck! I'll post results later on today.

Audi Junkie

In some apps, you only need to remove bottom caliper bolt, it swings up & away to reload pads

PlainRuss

Not sure why you're fighting with it so much. The rear calipers aren't any different than any other car. Guess you're realizing that a German car and an airplane are 2 different things.

A4wheelin

I didn't take off the brake line, but it's just in the way.

PlainRuss

I never remove it to do brakes.

Bob Petruska

They are extremely easy to change. You do need the special rear piston tool to turn them back in and the correct size allen bit. Otherwise a 12 year old can do them.

Now do yourself a favor and everyone else that reads this - COAT YOUR AXLE WHEEL HUBS WITH ANTI-SEIZE and the wheels will always fall off in your hands. Do this the day you buy the car! Otherwise Audi wheels weld themselves on, especially in snow/salt country.

For stuck wheels, don't jack up. Loosen wheel bolts 2 turns each, drive the car fowards very slowly and hit the brake pedal extremely hard. Back up slowly and do the same thing. Do this sequence a few times. Get out of the car and push the car at each bumper end sideways a few times. The wheels should now be loose.

If the above doesn't work....buy a Toyota or Subaru....easy to work on!

German Driver

didn't recognize ya...



<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62716/whitesnake.jpg">

so which one are you? =P

Schlampenschlepper

Second that. 2 hours max all 4.

PlainRuss

I'm the one on the left. ;-)

PlainRuss

Even if I don't work on it next time around, it's going to make some one's life easier.

Otherwise, a nice large rubber mallet on the back side gets them off easily.