Well got new discs for the car and noticed that 3 out of the 4 on the car has snapped, whats the best way to remove them as i have replacements waiting to take there place.

Does it matter? I did the rear brakes on one of my Octy's last night and one of the screws was in so tight it wouldn't budge. Had to drill the head of the screw off but my drill bits kept melting so didn't get the whole thing out. As far as I'm aware the locating screws are just for convenience to make it easier to get everything aligned while the pads are put on and road wheel refitted. Not that difficult to get everything back together without the screw.

 

If you do replace them put some copper grease on them sop they come out easily next time.

well to be honest it does matter to me with working on the car with it, but i don't like letting small things no mater how insignificant they may seem ruin the upkeep of my car. yes i makes things a little easier but thats the way it was intended, no to mention say for instance my wife to be brakes down and has to change a wheel and the disk is moving about she aint going to know you can just push the wheel on and use a screw driver to aline the bolt holes, shes going to strugle to think on what to do as she aint great at mehanical know how, so perhaps looking at it this way may sway your opinion..

Fair enough (though no need to get huffy about it). Will be following this thread also as would like to know if there is an easy solution for future reference.

You need something like TiN coated M-42 cobalt drills to get the little sods out in an acceptable time.

When the heads snap off, what's left is often on a slope so I use a 2.4mm diamond ball in a die grinder to create a 'dimple ' in the centre.

Using loads of cutting fluid, I drill 2mm, 4mm and finally 5mm.

Again using loads of cutting fluid, I use a first M6 tap to clean out the old bolt thread.

It takes 3-4 minutes for each one.

You can easily get through 20 HSS drills per bolt if you are not using cutting fluid.

Fair enough (though no need to get huffy about it). Will be following this thread also as would like to know if there is an easy solution for future reference.

 sorry you felt that i was coming across that way, but not my intention too, sorry. was trying to politely word and put a hypothetical scenario

no worries, trouble with forums is you can't hear people's tone of voice so a lot of the intent and meaning gets lost. Would be interested to hear how you get on drilling them out if you go down that road. Might attempt it myself at some point if the moment takes me.

Locating screw isn't essential.  My current discs are "floating" and held in by the wheelbolts basically.

it's always daft wee things on a car isn't it, well i need to replace both rear wheel bearings in due course, so that would be the rear 2 solved, and 1 on the front is allright, so that would leave me with 1 screw to torment me with, don't fancy wasting all the hss bits to get at a 48p screw :S although if an easier/cheaper solution presents i would try it

If the screw is missing, the biggest problem is debris getting between the disk and the hub when the wheel is removed.

Tyre places may also catch the disk when removing the wheel.

I really should once sorted clean the surface of the hubs to remove the debris with a wire drill attachment 

Easiest way to resolve this is drill and tap another hole in the hub, 90, 180 or 270degrees round from the original. The hub metal is much softer than the broken screw.

 

Nigel

One way to remove is to use an impact screwdriver fitted with a special screw removal head - normally available from the likes of Toolstation or Screwfix or type 'screw removal' and 'impact screwdriver' into Amazon.

 

Depending on the tool and the damage already done a pilot hole may need to be drilled into the screw for the tool to get a bite

I tend to drill just the head out... just enough to remove the disc, this normally leaves enough thread sticking out of the hub to get a pair of mole grips on, I then ‘just’ unscrew them.

If you drill then out be careful as abs ring is just behind wheel bolt holes.

I had to drill one of mine out when it snapped off, not to hard