I am new here….but not new to Volvo’s. I know how to change the brake pads without a problem, however I need some assistance with taking off my front and rear rotors.
Thus, I have a few quick questions about:
A. how to remove both the front & rear rotors and then reinstall them. I have purchased IPD’s 11.875″ sized “zimmerman” rotors for the front (after measuring) and have purchased also the “zimmerman” rotors for the rear.
B. there is a bracket at the rear of the calipers and I am wondering if what appears to be 2 bolts that hold it in place must be removed to successfully remove the rotor? Or is it possible to actually remove the rotor without the removal of this rear bracket? Hopefully someone whom has done this will “understand” my terminology of what I am calling the “rear bracket”.
C. Also if I must indeed remove this rear bracket can someone tell me what the torque value is for refastening these two bolts back in place?
D. Should one use any loctite when refastening any of the bolts I will be removing, IE: Red or Blue ???????
E. Are there any other important torque values for any other bolts I will be removing to do this installation?
My S60 has 45,860 miles and I have decided with the installation of new tires that I would install Mintex M1944D Front & M1943D Rear brake pads and because of the mileage of my vehicle I simply decided to change out the rotors as well, everything is purchased and in my garage simply waiting for some help from you all about what to do next?
I appreciate all appropriate help!!!!!
Regards,
Tim
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For future reference here is what I discovered while changing my rotors as well as changing brake pads:
I contacted three Volvo dealerships about the “torque” values for the two rear bracket bolts as well as for the caliper bolts as well as the small 10 mm nut which keeps the rotors in position prior to the attachment of the wheel.
I actually did this same process (changing brake pads and rotors on my 2003 XC 70.
2003 S60 AWD 2.5 Turbo
Upon inspection of my stock rotors and brake pads all looked fine the need for changing brake pads or rotors was unnecessary for operational purposes, I however changed both because I replaced tires and wanted to replace the stock “pads” with the more “dust free” mintex pads trying to get away from so much “black brake dust” on my wheels and after 45,00 miles and nearly 5 years I had grown tired of seeing so much black dust on them!!!! I replaced the rotors only because with 45,860 miles I felt for the longer haul that putting new ones on would keep me from having to replace both again prior to the hopefully 75,000 miles I might get from this “package”.
As for my wife’s 2003 XC70 of course this is a much heavier car than my s60 but with 48,000 she was definitely in need of rotors for the front and definately new pads for front as well. The rear pads and rear rotors were not in need of replacement but once again as a combination in which I am trying to get away from so much brake dust from the OEM pads I felt replacing both rotors and pads for all 4 wheels was my best decision…..I most certainly needed at a minimum new rotors for the front as well as pads anyway…..so replacing the rear rotors as well as pads was perhaps a bit premature…..from a “safe” operational standpoint.
I went with IPD’s “zimmerman’s” rotors which apparently are “perhaps”???? the manufactuer” for Volvo’s OEM rotors for both cars.
It should be noted that I discovered in my application that my S60 required the 11.875″ or 11 7/8″ front rotors while my XC70 required the 11.25″ sized front rotors….I found that interesting. Apparently there is no reason as to what Volvo decided to put on at the time the cars were built….the only thing I know for sure is that if you have 11.875″ rotors you have replace them with 11.875″ rotors as the calipers are already predetermined to as a system.
The other thing to note is that you must remove the “rear bracket” to properly remove the rotors….as this is no big deal since it requires only two additional bolts being removed. Also it should be noted that on the S60 there is an additional “arm” bracket that is about 8″ – 9″ long that attaches as a seperate piece two the front rotor rear bracket. If you jack up your car to remove both sides of your front axle I would recommend doing one side at a time and completely finishing that side prior to starting the other side to visually note how the “arm” is properly installed, Although I think it is not possible to improperly reattach it…..
Tools needed:
1) Wire brush
2) Long Flat Head Screwdriver
3) breaker bar
4) Small Tube of Grease to put on the caliper 7 mm hex head “bolts” or “pins”, also to be used on the certain aspects of the arms of the brake pads where they contact calipers and are held….much too difficult to explain here (as you can imagine “grease” and brake pads are not a cohabitating feature that spells safety but if you know what you are doing then you can alleviate the potential “sqeaking” of “new” brakes persay….
5) Couple Rolls of Paper Towels
6) a bunch of rags
7) Two 18 oz of Braker Cleaner For One Car
8) Grinder W/ Wheel Brush (optional but very handy)
9) Needle nose pliers
10) Torque Wrench up to 100 foot pounds which would be needed to torque wheels anyway.
11) 13 mm socket for rear rotor brackets for both S60 and XC70
12) 15 mm socket for front rotor brackets S60 and XC70
13) 7 mm hex head on a socket for removeal of calipers
14) 10 mm socket to remove 1 small nut which attaches to the rotors
15) 12 -13 pairs of “laytex” type gloves…..
16) some sort of hand cleaner for in between needs of getting hands clean…this is obviously a messy job
17) if you are doing this on your driveway….and you care about it….you need several pieces of cardboard to be placed underneath your work area.
18) If you are doing this inside your garage and you have a nice floor you care about…and you do any grinding with a wire brush wheel I would say be prepared to mop your floor as the brake dust will get on your car and every where else…(up to you)
19) A rubber mallet you will find that if removing the rotors that they require some “beating” to be removed….I found that the rear wheel rotors were the toughest because most likely the emergency brake…..and you will find that beating from the angle behind the rotor towards you will be of help….be careful not to hit the metal protective plates…..
20) a small tube of anti-seeze which can be placed (very very small amount) to the inside of your wheel on the back side where your hub meets your wheel….just to keep it all from siezing together…..make sure not to contaminate any other areas with this material around your brake pads with your fingers…
21) a regular rachet
22) goggles especially if messing with a grinder with a wire wheel
23) gloves if using a grinder….the angles of using the grinder with the wire wheel will cause that thing to jump around a little….possibly taking some of your hide with it….!
24) a good light source
25) a good sized channel lock pair of plyers that are big enough to spread open about 6″ or so in order to push back the brake piston to create enough room to slide the caliper over the rotors with the new pads.
26) Dremmel tool is handy if you believe that taking a very small amount of the pad off at the front edge of the brake pads at a 45 degree angle to assist with helping to decrease the likely hood of “sqealing new brakes” of course this is personal preference as to whether you would agree with this or not.
As for torque values:
As I mentioned above I spoke with 3 Volvo dealerships and while I heard a variety of ideas and responses one particular technician I spoke with actually looked up the values…..
10mm needs 8 Nm (nute meters) or 5.9 ft lbs
15mm needs 100 Nm
13nm I did 100 Nm as well but this was my guess
7 mm hex head needs 30 Nm
All of the dealerships said not to loctite.
Hopefully this helps someone else down the way…..since I have never changed brake pads or rotors on any car before I had a buddy who has owned volvos for over 30 years assist me on my wife’s XC70 together we changed both the rotors and brake pads together in 3.5 hours…..some 40 minutes of that work had to do with cleaning off all of the new rotors with brake cleaner and “scoring” or simply removing the leading edge of the brake pads….a “trick” he learned many years ago to keep from having new “squealing” brakes….of course this is not necessary but still this took time to do with a dremmel tool and then cleaning the pads with brake cleaner before installing….
I then did my S60 all by myself from start to finish without assistance given the new found knowledge that I had and it took me much longer….there is always the meshing of how much to clean when doing this work vs what needs not to cleaned….I suppose most of this comes down to personal preference…..as well as how analytical you are and think through the process….
The hardest part of doing this work is working with the front rotor “retainer” springs and reattaching them…..you talk about a miserable experience….it took me an hour to just get the driver’s side one properly back on my S60. I am not even sure now I know how I got it back on…lol….. Both of the rear “springs” are pretty easy….If you are doing this work yourself for the first time I would take a photo of how the springs are properly placed before removing the springs so you have a “visual reference” (just my opinion).
Overall I would rate this job as more time consuming than complicated…but having some basic skills would be helpful…..
I would also say that deciding how much cleaning is necessary or how clean you want your work area would also determine your desire to clean the wheel wells prior to beginning your work…of course this adds more time to the job if you are to move your car outside and jack up one side to remove both wheels and clean the wheel wells properly as well as the calipers and so forth…..it all depends on how anal you are…..
I believe the Dealership would charge in the range of $500-700 dollars for this work, my material costs alone were about $300.00 per car for both rotors and brake pads. What you get out of this job is the satisfaction of doing something to your own car plus “perhaps” a more careful “reinstallation” and cleaner application…again I say “perhaps” as that is a matter of opinion and you also get with the use of “grease” (very small amounts) if properly applied to the right areas a “quieter” reinstallation…..
Personally for me it helps you do the “male” thing of “bonding” with your car…lol and everytime I stop….I know I am stopping because of my time and careful work….plus I know more about my car….
Hopefully as I said above this helps someone like myself trying to read about how to do a brake job….
Regards,
TIM
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