Replace brake pads on 2004 vw passat?

Answer 1

tools needed:

Trolley jack

tyre iron

6mm hex bolt

new brake pads

small hammer

Time

about 30mins

Procedure

take the wheel off of the car and place wheel under the sill just incase the car falls ( better it landing on the wheel than destroying other parts )

now what i done to get easier access to the back of the caliper was to put the car on full lock towards the side i was working on . then you will see the top of the caliper AND a plastic guard

now to remove the caliper you need to undo 2 bolts ( one top , one bottom ) as highlighted here

now these are not normal bolts , they need what can only be described as an Allen key style bolt ( a 6mm hexbolt ) like this

you access these bolts by the two rubber boots highlighted above ( they have a hollow top on them where the bolt goes in )

once you have undone both bolts completely the caliper assembly *should* come away , i had quite a bit of a lip on the edge of the disc and it wouldn't so i used a screwdriver to push the piston back a bit and then lifted off the caliper

here you can see the old pads , now you will have 2 different sized pads , the shorter one is on the piston side , they are just a push fit ( wee metal clips ) and then they come out . here you can see the size difference between the new pad and the old pad ( the old pad is one of the better ones that came off my car and you can also see the metal clips on the backs of the pads )

once your new pads are back on , what i done to get rid of the lip round the edge of the disc to make it easier for the new pads to go on , i tapped round the edge of the disc with a hammer to gently remove the lip off of the disc . now put the caliper back on , i found the bottom half of the caliper harder than the top to put back on mainly cause theres a edge that part of the caliper needs to go under the part of the hub where as the pads need to stay on top . once you have done this , tighten up all the bolts ( the 6mm hexbolts ) and make sure there tight . then replace the guard . put wheel back on .

once you have done both sides , BEFORE you move the car , i advise you pump the brakes a few times to push the pistons back out and then remember that it will take a while to bed the pads in so they may be a bit crap to start off with , mine were near non-exsistant , but after about 30miles ( with me going up to 40mph , making sure the road was straight and nobody behind me ) and then throwing the brakes on a few times and they are back to normal

REMEMBER IF YOU ARE UNSURE ON HOW TO DO THIS , THEN GET SOMEBODY WHO DOES KNOW

Link to DIY video available in "Sources and related links" section below...