Mini DIY - how to change pads and rotors on a TDI C7
05-07-2016, 08:57 PM
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Mini DIY - how to change pads and rotors on a TDI C7
Disclaimer: I am not a pro mechanic; I am also not responsible for any damage you sustain to your vehicle. If you have reservations about doing the work - perhaps the best course of action would be to go to an authorized service station.
Sorry for lack of pictures; I get super focused when I work on these things and while everything is in my head, I forget to take pictures.
Tools needed: amazingly enough - NO SPECIAL TOOLS (triple squares or long hex bits) NEEDED!
* 17 mm long socket for the lug bolts / also consider a 1/2" torque wrench for tightening the lug nuts.
* Preferably - an impact wrench.
* A 1/2" or 3/4" breaker bar... or both.
* 13 mm socket for the caliper bolts
* 21 mm socket for the front caliper carrier bolts.
* 18 mm socket for the rear caliper carrier bolts
* An 16 mm (or 5/8") and 19 mm box wrench.
* A 1/2" ratchet
* Optional: 3/8" torque wrench with readings in newton-meters.
* A T-30 torx (I THINK - may be T-27 - I can't remember, but pretty sure it's a 30) screwdriver or bit for a 1/4" ratchet.
* one short and one long flat head screwdriver
* A large pry tool - like what you would use for baseboards, for example... or a wide flat head screwdriver.
* A small hook/scribe tool / small flat head screwdriver
* Some wire or a one gallon paint can
* A jack and jack stands (preferably 4 to make your life easy)
* A battery charger/maintainer
* A medium-large sized C-clamp and a small piece of wood - like a 1"x2" or something
* A rubber mallet and optionally a hammer, a sledgehammer is even better.
* Optional: caliper retraction tool for the rear brakes
* Four new rotors, four new pad sets and pair of pad sensors.
* A work light!
* Brake cleaner spray
* Brake grease
* DOT 4 brake fluid (a small can)
* Optional: Siphon tool
* Optional: Rags / shop towels
* VCDS VCDS VCDS VCDS and a laptop
* A buddy? Cheerleader? Music?
* BEER!
Front brakes/rotors steps:
1. Jack the car - there are designated spots for the jack stands; you can raise the car using the body rail and then insert the jacks. Be careful where you decide to jack - you could bend/damage the body/rails! There is a cover that covers the jackstand spots - just pry those open.
2. Remove the wheels (that's when your handy impact wrench becomes very useful) using the 17 mm long socket. May want to use an extension as needed.
3. Depending on which side you are doing up front first, turn the steering wheel in. That will give you access to the sensor plug, caliper bolts and caliper carrier bolts.
4. Driver side only: Use a small flat screwdriver to remove the sensor plug from its bracket. It has a little tab with a pin that goes into a notch on the bracket - just poke it out and rotate it to free the sensor. Next, use a small flat head or a hook/scribe tool to disconnect the sensor harness. Careful not to damage the plastic socket or bad things will happen! Take note how the sensor is routed on the caliper.
5. Use a long flat head and short flat head to remove the tension spring on the front outer face of the caliper. You can pry the outer edge of the spring towards the back of the car with the long screwdriver and use the small one to keep the square part of it more or less in place so it does not spring out and smack you.
6. Remove the two 13 mm bolts that hold the caliper to the carrier.
7. Use the large pry tool or a wide flat head screw driver to free the caliper from the carrier. It will be a bit challenging so work slowly and carefully; eventually it will free up. The brake line has a rubber grommet that slides into a metal half-circle bracket (which is sharp) - free the grommet so you have slack for the caliper.
8. At this point either use the wire to tie to hang the caliper onto the control arms or place it on the gallon paint can so that the brake line is not under tension.
9. Remove the pads - the outer pad will likely be glued to the caliper (anti-squeal compound); use a flat head to pry it out. Don't worry about bending the metal plate that sits on the pad; your replacement pads should have (but perhaps you should check first). The inner pad has a clip to keeps it inside the piston hole - but you can easily remove it with a bit of force. Use CRC brake cleaner to gently clean the caliper, protecting the rubber piston shroud.
10. Now the fun part - and by fun I mean I hate it with a passion of a thousand passions. There are two 21 mm bolts that hold the caliper carrier to the hub. They are torqued tighter than Satan's butthole. Use the 1/2" breaker bar and your 21 mm socket to break those loose. Good luck with that because clearance is a biatch and the process is tedious. I smashed my right thumb with a sledgehammer as I tried to loosen one of the bolts
11. Once the carrier has been removed, use the CRC brake cleaner and rags to make it nice and clean. It will be caked with dust and you will not get some of it but it will at least be nicer than it was.
12. Use your T30 (or is it 27?
) torx screwdriver/ratchet with bit to remove the small screw on the body of the rotor. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS SCREW - it is easy to strip it so be gentle.
13. Put on your metaphorical safety goggles and go apesh!t on the rotor with your rubber mallet or, preferably, with your sledge hammer because that rotor is gonna be sitting tight on that hub. Tip - hammer the bottom of the rotor. It will eventually loosen up; careful not to have anything directly below the rotor or else things will break (which is why I have a new shop light on order off Amazon). Use CRC brake cleaner to clean the dust shield.
14. Install the new rotor and use the T30 screwdriver/bit to tighten the screw. DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN - JUST HAND SNUG! ElsaWin recommends 9 newton-meter but... come on.
15. Use your c-clamp and piece of wood (or something circular, metallic and as wide as the piston) to push the piston in. In my case, I put the caliper vertically on my paint can which gave my c-lamp handle enough clearance. IMPORTANT: Open your brake fluid reservoir and use your best judgement to determine whether you should siphon some fluid off before pushing the piston. You may want to have a buddy look at the reservoir as you are pushing the piston in to see whether fluid is overflowing. You do not want brake fluid on body parts; especially metal.
16. Use brake grease to grease up the posts on the caliper carrier. Don't worry if it gets on your rotors; wipe it off and the rest will burn off.
17. Re-install the caliper carrier. This is part two of step 10; it is a PITA upon PITA. Official torque spex are 196 newton-meter but there is simply not enough clearance to do it with jackstands. I may have pulled a muscle or two, and developed a hernia, while trying to tighten them.
18. Take the inner pad and install it into the caliper. You may have to play a bit with the clip that is on the pad before it installs properly. Take some brake grease and grease the metal bracket on the outer pad. Install the outer pad into the caliper; there's a hole on the caliper that the pads' thick notch goes through.
19. Install the sensor; route it through the caliper but don't plug it in just yet. PRO TIP: you may want to do a simple resistance test on the sensor before you plug it in - anything 1 ohm and under is OK; no reading means the sensor is bad.
19. Reinstall the caliper into the carrier. Use your 13 mm ratchet to reinstall the bolts; if you have a 3/8" torque wrench, set it to ~30 N-M as that is the spec for the bolts.
20. Reinstall the brake line grommet into its bracket and plug in the pad sensor.
21. Reinstall the retaining clip. This one is a bit tricky but I basically positioned the top end where it should be on the caliper, inserted the notch into its hole and then forced the bottom end onto the caliper. It was a bit tough but not too hard.
22. Do the next hub!
Steps for rear pads/rotors!
1. I did the front pads/rotors first due to the need for VCDS for the rears. With that said - remove the wheels! Some of these steps will be shorter as they are basically a repetition of the steps above. Differences will be noted, though.
2. Open your hood and connect your battery charger to the positive and negative terminals on the left side of the car (if you are standing in front of it).
3. Grab your VCDS cable and connect it to the car. Grab your computer and watch this video:
- skip to the 6:11 mark to review the steps on how to retract the rear calipers on our cars. Watch it a couple of times just to be on the same side. Proceed with the steps.
4. Assuming the VCDS steps were completed successfully, disconnect the sensor (driver side only) from its harness and remove the brake line grommet from its bracket.
5. Use the 13 mm ratchet to remove the brake caliper bolts. Note that the bolts are different - the top one has a fat circular washer on it and the bottom one is just a standard screw. Also note that when you start loosening the bolts, a nut that sits on the calipers' bolt socket may start spinning too. Unless you have a super skinny 16 mm box wrench, use a 19 mm at an angle to catch the nut in place and then use your ratchet to loose then bolt. Eventually you can use a 16 mm (or 5/8" box wrench) to keep the not in place as you undo the bolt.
6. Remove the caliper. You will need to remove the sensor from the pad and route the thin part through the channel in the caliper. Use CRC brake cleaner to gently clean the caliper while protecting the rubber. Also note that there is a little metal bracket attached to the caliper over the top hole (driver side only) - that's the bracket that the sensor plug is held by. Remove it and store in a safe location.
7. Remove the pads - they will be in the caliper carrier. PRESERVE THE METAL BRACKETS THAT ARE IN THE CARRIER; the ones I got from Akebono were too small and did not allow the rotor to sit in place - that may be the case for you too!
8. Remember step 10 from the front wheels? Meet it's demonic brother. If you thought the front were "fun"... well you're in for a treat. Remove the 18 mm caliper carrier bolts. Use CRC brake cleaner to clean the carrier.
9. Push the caliper piston back in; note that it is smaller than the one up front... you can actually use a caliper retracting tool since there is a channel wide enough for the tool to go through. Or you can use a c-clamp. DO NOT TWIST THE PISTON INTO THE HOUSING! You will ruin the boot. As before - recommend you review volume of brake fluid reservoir and use your best judgement before pushing the piston.
10. As with the front wheels, remove the bolt holding the rotor in place, use a rubber mallet or sledge hammer to free up the rotor, clean the dust shield and reinstall the rotor followed by the screw.
11. Reinstall the caliper carrier. Have fun with that one.
12. Install the new brackets (or reuse the old ones) and install new pads. It is not necessary to grease the rear ones (the stock ones were not) - but up to you.
13. Route the new sensor through the caliper.
14. Reinstall the caliper; use the same method as step 5 to tighten the 13 mm bolt. Use 30 newton-meters if you have a 3/8" torque wrench. Don't forget to reinstall the sensor bracket on the drivers side!
15. Install the sensor into the pad and route it accordingly.
16. Go back to VCDS and preform the necessary steps per the video.
17. Put on your wheels, clean up your garage, lower the car, reinstall jackstand covers and you're done.
Next - take the car for a drive. Do 3-4 hard stops from 60 - meaning pedal to the metal - that will help bed the pads. For a good measure, you may also want to do a couple of 30 mph parking brake only stops (as in lift and hold the parking brake).
Mind you all of these are from memory - if you think something is missing or does not make sense, please let me know!
AGAIN - I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE YOUR VEHICLE MAY SUFFER; I AM NOT A MECHANIC AND IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE DOING THIS WORK, YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE YOUR CAR TO AN AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER.
Sorry for lack of pictures; I get super focused when I work on these things and while everything is in my head, I forget to take pictures.
Tools needed: amazingly enough - NO SPECIAL TOOLS (triple squares or long hex bits) NEEDED!
* 17 mm long socket for the lug bolts / also consider a 1/2" torque wrench for tightening the lug nuts.
* Preferably - an impact wrench.
* A 1/2" or 3/4" breaker bar... or both.
* 13 mm socket for the caliper bolts
* 21 mm socket for the front caliper carrier bolts.
* 18 mm socket for the rear caliper carrier bolts
* An 16 mm (or 5/8") and 19 mm box wrench.
* A 1/2" ratchet
* Optional: 3/8" torque wrench with readings in newton-meters.
* A T-30 torx (I THINK - may be T-27 - I can't remember, but pretty sure it's a 30) screwdriver or bit for a 1/4" ratchet.
* one short and one long flat head screwdriver
* A large pry tool - like what you would use for baseboards, for example... or a wide flat head screwdriver.
* A small hook/scribe tool / small flat head screwdriver
* Some wire or a one gallon paint can
* A jack and jack stands (preferably 4 to make your life easy)
* A battery charger/maintainer
* A medium-large sized C-clamp and a small piece of wood - like a 1"x2" or something
* A rubber mallet and optionally a hammer, a sledgehammer is even better.
* Optional: caliper retraction tool for the rear brakes
* Four new rotors, four new pad sets and pair of pad sensors.
* A work light!
* Brake cleaner spray
* Brake grease
* DOT 4 brake fluid (a small can)
* Optional: Siphon tool
* Optional: Rags / shop towels
* VCDS VCDS VCDS VCDS and a laptop
* A buddy? Cheerleader? Music?
* BEER!
Front brakes/rotors steps:
1. Jack the car - there are designated spots for the jack stands; you can raise the car using the body rail and then insert the jacks. Be careful where you decide to jack - you could bend/damage the body/rails! There is a cover that covers the jackstand spots - just pry those open.
2. Remove the wheels (that's when your handy impact wrench becomes very useful) using the 17 mm long socket. May want to use an extension as needed.
3. Depending on which side you are doing up front first, turn the steering wheel in. That will give you access to the sensor plug, caliper bolts and caliper carrier bolts.
4. Driver side only: Use a small flat screwdriver to remove the sensor plug from its bracket. It has a little tab with a pin that goes into a notch on the bracket - just poke it out and rotate it to free the sensor. Next, use a small flat head or a hook/scribe tool to disconnect the sensor harness. Careful not to damage the plastic socket or bad things will happen! Take note how the sensor is routed on the caliper.
5. Use a long flat head and short flat head to remove the tension spring on the front outer face of the caliper. You can pry the outer edge of the spring towards the back of the car with the long screwdriver and use the small one to keep the square part of it more or less in place so it does not spring out and smack you.
6. Remove the two 13 mm bolts that hold the caliper to the carrier.
7. Use the large pry tool or a wide flat head screw driver to free the caliper from the carrier. It will be a bit challenging so work slowly and carefully; eventually it will free up. The brake line has a rubber grommet that slides into a metal half-circle bracket (which is sharp) - free the grommet so you have slack for the caliper.
8. At this point either use the wire to tie to hang the caliper onto the control arms or place it on the gallon paint can so that the brake line is not under tension.
9. Remove the pads - the outer pad will likely be glued to the caliper (anti-squeal compound); use a flat head to pry it out. Don't worry about bending the metal plate that sits on the pad; your replacement pads should have (but perhaps you should check first). The inner pad has a clip to keeps it inside the piston hole - but you can easily remove it with a bit of force. Use CRC brake cleaner to gently clean the caliper, protecting the rubber piston shroud.
10. Now the fun part - and by fun I mean I hate it with a passion of a thousand passions. There are two 21 mm bolts that hold the caliper carrier to the hub. They are torqued tighter than Satan's butthole. Use the 1/2" breaker bar and your 21 mm socket to break those loose. Good luck with that because clearance is a biatch and the process is tedious. I smashed my right thumb with a sledgehammer as I tried to loosen one of the bolts
11. Once the carrier has been removed, use the CRC brake cleaner and rags to make it nice and clean. It will be caked with dust and you will not get some of it but it will at least be nicer than it was.
12. Use your T30 (or is it 27?
) torx screwdriver/ratchet with bit to remove the small screw on the body of the rotor. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS SCREW - it is easy to strip it so be gentle.13. Put on your metaphorical safety goggles and go apesh!t on the rotor with your rubber mallet or, preferably, with your sledge hammer because that rotor is gonna be sitting tight on that hub. Tip - hammer the bottom of the rotor. It will eventually loosen up; careful not to have anything directly below the rotor or else things will break (which is why I have a new shop light on order off Amazon). Use CRC brake cleaner to clean the dust shield.
14. Install the new rotor and use the T30 screwdriver/bit to tighten the screw. DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN - JUST HAND SNUG! ElsaWin recommends 9 newton-meter but... come on.
15. Use your c-clamp and piece of wood (or something circular, metallic and as wide as the piston) to push the piston in. In my case, I put the caliper vertically on my paint can which gave my c-lamp handle enough clearance. IMPORTANT: Open your brake fluid reservoir and use your best judgement to determine whether you should siphon some fluid off before pushing the piston. You may want to have a buddy look at the reservoir as you are pushing the piston in to see whether fluid is overflowing. You do not want brake fluid on body parts; especially metal.
16. Use brake grease to grease up the posts on the caliper carrier. Don't worry if it gets on your rotors; wipe it off and the rest will burn off.
17. Re-install the caliper carrier. This is part two of step 10; it is a PITA upon PITA. Official torque spex are 196 newton-meter but there is simply not enough clearance to do it with jackstands. I may have pulled a muscle or two, and developed a hernia, while trying to tighten them.
18. Take the inner pad and install it into the caliper. You may have to play a bit with the clip that is on the pad before it installs properly. Take some brake grease and grease the metal bracket on the outer pad. Install the outer pad into the caliper; there's a hole on the caliper that the pads' thick notch goes through.
19. Install the sensor; route it through the caliper but don't plug it in just yet. PRO TIP: you may want to do a simple resistance test on the sensor before you plug it in - anything 1 ohm and under is OK; no reading means the sensor is bad.
19. Reinstall the caliper into the carrier. Use your 13 mm ratchet to reinstall the bolts; if you have a 3/8" torque wrench, set it to ~30 N-M as that is the spec for the bolts.
20. Reinstall the brake line grommet into its bracket and plug in the pad sensor.
21. Reinstall the retaining clip. This one is a bit tricky but I basically positioned the top end where it should be on the caliper, inserted the notch into its hole and then forced the bottom end onto the caliper. It was a bit tough but not too hard.
22. Do the next hub!
Steps for rear pads/rotors!
1. I did the front pads/rotors first due to the need for VCDS for the rears. With that said - remove the wheels! Some of these steps will be shorter as they are basically a repetition of the steps above. Differences will be noted, though.
2. Open your hood and connect your battery charger to the positive and negative terminals on the left side of the car (if you are standing in front of it).
3. Grab your VCDS cable and connect it to the car. Grab your computer and watch this video:
4. Assuming the VCDS steps were completed successfully, disconnect the sensor (driver side only) from its harness and remove the brake line grommet from its bracket.
5. Use the 13 mm ratchet to remove the brake caliper bolts. Note that the bolts are different - the top one has a fat circular washer on it and the bottom one is just a standard screw. Also note that when you start loosening the bolts, a nut that sits on the calipers' bolt socket may start spinning too. Unless you have a super skinny 16 mm box wrench, use a 19 mm at an angle to catch the nut in place and then use your ratchet to loose then bolt. Eventually you can use a 16 mm (or 5/8" box wrench) to keep the not in place as you undo the bolt.
6. Remove the caliper. You will need to remove the sensor from the pad and route the thin part through the channel in the caliper. Use CRC brake cleaner to gently clean the caliper while protecting the rubber. Also note that there is a little metal bracket attached to the caliper over the top hole (driver side only) - that's the bracket that the sensor plug is held by. Remove it and store in a safe location.
7. Remove the pads - they will be in the caliper carrier. PRESERVE THE METAL BRACKETS THAT ARE IN THE CARRIER; the ones I got from Akebono were too small and did not allow the rotor to sit in place - that may be the case for you too!
8. Remember step 10 from the front wheels? Meet it's demonic brother. If you thought the front were "fun"... well you're in for a treat. Remove the 18 mm caliper carrier bolts. Use CRC brake cleaner to clean the carrier.
9. Push the caliper piston back in; note that it is smaller than the one up front... you can actually use a caliper retracting tool since there is a channel wide enough for the tool to go through. Or you can use a c-clamp. DO NOT TWIST THE PISTON INTO THE HOUSING! You will ruin the boot. As before - recommend you review volume of brake fluid reservoir and use your best judgement before pushing the piston.
10. As with the front wheels, remove the bolt holding the rotor in place, use a rubber mallet or sledge hammer to free up the rotor, clean the dust shield and reinstall the rotor followed by the screw.
11. Reinstall the caliper carrier. Have fun with that one.
12. Install the new brackets (or reuse the old ones) and install new pads. It is not necessary to grease the rear ones (the stock ones were not) - but up to you.
13. Route the new sensor through the caliper.
14. Reinstall the caliper; use the same method as step 5 to tighten the 13 mm bolt. Use 30 newton-meters if you have a 3/8" torque wrench. Don't forget to reinstall the sensor bracket on the drivers side!
15. Install the sensor into the pad and route it accordingly.
16. Go back to VCDS and preform the necessary steps per the video.
17. Put on your wheels, clean up your garage, lower the car, reinstall jackstand covers and you're done.
Next - take the car for a drive. Do 3-4 hard stops from 60 - meaning pedal to the metal - that will help bed the pads. For a good measure, you may also want to do a couple of 30 mph parking brake only stops (as in lift and hold the parking brake).
Mind you all of these are from memory - if you think something is missing or does not make sense, please let me know!
AGAIN - I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE YOUR VEHICLE MAY SUFFER; I AM NOT A MECHANIC AND IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE DOING THIS WORK, YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE YOUR CAR TO AN AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER.
Last edited by McFuzz; 02-23-2017 at 01:32 AM.
02-22-2017, 07:13 PM
#4
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If I was to do it all over again, probably 2-3 hours tops.
03-20-2017, 10:59 AM
#5
AudiWorld Member
Did the fronts. Your instructions are spot on except I didnt struggle with the caliper carrier bolts. Probably 45 min a side. Went with the akabonos because they get rave reviews on this forum. They are certainly softer than the original, but more than adequate. Thanks again for posting these instructions really helped me a lot.
03-21-2017, 02:17 PM
#6
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Did the fronts. Your instructions are spot on except I didnt struggle with the caliper carrier bolts. Probably 45 min a side. Went with the akabonos because they get rave reviews on this forum. They are certainly softer than the original, but more than adequate. Thanks again for posting these instructions really helped me a lot.
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