Rear brake change on a volkswagen golf mk7

Rear brake job on a vw golf mk7

Intro

I’m renewing the rear brake pads and rotors on my volkswagen golf mk7. The car has ebrakes, the thing can’t be take apart without a diagnostics tool … perfect opportunity to earn another star for mechanical skills.

Parts & documentation

As always good preparation is key. VW cars are popular so documentation is accessible.

There are at least 3 or 4 brake types installed on the golf mk7 all with different parts. To find the matching parts I uses all the car codes I could find (vin, engine, etc) did visual comparisons, tool measurements of the rotor and bolts.

Tools & parts

Tools:

• Jacks lift the car
• Car diagnostics tool, releases the parking brake (ex. Obdeleven)
• Hex bit no.7, removes caliper pin bolts
• M14 triple square (or spline) socket, removes caliper bolts
• Caliper tool, pushes caliper cylinders in
• Torque wrench
• Brush wire, old rag for cleaning
• Glasses and gloves for protection
• Bungee to support the caliper

Lubes and sprays:

• Brake cleaner
• Alcohol
• Copper grease
• Silicon lube
• WD40
• Heat resistant paint (optional)

Parts:

• new rotors
• new pads
• new bolts and pins (recommended, but good luck finding them)

Procedure

Secure car, untighten wheel bolts, lift and place on jacks, remove wheel.

Disassembly:

• Release handbrake (using the button inside the car)
• Use diagnostics tool to retract cylinders
• Open brake fluid container and extract some fluid with a syringe
• Remove caliper wire with a screwdriver
• Remove caps on the rubber boots
• Unscrew pin screws
• Remove the old pads
• Use the caliper tool to push back the cylinders
• Unscrew caliper bolts (use a long breaker bar)
• Remove old rotor

Cleaning & preparation:

• Clean everything with wire brush and brake cleaner
• Check that wheel hub turns smoothly

Reinstall in reverse order, additionally:

• Copper grease on the wheel hub
• Clean the pins and apply silicon grease

Tightening torques: 35 NM on the small bolts, 90NM + 90DEG on the big bolts

Finish

• Press brake pedal a couple of times
• Top off brake fluid if needed
• Use diagnostics tool to engage cylinders
• Drive around and check the fluid level again

Tips

Start with removing the caliper bolts that’s the most difficult part. These are very tight, use a meter long breaker bar, alternatively try pushing a shorter wrench with the foot instead of the hands.

There isn’t a lot of room to access the bolts, have multiple wrenches and extensions at hand. I found it best to put an extension through the spring coil and get a better leverage that way.

Once the top part of the caliper is off, move it out of the way by hooking it up to he shock absorber with a bungee. There is a clip on the brake lines that can be disconnected easily to allow a bit more movement of the part.

Stuck rotors… smack the front of the rotor with hammer but leave a partially screwed bolt on the rotor to prevent if from flying once loose. Use eye protection and a rag to minimize flying debris. It took me a good few minutes of heavy hammering.

The new brake rotors might be oily, clean them with brake lube.

Obdeleven usage. To retract the brakes, first disengage the brakes, go to brakes module, basic settings, start brake lining change. Hear the motor spinning and a yellow warning showing on the dash, turn the ignition off. After brakes are re-assembled re-deploy the brakes using end brake lining change

Result and pics

Brake before disassembly front and back. Pretty beaten for a four years old brake …

Parts disassembled

Lubes

New parts in and the result

This was my first attempt at doing this job. It took me one weekend research, and one Saturday to execute it.

Resources

• Elsa, a VW documentation app
• Obdeleven, a similarly popular diagnostics tool