Hi all,

Today i did some work on my 2011 vrs took aload of photos. So hope that this can help some of you out there and even save you a few £ from the garage fees!

Remove wheel nut covers, then crack the wheel nuts whilst still on ground saves trying to hold wheel still. Its a 17mm head, be careful not to slip on locking wheel nut!

Jack up, you can use the hack from boot or a trolley jack (mine was being used else where) use a axle stand under suspension for saftey. I personally lower it on to axle stand to save seals in trolley jack and to avoid it dropping off the one out the boot.

Remove wheel, as is common on VAG vehicles my hubs and alloy had some corrosion so need so gentle persuasion with a lump hammer and bar. I whacked the inside wall of the tire a few times with hammer. Worth leaving a few wheel nuts in half way to save you hitting the alloy and it landing on its face and scuffing up! Once its off worth wire brushing the hub and then putting some copper slip on before wheel goes back on

Front brakes :

Remove retaining clip some times takes a fair bit of force!

You then need to remove the pin cover to get to the bolt. Its a t45 on the vrs imagine its same on them all

Then undo top and bottom pins. They wont come all the way out normally as the thread isnt long enough to get the head out the cover so you need to wiggle the t45 to get it out if you can if not then try this.....

Wont let me put any more photos up any ideas?

think I've solved it !

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16355921582/

 

then the calliper is free to move, be careful not to put any real straight on break lines 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/15734370124/

 

sometimes to get the calliper off it can be tricky, 2 ways 1) brute force 2) put your hand on the back of the calliper and pull hard towards yourself and this pushes the piston back in allowing you to remove it far more easily.

 

If you need to remove the disc, its a torque head again. once thats off disc is free to move may need a back with a hammer. you should be able to get the disc out withe carrier still on. (carrier is the other part that the calliper mounts too)

once the old disc is off replace with new and make sure you clean the new disc with brake cleaner as the discs come with shipping oil on

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16355061481/

 

Didn't take any pics of putting pads in I'm afraid, what you need to do is remove the brake fluid cap https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16355062981/

 

once that is off you need to get the piston back into the calliper, i personally use a big set of grips and squeeze them back in but you must make sure that the piston yes back in straight.

 

when you have the piston back in put some copper slip on the back of the pads and the tabs that they slide on (pics of rear ones to come) push in the pad with the metal clip on the back into the piston 1st find this makes it easier. put it all back as it was some times hard to get the retaining clip back in but it will go!

 

 

i did clean and grease the pins that the callipers are held in by.

 

 

Rear Discs Pads:

 

Very similar to fronts but slightly different, you will need a calliper rewinding tool. you can get the same one as mine from amazon for £18.90 was very impressed with it. to do this job you need the rh threaded rewinder and the Number 6 head.

 

make sure handbrake is off and car is left in park or in gear or chocked.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16170599119/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/15734371574/

 

to get the callipers off you will need a 15mm and a 13mm spanner. as shown in photos 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16169195058/

you can't press these ones back in like front due to the handbrake mechanism.

 

once the calliper is off you can easily remove the brake disc same as the front.

replacing is the same 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/15734370934/

 

i find that if you spray the rubber gator on the piston with some WD40 or poke in with a blunt flat head screw drive that you can rewind the piston with ease and saves the gator bunching up a ripping. 

you want to rewind the calliper to the minimum you can to save having to adjust the handbrake. it does take a lot of turn to get it back. but you can do a dry fit with the new pads in the carrier and keep winding the piston back until it will just fit. 

once you have reached this stage you will want to put some copper slip on the new pads as shown 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16355923872/

 

then fit back together 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16355060761/

 

 

On both side from moving the callipers i noticed that the brake lines popped out of the brakets

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16356796265/

easy to just pop back in. 

 

once that is done you are finished, pump the brake pedal a few times before you set off to make sure the pistons have pushed forward and are touching the new pads.

 

take it for a test run, new brakes won't be as good for a few miles especially if you are just doing new pads on old discs. they will smell swell for a short while.

 

whilst i had the wheels off noticed that the caps had all faded and gone grey and white, so i cleaned them all first with brake cleaner 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16170594489/

 

then i just gave them a quick spray with black paint, don't know how long this will last but looks better for now 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/15734366424/in/photostream/

 

final step is enjoy your motor 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130095237@N05/16170600189/

 

Thanks hope this can help some one out there and to the rest of you, you probably already know how to do this 

Edited 24 January, 201511 yr by Bezzard