Changing the front disks on the golf the other day and one of the retaining screws had to be removed with a drill. Only thing is that I have only managed to drill it out from the old disk so need a solution for the new disk. Bolted the wheels on as these really hold the stuff together but would like a solution so next time I take the car for tyres the guys don't look at me like a numpty! Any ideas - is it possible to drill and re tap or best to get a whole new thing(whatever it is) and if that is best does anybody have one knocking about? It's an 88 8v gti Steve
Are you asking how to remove the rest of the thread from the hub after drilling the head off? An "eazy-out" may do the trick - if you drill and tap you may need to go up one size of bolt, which means drilling the disk too - those bolts really aren't essential though, just makes bolting the wheels on 10x easier. Otherwise, new hub.
Yeah, you can live without it... As funk says, just makes re-fitting the wheels a bit easier, and doesn`t affect the braking performance at all.
mine were siezed in, and they wouldnt drill. so i smashed the discs off then got a pair of molies/vice grips on the screw heads.
when you take the wheels off, either apply the handbrake pretty hard or apply the front brake really firmly once you have stopped and you will find the discs won't move when your putting the wheels on.... all of mine have been drilled out as they just wouldn't budge!!!
i had a seized disc retaining screw last year, first i drilled the head out to removed the disc. there was nothing to get hold of so i then drilled the screw out using increasing diameter drill bits until i could just see the thread of the hub, i then used the correct sized tap to clean the remaining screw thread out. only takes about 15mins and some careful drilling
just as a heads up, these little jobbies are amazing for getting out brake disc screws: put the right end in and bash it with a lump hammer till the screw comes out, shocks and turns at the same time. http://www.toolstation.com/index.html?code=45454 less than 6 too, bargain!
Id recommend getting the rest out or you will warp the discs and the pads will wear uneven even a small amount of play will knacker your brakes its a bit of movement over a large area that ends up as a big gap over the entire area This sounds daft but itll make your brakes last longer if you bolt it down and you have a better chance of not ending up with warped discs and pads
i figure that the 5 wheel bolts that I do up really tight that press the disc in will stop mine warping
How the hell is there going to be play in the brake disc when it has four wheel bolts holding it firmly in place? The retaining screw just holds the brake disc in place for convenience when you're replacing the wheel. The retaing screw does nothing more than that. It doesn't stop the discs warping, doesn't stop the wheel falling off, doesn't prevent your penis turning purple and it doesn't prevent the Earth from dropping out of orbit. Honestly, this thread...
A mate of mine here just pointed out however that without the retaining screw in place, in theory it'll be easier for dirt and crap to drop behind the disc when you're changing the wheel. Which could cause the disc to sit slightly off. Which is a fair point.
I know it sounds daft but its true due to expansion you will hear over time the discs rock on the hub when you brake only slightly but its there why do you think there's a screw there just in case if it wasn't meant to be there there wouldn't be a hole to put the screw they've done there testing and decide on it requiring a screw daft i know but its science you cant disprove science its all done for a reason
I'm 100% sure it's there to hold the disk in place, or else lining the bolt holes for the wheel/disk/hub up is a tad annoying - if it were that important or in any way load bearing, surely they'd have used more than one bolt...I'm happy to be proved wrong.
My old golf had no screws, it did in one year 8 trackdays on semi slicks approx 15k road miles on top of the trackdays and the discs never - NEVER - warped,wobbled or got even slightly upset due to no screws. They only got changed due to wearing evenly out. Four or Five bolts at 120nm torque spread over their repective degress will clamp the disc to the hub far more effectively than a pi.s.sy little screw with 5nm of torque clamping at one position. stop talkin s.h.i.t.e
To keep the disc in place while you're changing the bloody wheel. Yes, and the reason they've put it there is to keep the disc in place while you're changing a wheel. Have you ever tried to fit a wheel without the screw in place and experienced the sheer frustration of trying to get the holes in the brake disc, hub and wheel to align? THAT is what the screw is there for. Are you really suggesting that a little M5 screw, which is supposed to be only very lightly tightened with a screwdriver - probably, I am guessing, to a torque of just 5NM or something - has been put there to bear braking force loads? Are you suggesting that, despite the clamping force of four dirty great big wheel bolts that are torqued to - oh I don't know, 80 or 100NM - whatever it is, it's still necessary to have a tiny little finger-tight screw to prevent the brake disc from rocking around?
