# Help removing front rotors



## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

I'm very familiar with the brakes on B12 Sentras, and the ones on my dad's B14 seem very similar. I'm trying to change the rotors but I can't get them off. I've removed both parts of both calipers, and neither rotor will budge. I've sprayed them with WD40, and whacked at them with a rubber hammer. Do I need to remove the axle nut? Any other ideas?


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

Woo hoo...got them off. Just required LOTS of prying.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

Whack!


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

RiceBox said:


> I'm very familiar with the brakes on B12 Sentras, and the ones on my dad's B14 seem very similar. I'm trying to change the rotors but I can't get them off. I've removed both parts of both calipers, and neither rotor will budge. I've sprayed them with WD40, and whacked at them with a rubber hammer. Do I need to remove the axle nut? Any other ideas?


This is for the front rotors, right? There should be two holes in the rotor hat where you can fit bolts. I forgot what size they were (M8?), but if you slowly thread bolts in both holes, the rotor will pop off.

EDIT: Whoops, I was a bit late with that one.


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## huskya83 (Apr 20, 2004)

lol you whacked them off lol

i'm going to change my brakes as well, i've been saving some performace rotors that i bought a while back. Same size as the stock just drilled and slot.. would it be better to buy some performace pads or just get some new stock pads?

rotors, pads.. guess that's all right?


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## atomicbomberman (Jul 6, 2002)

huskya83 said:


> lol you whacked them off lol
> 
> i'm going to change my brakes as well, i've been saving some performace rotors that i bought a while back. Same size as the stock just drilled and slot.. would it be better to buy some performace pads or just get some new stock pads?
> 
> rotors, pads.. guess that's all right?


Rotors doesn't do anything, it's just heat absorbing material, the real performance enhancer would be from better brakepad compound.


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## Nismo1997 (Dec 26, 2003)

a lil bit of force will always get somthing off. :fluffy:


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

I had to take my lug wrench and jam it between the rotor and caliper mount, then I had to _twist_ it to break the rotor free. It made the most horrible popping noise, and I sorta thought I had broken something. All is good though, except that I took huge gouges outta the old rotors. I think the rotors have been on the car for like 5 years, cuz they were WELDED to the hub with rust. GRRR!!!








is my friend


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## Irons (Jul 10, 2002)

Before you install the new rotors besure to clean that contact area where the old ones were "welded" on. To help save yourself some trouble in the future use some copper or lithium lube on that contact area to stop that from happening agian.

I help my brother with his rotors a week or two ago, we had to use a long handled slegde hammer. The rotors cracked and fell apart before the came off. So much for that national brake shops "quality". They didn't clean, didn't lube, and put the cheapest rotors on. They warped in under a year. Of course that's what he gets for going there and driving an Eclipse, =)


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

rubber hammer didn't help me. I got a big metal hammer and WHACK, it was off. Of course I was planning on tossing the rotors in the trash, so I didn't care about damaging them.


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

Irons said:


> Before you install the new rotors besure to clean that contact area where the old ones were "welded" on. To help save yourself some trouble in the future use some copper or lithium lube on that contact area to stop that from happening agian.
> 
> I help my brother with his rotors a week or two ago, we had to use a long handled slegde hammer. The rotors cracked and fell apart before the came off. So much for that national brake shops "quality". They didn't clean, didn't lube, and put the cheapest rotors on. They warped in under a year. Of course that's what he gets for going there and driving an Eclipse, =)


 My dad is selling the car, so we just changed the rotors because they were warped. Don't really care about the troubles the next owner has to go through.


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## huskya83 (Apr 20, 2004)

I'm having the same trouble, *Do i need to spray it with something? like a WD40 (what's that?).. * 
anyways i took the caliper off, and there's this big nut in the middle of the rotor, but it won't budge..


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

huskya83 said:


> I'm having the same trouble, *Do i need to spray it with something? like a WD40 (what's that?).. *
> anyways i took the caliper off, and there's this big nut in the middle of the rotor, but it won't budge..


Don't take that big nut off! It holds the axle onto the hub/bearing assembly, and won't help you remove the rotors.

You can try any of the methods mentioned on this thread, but make sure that the pad retainer bracket (also called a torque member, it's the bracket that the caliper is attached to and serves the purpose of holding the pads on)is off first. It's held on by two bolts on the same side of the hub as the caliper bolts.

BTW: WD-40 is an oil based penetrant used to help dissolve corrosion and to ease the removal of siezed components. If you use it on your rotors, make sure you spray them with brake cleaner before sending them off for regrinding or putting them back on your car.


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## huskya83 (Apr 20, 2004)

OMG! thanks, That would've pissed me off, if i finally got the nut off, only to find out that it didn't work.


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## huskya83 (Apr 20, 2004)

took me 7 hrs. can you believe, my 1st time :cheers: 

anyways the 1st part of the caliper was easy, the 2nd part was problem, they wouldn't budge not way no how.. sprayed and tried it over and over and over again.. finally got it, the rotors were easy. 

I cleaned it and made sure they wouldn't give me trouble like this again, but i'm thinking of just buying some new bolts. 

putting in the new rotors, I notice that they were a little loose once all the calipers were placed back in again.. drove around in it, but it is still good.

hope nothing happens..


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

huskya83 said:


> took me 7 hrs. can you believe, my 1st time :cheers:
> 
> anyways the 1st part of the caliper was easy, the 2nd part was problem, they wouldn't budge not way no how.. sprayed and tried it over and over and over again.. finally got it, the rotors were easy.
> 
> ...


Hey, you got the job done, and that's what matters in the end. Good work.  

Don't worry about your rotors or the calipers being slightly loose when your wheel is off. The lug nuts hold the wheel in, which in turn holds the rotor onto the hub, so they won't be loose after you've put them back on and torqued the lug nuts. The calipers on our cars are floating type, so they might move a little (if they wobble around a lot, you might want to check the condition/torque of the bolts), but that's also normal.


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