# How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta



## Mademan118 (Mar 15, 2002)

I am trying to replace the rotors on my 2007 VW Jetta Wolfsburg. I have the piston retracted and now I am trying to get the rotor off, but it looks like we need a special tool to release it (the female part is located behind the rotor, one near the top and the another near the bottom). I believe it is some type of 12-Point wrench.
HELP!!!! My car has been down for 3 days because of this!


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (Mademan118)*

Have you tried to just loosen the lock screw on the rotor and see if it will come out without removing the caliper brackets? That works for MKIV Jetta (just did one last week) and my Passat..no need to worry about the "special tool" then! The special tool is a 14mm "triple square bit" and you need a very short one to get at those suckers with all the suspension bits in the way! Let us know if rotor comes off w/o removing caliper brackets..please!!! If you do need to remove the brackets..those bolts are "one time use" stretch torqued bolts..make sure you get 4 of em from dealer B4 removing brackets...torque spec will be something like "torque to XX ft lbs + 1/4 turn" make sure you know that spec B4 removin the caliper bracakets! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 
PS: I have the tool and a Bentley Manual to do the job right...could catch tomorrow morning's flight from SJC..would put me at HNL at 12:30 or so!































_Modified by spitpilot at 6:02 PM 1-21-2009_


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## ryanarchy (Nov 27, 2008)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (spitpilot)*

You will need to remove the caliper carrier and you can reuse the carrier to axle bolts. All the techs(including myself) at the dealer i worked at did anyway and never saw one come back broken or had any problems. Good luck those bolts can be super tight sometimes.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (ryanarchy)*


_Quote, originally posted by *ryanarchy* »_You will need to remove the caliper carrier and you can reuse the carrier to axle bolts. All the techs(including myself) at the dealer i worked at did anyway and never saw one come back broken or had any problems. Good luck those bolts can be super tight sometimes. 
 Darn..I was hopin you could slide rotor out like the MKIV's and B5 Passats...







Reusin stretch torqued bolts isn't a good idea...you stretch bolt into it's "yield torque" and you begin to fatigue and crystalize the metal...then you try to do that again..kinda like playin Russian roulete...sometimes you pull the trigger and nothin happens..but that one time it does...bit consequences!







Read the horror stories about stretch crank bolts fracturing on several of the tech Forums here and you'll think twice about trying to save $10 or so by resuin these bolts...Yah the're super TIGHT...I finally had to shoot the tips with PB Blaster, then lay into em with a pipe slid over my HD breaker bar to get 'em outa there...not much room to work with the suspension parts in the way..particularly on the upper bolts!..Great design VW..NOT!


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## hech54 (Nov 1, 2008)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (spitpilot)*

When in doubt....and there are no parts near the bolt to be damaged by heat....TORCH IT!!!


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (hech54)*


_Quote, originally posted by *hech54* »_When in doubt....and there are no parts near the bolt to be damaged by heat....TORCH IT!!!
 Unless you have bad corrosion, the issue is that you just can't get much force on these puppies...very little room to turn wrench and since I have no lift..a limit on how long a handle I could use to help multiply my meager strength...actually had to have friend put his foot on my torque wrench to get that last 1/4 turn on em when we installed the carriers after swapin out dust shields an rotors for GTI set up!


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## Mademan118 (Mar 15, 2002)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (spitpilot)*

Alright guys,
Well this SIMPLE process has turned into a HUGE pain in the ass.
I will say this, this process should take 30 minutes tops (we didnt even have the Piston Compression tool, just the rubic cube thing) per side. 
5 Days later, after hunting down a triple square, we finally found a dealer (Snap-On, $52 for a whole set). Living on the island, this is the only dealer that had it, and it was somewhat of a pain to meet up with the truck. 
The problem we have now is what is stated above, the bolt is EXTREMELY tight, and we are unable to get enough leverage to actually break the torque on the bolt. This carrier bolts are reusable (my dealer has them on back-order so changing them isnt an option right now, but we will once they come in). We are putting the cars on jackstands as we speak to increase the amount of space we have for leverage.
Once again, with the right tools, this process is really easy!


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (Mademan118)*

X2!!!!!





















I couldn't get a good shot at the top bolts with my Snapon 14mm bit..even dremel cut the bit part down as much as possible and it was still too long (socket is really beefy and long) to allow for access with 1/2 extension and breaker bar (rear suspension members are very close to the heads of the top pair of bolts)...Then I found the Metalnerd site had a bit that was way shorter..and cost 1/2 of what the Snapon one did (bought Snapon first when I did my front suspension struts to change springs..clamp bolts there are also 14mm triple square..and torque stretched 1 time use). I'd jack car as high as you can get it and use a length of 1" steel pipe on your breaker bar handle..you can also squirt some PB Blaster down on the tips of these bolts (use the little red tube that comes with the spray can to get down behind the brake rotor and aim at just the bolt tips)...I let that sit while taking a lunch break (







) and it seemed to ez things up enuff so I could crack the bolts loose with a maximum grunt on the breaker bar....why not use impact gun you say...no room to get a shot at the bolts gun just too big to fit in among the suspension parts there. Having done this and seeing the force needed to retorque, I'd be very wary about reusing these bolts! Torque spec is 66 ft lb..which is nothing..but then you have to add 1/4 turn..and that really takes some force!...Bolts are being stretched into the yield strenght area and you should only do that to em once!


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## hech54 (Nov 1, 2008)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (spitpilot)*


_Quote, originally posted by *spitpilot* »_ Unless you have bad corrosion, the issue is that you just can't get much force on these puppies.

I understand that there is not much swinging room....but heat (torching) has more to do with simple "expansion and contraction of hot/cold metal" than it does corrosion. On a newer car with little or no corrosion....heating a tough bolt is common as long as there is nothing around it that can be damaged by heat.


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## ryanarchy (Nov 27, 2008)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (spitpilot)*

Do you have an air compressor and tools? If you don't, buy one use it for the job and then return it and save your self the back-ache. this should be a 30 minute job, not 4 days.


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## Mademan118 (Mar 15, 2002)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (ryanarchy)*

Once again, the process only took 4 days because I had to locate the triple square 14MM wrench. Living in hawaii, you are very limited as to what tools are being carried in local shops. On top of that, their is not a very large german scene here in comparision to the amount of people that live here. Most of the tools in the shops are geared for asian/domestic cars.
What we ended up doing is just putting the old pads back on and taking it to a friends shop. We used a breaker bar and power tools and had the tire off, caliper off, rotor/pads replaced, and caliper back on in 15 minutes.
If you have the proper tools, this is a 30 minute job TOPS! Now if you are a a DIY home mechanic without power tools, 30 minutes per side!
Also here is the break down of the cost compared to VW pricing:
VW Price: $550
What I paid: $150 (with purchasing tools).
Saved $400!!!


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

*Re: How to take rear rotor off of 2007 VW Wolfsburg Jetta (Mademan118)*

Saved $400 after tax money..that's like earning $500-600 (depending on whether you have state inc tax like here in CA..10%!)...not bad labor rate for an hour's work! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif (including







time of course)


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