Helping a friend with his 2000 A6 2.7T. Is there a secret to getting the brake discs off with the 321mm rotors and HP-2 caliper? It seems like the two choices are:

1. Remove bleeder screw to get at the top horseshoe bolt. I'm against opening the system if at all possible, so I haven't done this.

2. Remove the two 18mm bolts that hold the caliper bracket on. Got the lower one off, which was extremely tight, but it's nearly impossible to get the top one off due to access problems. Also very tight, tried Blaster, heating it, breaker bar, and even an impact wrench. Tough to get a good angle with any of the tools.

Ended up putting the old pads back on for now. Bentley doesn't address getting the rotors off, for some reason.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

you have to take the bleeder screw out to get to the other bolt so you can take caliper brackett off. it was very hard to get mine off as well i also couldnt do it with a impact wrench. but i got mine off by putting the car on jack stands then pulling the jack out and putting a box-end wrench on the tough bolt then i had to jack up the car by that wrench and that little wrench held the car up off the jack stand for about 2 min till the blaster i had already sprayed on it finally soaked in and the weight of the car broke the bolt loose. if you do it this way just jack the car up enough to put the cars weight on the wrench so when it breaks loose the car is only like an inch off the jack stand.

 

Although it (unfortunately) worked, this is an example of what NOT to do, both in performing such a procedure and in advising others on how to do it, which causes you to unwittinglly bring potential liability upon yourself if someone else is injured as a result of following the suggestions you posted. I'm stunned that the moderator of this forum did not delete your post due to its blatant description of improper and unsafe practices. The tools you were using are by no stretch of the imagination designed or intended to be used in that way and the likelihood of catastrophic failure of the tool(s) with subsequent damage to the vehicle and danger of injury or worse to the "mechanic" is unacceptably high. The tools appropriate to the task are available as loaners from any number of auto parts shops (like the Auto Zone over on Jefferson Davis) and I would venture that a little longer wait on the PB Blaster* would have saved you the risk you took.

 

well i know why you feel that way and its a good thing in my post it doesnt state to "do this" or "try this" i just told him how hard it was for me and what.. I..did to get the job done. I was willing to take a "risk" and do this. And maybe unlike you and more like me this is some peoples only car and if your that far into the job why would i waste my time and put it all back together then drive to the store which never has tools to work on my audi, then drive home order it and spend more money or i can do what i did. thanks for your concern but fully read my post before you try and attack me. because like i said i did not advise anyone to do this.

 

I've gotten the bolts out. My advice is that if you can't get it off with a breaker bar, hit the gym. I've never been able to get my impact gun on there solidly anyway.

btw, how the @#$% do they get those things on there so tight anyway? I had a disaster once when I retorqued it to around 100 lbs, but the bolt managed to rattle out on the way to the airport. I put it back on with some locktite and so far so good but seriously.