Brake pad woes! C4 Grand picasso!

[ProfessorPike]

Tried, and failed to change rear brake pads!

Handbrake off, wheel off! all was going well.

I could not undo the bolts holding the calipers onto the car

Tried a spanner, then WD40, then spanner again, then hitting the spanner with a hammer, followed by more WD40, neither bolt on the drivers side would budge.

Ive got a quote coming from a garage, but they wont fit the pads i've bought and seem reluctant unless i buy disks as well.

Any suggestions to remove these pesky bolts? I considered heating but I dont have a blowtorch and its VERY near the brake fluid lines!

Chris

[Paul-R]

I'm not familiar with this particular vehicle but normally you don't take the complete caliper off to change pads, just a cover or carrier of some kind.

[ProfessorPike]

I'm not familiar with this particular vehicle but normally you don't take the complete caliper off to change pads, just a cover or carrier of some kind.

Yes, two bolts holding the caliper to the car, neither will budge

[mickthemaverick]

The caliper is bolted to the caliper carrier with two bolts top and bottom. To change the pads you only need to undo the bottom bolt, the one that bolts into the sliding pin, and loosen the top one to allow you to pivot the caliper around the top pin and out and up enough to clear the pads, then you have access to wind back the caliper piston, after removing your brake reservoir cap, to allow it to fit over your new pads, then replace the pads and reassemble. You only need to remove the caliper carrier if you want to replace the disc. This video may help:

[RichardW]

Are we talking Mk1 or 2? The caliper bolts shouldn't be that tight, but they can be awkward to get at with the car on jack/ stands - be much easier on a lift when you can get a decent length breaker bar on!

[PaulC5]

Maybe add a photo of the bolts you can not undo. If the ones holding the carrier you need to use a long bar since as shown in the video they are tight, there it shows set at 100 Nm with loctite (or similar). If just the ones holding the caliper to the carrier they are not that tight so a normal socket/ratchet should be more than enough to undo them.

6 point sockets are best for tight hex bolts, less likely to round off the head than a 12 point or spanner.