I searched the forums for instructions on doing this, but couldn't find a thread about removing and replacing rotors, just several threads discussing different rotor options.

I followed the acura dealer manual pdf, but I can't get the front rotor off. I removed the spindle nut, and then the 4 bolts on the backside of the assembly. I then tapped the drive shaft in, but am unable to remove the rotor and hub. It seems like the hub is held on with some sort of bearing, but I can't see how to remove it.

Anyone replaced their front rotors on a 96 2.5? Plz Help

 

It's too difficult to do this job by yourself.
I tried to do it myself but couldn't get the rotor off either.
Even with an 18 " flex wrench and 1, 7/16 socket, the damn center bolt wouldn't budge. And even then when you get it off, you'll need a heavy duty hub remover.

Just take it to the shop...I got my front rotors and pads changed for $90 labor at Top Tech here in Houston.

 

Acura just made the 2.5 too damn complicated.
I went toPepboys for my timing belt and they had to request a special tool to remove the water pump.
Acura. DAMN YOU!!

 

Ahhhhhhh... my 3.2 rotors just pop right off....

 

search for thread by me. take the advice and have someone do it for you. there's a possibility of ruining the bearings....you don't wanna do that.

 

HI,

This is what I did to change my rotors.

For the front,
Jackup your car. Take off your front wheels. Then you have to remove the caliper and its housing completely. I believe there are 4 bolts for the caliper and its housing. 2 on the left side and 2 on the backside of the rotor.
Then remove the 4 bolts on the wheel spacer, the red arrow. One of my lug was welded in by Midas. Im not sure if its suppose to be done liek this. My guess is it was their way of making sure I come back to them next time because I done have the tools to get it off. So I ended up using a Dremel to cut the head off the bolt to land replaced it with a new one, ordered from the dealer.

Next remove the big nut in the middle of the rotor. Then take a big size hammer with some weight and knock on the rotor from the backside where the caliper housing suppose to be. Knock outward towards you. Becareful not to hit the ABS sensor or any other parts but the rotor, and thats it! At this point the rotor should come off. The install is reversal. No need to bleed unless you feel the need to or have taken off a hose.
There you go goodluck.

 

oops.
Forgot about the back and I cnat edit anymore.
For the rear brake rotors,
Jackup the car, remove the wheels.
Take off the 2 phillip screws.
Then take off the caliper and its housing. I believe there are 4 bolts total.
Then from where the caliper suppose to be, take a hammer and wack it towards you to get it off. Becareful to only tap wack the rotors and not hitting the ABS sensor. When installing, dont forget to lubricate the bolts with grease so next time it wont get stuck and apply some god torque. thats it.

 

Alright, I re-read my changing front rotor post earlier and I think I forgot to mention something very important. Ah, I'll start from the beginning. This is for a 2.5 TL and some hondas, using a wheel hub system.
Heres how to do it.

In addition to what people have posted already about how to remove the rotor, they forgot to mention one thing. That is, how the heck do you remove the wheel hub with your human strengths. I assume you all ran into that problem too?
you know, crowbars will actually bend, thats how tough the suction force is. There is no short cut to this matter. I can see why people bring it to their local shops. But as a car enthusist, I prefer doing it myself.

1. Jackup the car. And remove tire.

2. Remove the caliper and its housing. It has 4 screws total. Use a coat hanger
to hang the caliper to the control arm frame.

3. Remove the big nut in the middle, A.K.A the spindle nut. The size is 36mm.

4. Remove the 4 screws in back of the rotor next to the CV joint. It is holding the wheel bearing to the knuckle.

5. Remove the nut at the control arm up top.

6. Remove the nut on the bottom ball point next to the lower wish bone fork.

7. Remove the anti-lock brake sensor, it has 2 screws in the back of the rotor. Tie that with a rope temporarily to the control arm frame.

8. Remove the thing thats holding the brake line that is attached to the control arm. There is 4 screws.

9. Finally, remove a nut from the arm that sticks out and is attached to the knuckle.

Once you've removed all that, you should be able to pull the knuckle right out.
If not then, tap it alittle with a hammer.

Next is to separate the wheel bearing from the wheel hub. The wheel hub is on top of the rotor. The wheel hub has a long part in the back that sticks into the wheel bearing. It is the only thing that is keeping you from changing the rotors. The suction force is to much for our human strength.
I mean, unless you have the strength of the Hulk or the bond is wearing out, you aint going to get it out. why try and tire yourself out for nothing when there is a tool that can do it better.
Once the knuckle is removed, the wheel bearing, rotors, and wheel hub should be all attached. Use a presser to push from the backside outward.
It should push the wheel bearing out with the rotor and wheel hub attached.
Now you can change the rotor. Installation is reverse. I think thats it.
Thats how I changed it from the direction of a friend who is a mechanic.

For the 2.5, Acura made it too much work just to change the freakin rotors.
One time, I chaged my rotors, install everything back, droved it. Then noticed the rotors were warped. I had to redo everything, wait 2 weeks to get a replacement part and do it all over again.

Another thing, if you can get the knuckles off, then changing the axle is nothing cause you're already there. Place your hand at the inner part of the axle and use a flat head screw to pry it out. Take the new axle and snap the inner end in until you hear a click. install, done.

 

what year is your car?

 

holy cow!! i request this as a STICKY!

 

 

Whew! Good to know! I'm doing mine tomorrow. Any suggestions in brand of Rotors?

 

Yeah that is good to know i am just waiting on my ceramic pads i ordered from my uncle then i am putting on drilled/slotted rotors on my 3.2TL.

 

anyone know what's better, or what application to use crossed drilled, slotted, or cross drilled & slotted? I just ordered some cross drilled from Brembo and wanted both but they only make one or the other. What gives???

 

There's really no reason to have both cross drilled and slotted on the same rotor.

Cross drilling works by supposedly increasing the surface area of the rotor is that it can cool faster. The downside is that the rotor is weaker and prone to cracking.

Slotted rotors attempt to give the pluses of cross drilling without the weakness of being drilled all the way through.

Crossed drilled and slotted designs on the same rotors are really just a gimmick. Most of the times they are done by people who buy regular rotors and make the cuts themselves. In other words, very prone to failure.

 

Drilled and slotted applications pretty much do the samething. Not only does it add beauty and elegance to your 17-20 inch rims, it also offers benefits over stock rotors, especially in the high performance application.

In a nut shell, drilled and slotted rotors shave off thin layers of the brake pad materials everytime you apply your brakes so that it's surface(brake pads) will be flat, and mold its shape to the contour walls of the rotors. This is good because it cleans the pads of rocks and sediments everytime you brake, allowing the pads to get a better grip on the rotors. Ofcourse theres other factors other than this to get better grips but we will just look at this today.

Now with stocked rotors, you dont have the benefit of cleaning the pads. If little rocks and sediments get onto the pads then it can affect the gripping of the rotors. And also may lead to pads gripping unevenly.

Additional benefits of drilled rotors are its lightness and ventilations.
Since some materials are drilled out, it is lighter.
Since there are many holes, it has better ventillations.

I personally would get rotors with both holes and slots.
I can get the benefits of lightness,better ventilations, the lined slot would allowed a better cut ,and finally it looks damn good

As for the downside of drilled rotors, contrary to whats been said, I dont believe
drilled or slotted rotors are unsafe or prone to cracking. The rotors are 2 big thick disc welded together on a thick many backbone. The holes arent drilled through the backbone but around it in a certain suitable pattern enough to handle the caliper torque gripping. I dont believe all drilled/slotted rotors are created with the same specs, and care must be taken to distinguish authentic drilled/slotted rotors from immitations. Obviously there will be differences.

 

Hey thanks for the insight guys! I've also heard that the drilled rotors are prone to cracking. I just want some extra grip and not have to worry about them wraping when I'm coming down the mountain after snowboarding. I don't imagine that normal driving and weekly trips down the mountain would wrap or cause these rotors to crack. What do you all think? THanks again!

 

Ysidro brings up some points but the fact still stands: No reputable company makes both cross drilled and slotted rotors on the same rotor. Why is this?

The ones you get on ebay are people who bought Brembo blank rotors and drilled it themselves.

1. Cross drilled rotors - Their purpose is to provide ventilation holes for the rotor to cool down quickly. Also, on high performance pads, sometimes a gas is released during heavy braking. This gas can prevent the caliper from getting a good bite. The holes vent this gas away from the surface of the rotor.

Rotors can and will crack. Cross drilled rotors are especially prone to this. Anybody who denies this isn't looking at the facts. What causes cracking? Uneven cooling. When an object (like a rotor) heats up, it expands. If some parts of the object cool down faster than other parts, then the object starts warping under internal stress. Taken from Brembo themselves:

"The Brembo Sport rotor’s cross-drilled holes are bi-angle chamfered at the rotor’s outer surfaces to help reduce the cracking caused by repeated, high stress, high temperature brake applications."

If the risk of cracking wasn't there, they wouldn't have taken the time to explain what process they use to try and counter it. Agreed?

Cross drilled rotors DO NOT clean the pad. If you look at it, the holes never come close to overlapping linearly. There are significant parts of the pad that will never come in contact with holes. It's like a cheese grater. If anything, cross drilled rotors will wear pads away quickly and unevenly.

2. Slotted rotors - Because of the high risk of cracking from cross drilling, slotted rotors were developed.

Taken from PowerSlot's website:

"...today’s elite teams in open wheel, Indy and Trans Am racing are moving away from crack-prone, cross-drilled brake rotors in favor of rotors modified with a fatigue-resistant slotting process."

Still think cross drilled rotors don't crack?

Slotted rotors attempt to give the benefits of cross drilling without the cracking. They vent gases mentioned earlier. Also, since they sweep the entire surface of the pad, they don't cause uneven wear like cross drilled ones.

I'm going to say it again. Rotors with both holes and slots are fake. It's a gimmick. Don't buy these things. Nobody with any credibility sells products like these. Anybody who thinks they do better than a purely cross drilled or slotted rotor is basing it on incomplete logic.


For you, Surfing Scotty, I would get slotted rotors. Cross drilled rotors are already very prone to cracking. If you're going to be using them in a snowy/wet environment where some water might get tossed on them, you're at risk of cracking even more.

 

i paid $315 for new rotors and pads installed on the rear...pretty damn good price.

 

So wackjum your saying that cross drilled and slotted is bad, then how come the new cop car have them?

 

Wackjum, THanks for the insight. I elected for crossed drilled but I bought them online last Saturday. I will be using them where water will get tossed up on them....CRAP! Well...we'll see how they work. Live and learn I guess. Thanks again!

 

Well as long as you got them from a reputable company (I'm guessing Brembo) then you should be alright. Remember, you can't turn rotors with slots or x-drills so off the bat, your operational life will be shorter even under perfect (read: non cracking conditions). Honestly, anything from a reputable company that is affordable is going to be mostly for looks. They aren't drilled quite aggressively enough to be a real danger. They still should provide a bit better braking than usual though, so there's operational benefits.

pimpstaman90, I never made a sweeping statement like that. I mainly talked about why rotors with both holes and slots aren't really a good idea. I'm pretty sure that if a police car was equipped with upgraded rotors, they would be either slotted or x-drilled, not both.

Further, its kind of pointless to say that because police cars have them, they are in turn a good idea for everybody. I'm going to mention a funny logical error that happens on internet forums a lot. "Reductio ad Hitlerum" or reduction to Hitler. Many people equate Hitler with evil and therefore, anything Hitler did = evil. But would it surprise you to learn that Hitler enjoyed painting with water colors? Does that mean painting is evil?

Police interceptors and track racers and other vehicles such as those have different requirements than the usual commuting vehicle. There's a rally version of the Lancer Evo that puts out over 400 hp. The car also requires complete tear down service every 2,500 miles. I doubt that the average driver:

1. Requires max braking force for the entire length of his/her daily commute.
2. Has an unlimited pool of money and time to replace rotors as soon as they fail.

So yeah, I don't question whether or not police cars do have slotted or x-drilled rotors. They very well might. It doesn't really matter and it doesn't have relevance to the driving public.

 

I understand everyone has their own opinions about whether or not its a good idea to install blank rotors thats been drilled/slotted afterward. And I respect their opinions.
However, Id like to make one thing clear to other users asking for recommendations. Dont follow whats been said here religiously. I mean, if you feel like you want the drilled/slotted rotors then buy them. Its your money. The facts are out there but what matters is how you interpret them,what you see and what you experience.
At first, before I got my Ebay drilled/slotted rotors, I was also skeptic.
So I googled and read what supposely have been said by an engineer about how rotors were suppose to absorb heat and removing pieces of the mass was a no no, blah blah blah, according to what he learn about thermodynamic and sh*t like that. I took classes like that too, and I dont see it like they see it.
So I said f*ck it. I like how the drilled/slotted rotors look and thats what I installed on my car, period. So far, its been almost a year now, and I have no problems.
Not bad for a rotor thats sold on eBay. The ones I got had holes in a line form with slots going clockwise. I also think its better to get brake pads thats made for slotted rotors. goodluck all.

 

I think that's all I needed to hear. I would buy new rotors before I turn them anyway...they'll warp faster once they're turned I'd imagine. I'll give these Brembo's a try and if they don't last I'll switch to slotted. Thanks for the tips!

As for :smitler: , I agree. He was actually very smart if you think about it....just sick in the head. He'd be an interesting person to talk to if I were to visit hell some day.

 

I had same problem after buying the right socket and busting my 1/2 breaker bar. Solution......took it to 4 wheel custom truck shop around corner and they put a 1600psi impact gun on my socket and presto...5 second miracle! Retorqued on lightly and drove home and changed both axels. It only cost me a box of donuts.

 

So wheel hub removal tool i need is like this one:

I need help on this one. I cant get the new rotors on and am about to give up

 

E z