[Vwdiesel] '01 Golf binding brakes (left rear)

[mark shepherd]

Rolf , can you hammer in a six point torx into that allen head? That should 
remove it IMO

Mark
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rolf Pechukas" <rbp at 4u2bu.org>
To: "Tad" <tadc at europa.com>; <VW-TDI at yahoogroups.com>; <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 10:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] '01 Golf binding brakes (left rear)


>
> update:
> well, I dug in there w/o the tool
> here's what I found:
> outside pad almost down to metal - sliver of pad left
> inside pad almost down to nothing! sliver of METAL left!
> yikes, the guys who looked at this a week ago did NOT warn me it was
> that bad!
> almost wore completely thru the pad backing plate
> as it is, the bottom edge of the piston was hitting rotor and is
> chewed up a little
> pulled the scraps, removed the caliper, TRIED to remove the mounting
> plate, but could not get the lower 8mm allen bolt off, so could not
> replace the rotor
> put fresh pads, and compressed the cylinder by clamping with a 12"
> woodworking clamp and turning the piston with a vise-grips
> boot was also pretty torn up
> will likely need a new clave cylinder - eesh
> anyway, got it back together, but was concerned when pumping brakes
> did not make piston come out and compress pads
> e-brake had little resistance - came many notches up when it normally
> comes up 2 or 3
> tried driving to pressurize the system - not so good - I have a mushy
> pedal and not so good brakes
> I can make it work with a couple pumps for limping around town, but I
> need to get back in there and fix
> guesses: bit of boot binding the piston? need a bleeding (duh)?
> somehow piston beat up from encounter w/ rotor and is binding in its
> bore now?
>
> help??
> thanks
> Rolf in MA
>
>
> On May 18, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Tad wrote:
>
>> There are two types of special tool available.. one is like a big
>> screw compressor with a device built in to also rotate the face of
>> the piston.  The other is just a little metal 'cube' which helps you
>> turn the piston but does nothing to compress the sucker.
>>
>> I tried it with the cube (which is what Autozone gave me) and failed
>> miserably.  I guess I wasn't clever enough, or didn't have the
>> correct variety of c-clamp.  Of course if I knew how the stupid
>> thing actually worked that would have helped.  Brian makes it sound
>> easy.
>>
>> If I were you I'd spring for the tool... I got one at Harbor Freight
>> for 20 bucks on sale and works on most cars.
>>
>> The problem you may encounter (like I did) is that when you get down
>> to metal, the piston is extended too far to properly install the tool.
>>
>> This all may be moot since it sounds like you might have extended
>> the piston so far as to get it stuck.  Hopefully it's just the slide
>> though.
>>
>> On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 8:14 AM, Rolf Pechukas <rbp at 4u2bu.org> wrote:
>> OK, still working thru the 'issues' PO left me with on this Golf
>> left rear brake metal on metal - maybe sticking e-brake line wore down
>> the pad?
>> been running that way for a week, building a shopping cart at
>> autohausaz - getting a bunch of parts including pads/rotors
>> didn't think I'd burn thru metal backing in a week
>> but this AM stepped on brakes @ red light and got the 'seized rotor'
>> grab
>> loosened it by reversing and scraped my way down the rd, but need to
>> do these asap
>> I can get pads and rotors locally, but looks like I need a special
>> tool to compress caliper
>> anyone do these without that?
>> they loan it out at AutoZone, but it a drive to get there and I don't
>> want to totally seize that left rear getting there
>> what does it mean when you get that wheel grab anyway? about one more
>> pedal push from a meltdown? that's what it feels like
>> thanks for any suggestions,
>> Rolf in MA
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