Volkswagen Brakes....

[scheides]

...make me sad.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2489/3899711048_19db3bbcc9_o.jpg

Tonight I broke:
-one bleeder valve (stripped)
-my birthday vice from kracka & rosey
-my brake caliper spreader tool (not the cheap one, the special one for brakes like on vw)
-my faith in german over-engineering

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

wow, your vice broke? that's pretty crazy! I lost my faith in German over-engineering the first time I ever worked on a German car.

[4seasons69]

aww man that sucks! those spreader tools break all the time. a couple guys who work at the shop I do have them and both of theirs have broken but they were able to get them warrantied. get a really big channel lock pliers it's never failed on me for spreading calipers yet. (unless they are the kind that the piston has to screw back into the caliper ;) )

[jhaan_dude]

ok sheides, you do realize you need to turn the calipers to get them in? thats why your vice broke. they twist in, they dont just press in. great design, they never seize or jam up over time. best of luck to you!

[Kracka]

Wow...WTF!

[rose0529]

wow thats crazy!

[A//// Guy]

ok sheides, you do realize you need to turn the calipers to get them in? thats why your vice broke. they twist in, they dont just press in. great design, they never seize or jam up over time. best of luck to you!

Yep. lol Scheides you newb, you have to turn them!

And that vice must have been a cheapy. haha carnage

[scheides]

I was turning them, like I said, I had the right tools and everything. The vice was a last ditch effort, sometimes if you turn them then crank on them you can get them to compress. I ended up using a small screwdriver in the pin hole that had a dowel pin in it (or whatever its called) and doing 1/2 turn at a time and getting it to compress....but not after completely disassembling the caliper from the car, ebrake assembly, secondary fluid lines, etc...basically it was a wh0re of a job, but eventually I got it done and everything back together, save for one trashed bleeder valve. The thing was completely seized in the caliper, I'm lucky I got it out.

[cmspaz]

Wow, sucks dude.

I thought that was a pretty good vice, too, considering how well it held up to you, me, Rosey, and that pile of shit o2 housing of mine.

[jhaan_dude]

i usually use a hand grinder tool for removing the discs