brian a

OK, I recently tried to replace my rotors. I'd always heard that pads and rotors were easy so I tried it on faith and a Bentley manual. I got the pads off ok, but the rotors were another story. Interesting to me was that one of the rotors came loose after I took the pads off, and it would have fallen off if the caliper wasn't sorta holding it in place. Is there no bolt that specifically holds the rotor down? All I had done was take the pads off. I would have been able to get the rotors off too but the bolts holding the caliper on were stuck so bad that even my roommate with arms as thick as my legs couldn't get the bolt to budge. So I just put everything back together and even though all the old stuff is still on it seems to work fine. I can't shake the feeling that my wheel is going to fall off because the rotor isn't bolted on.

TIREGUY

The wheel.

wbimmerslayer

contact randy at 16309045745 in naperville, IL. he is my Audi mech. and he will sent u straight on the rotor problem..or look in back of European Car in the back Ads and look for MidTex Audi there is a #800 if u dont live local. tell him bimmerslayer sent you..he will take care of you he is the best in the business.

brian a

Thanks for the reply, but a 2 word response doesn't answer the question(rolling eyes). If the rotor has nothing directly bolting it on, and the wheel is bolted to the rotor - how do they both stay on? What can I say, my mind is having a hard time understanding how this works. I've mentioned this to a few people who have done work on their rotors, not Audi's mind you, and they are completely baffled because there was always something that directly holds the rotor on even after the wheels and pads have been removed. So how do they manage it?

TIREGUY

The wheel bolt or lug bolt, goes thru the holes in the wheel, thru the holes in the rotor and threads into the hub flange. This sandwiches the rotor between the hub flange and the wheel. The wheel bolts act as drive pins, for lack of a better word, to transfere the acceleration forces generated by the half-shafts thru the hub into the wheel and the de-acceleration forces generated by the brake disc to the wheel. Clear as mud, right?

brian a

Thank You! Clear as translucent mud;-)

AudiNY

After a period of time the rotors might just get stuck, and if they do appear to be bad(like rusting) they mostly likely wont come off eaisily. The best thing to do is try and hammer it out, try that, and dont be afraid, because the there is no hubs holding the rotor, except the ones on the wheel.

mike dawson

Everything is as it should be. The brake rotor is sandwiched between the wheel and the hub (the thing behind the rotor that the lug bolt threads into). The rotor can't go anywhere, like a piece of balony between two pieces of bread, and it is kept from turning by the lug bolts passing through it. Remove the bolts and wheel and the rotor should be loose but you won't be able to actually remove it until you remove the bracket that the caliper rides on, just as you found out. The bolts holding the bracket on generaly are secured with locktite so they can be really tight. Remember that those bolts come in from the back side of the bracket so to loosen them you need to turn them in a clockwise direction as viewed from where your sitting outside of the car. Once you have done one, the other three will be child's play.