Rear Brake Discs

[ChrisM]

DONE!
TIME: around 1.5hrs.
PARTS: 1 set of brake pads, I pair of Renault rear discs, with ABS ring and bearing, 1 sachet of anti squeel paste. some locktight.
TOOLS: Thin flat chisel, hammer, 27mm (I think size almost worn off now) socket, 13mm socket, large knuckle bar, 3/4 ratchet, 16mm open end spanner, wire brush, torq wrench oh and piston turning tool, in my case a VW one. Anti Squeel paste.
Simple job really would have taken photos but wife had taken digi to work to photograph shop move around!
Anyway.
1 -Chock wheels and remove hand brake, I als oleft car in gear.
2 - Jack and axel stand car, remove road wheel.
3 - Use flat chisel to tap off hub cover for wheel bearing hub nut, use large bar and 27mm socket, loosen nut on stub axel.
4 - On the back of caliper disconrct hand brake cable and move out of way, quite simple just pull on cable to get it out then
push it down through the slot, cable off!
5 - Use 13mm socket and you will also need 16mm open end spanner to remove the caliper slider bolts, quite tight as locktight will have bee nused once on the move fine, the 16mm is used to hold the slider pins whilst you undo the 13mm bolts on the back of the caliper.
6 - Remove claiper and rest on rear suspension arm.
7 - Remove pads.
8 - Now remove caliper hanger, you may notice they are on star bolts, MMmmm I used a HEX socket (13mm) I don't think a star (multi hex) socket will work, they are really tight to start with, again been put in with locktight, use the large knuckle bar for more leverage, once you have broken the locktight seal they come out ok, remove this hanger.
9 - Now back to the large nut, undo this all the way the Disc will then just pull off, they are loose once the nut is slackened.
10 - Now push in the caliper piston, this can only be done using a caliper retraction tool, as you have to wind them in, remember to remove the cap off the brake fluid resovior 1st, postion the tool and wind in the piston. Fully in.
One side was quite tight on mine so I had to put he hanger back on the bolt the caliper to the hanger again to get the piston moving. they where not the easiest of things to wind in.
~~~~ you are now ready to reassemble ~~~
1 - pull out the pins from the hanger and coat with copper grease, push them in and make sure the rubber bellows are back in place.
2 - clean and apply a little grease to the sub axel, DO NOT allow any dirt to be stuck on here, then push on disc, again make sure there is no dirt on the nut, then wind nut on and torq up.
3 - apply some locktight to the tips of the hanger Star bolts, postion hanger and wind in bolts, torq up.
4 - put your new pads in and check caliper fits over them.
5 - coat caliper piston and outside fingers with anti squeel paste, postion caliper over pads, you will have some spring presure here from the pad springs, so you will need to drip some locktight on the caliper bolts 1st and keepthem to hand, push in top of claiper and start one of the 13mm caliper bolts, once on a few turns, move to the lower one, push caliper in and start lower bolt, you can now using the 16mm open spaner and 13mm socket tighten up the caliper slide bolts.
6 - Almost there - you now need to pull the hand brake cable through the slot and re-attach it to the rear of the claiper, this can be done by hand easily, once this is attached, job done!!!
Now just open car door and operate the hand brake leaver to take up the slack, once you get a decent hand brake, pump the foot pedal a few times as well just to get that pedal back.
Leave hand brake off, try moving the disc should be ok, replace road wheel, drop car, do the other side. remember to do the hand brake and pedal thing for that side as well.
I used Genuine Renault rear discs as I have heard a few stories about aftermarket ones putting on ABS lights even when they have the ABS ring attached, also beware the discs with no bearing, bearings cost around £50 per side, and need to be pressed in is the saving on the disc price worth this, the ABS ring looks like it is coated in rubber so I don't think you can actually remove it and if you do I am almost sure you can not get it to stay in place on the new disc.
You don't have to use Renault pads.
Yes the Renault rear discs are a bit pricey, but at least it makes this a simple one time job which requires a speacial disc, non Reanault ones will cost you around £90, a lot of places will not return them once you have tried to fit them especailly from a DIYer, you need to ask the question directly, "if this disc puts my ABS light on after fitment can I get a refund" and see what they say, I have seen two differant sellers on ebay none of them replied to this question, the local motor factor told me once fitted no refund, as the parts can not be re sold, yet you need to fit them to see if they do work.
I am not saying they all don't work, for some reason some do, I know of a couple of people who have bought these cheap disc kits and they worked fine, but also know of at least 3 people who have had to resell on ebay, along with all the hassel that goes with it when the person mails them back to complain their ABS light is on.
All said now.
The actuall job of changing them is simple.
Hope tihs helps you save some cash.

[JasonS]

I did mine 2 weeks ago.. I used genuine Renault discs and pads as well, they weren't too expensive from renaultpartsdirect.co.uk but I expect Pagid ones from Euro Car Parts would have been OK as well..

It's a 30mm socket for the hub - I had to buy one specially as I only had a 27mm one..
hub nut needs to be torqued to 175 Nm.

I was a bit stumped by the star bolts as well, but a 13mm socket worked just fine..
I didn't have a clue how to get the hub cover off, but I eventually worked out that a pry bar and hammer would do the job.

I have a VW/Audi piston winding tool as well.. I find that every tool I buy comes in handy next time.
I bought the 30mm socket and a 16 inch breaker bar, which worked much better than my existing weedy one..

[ChrisM]

Ah a 30, I can just see the top of the 3 and the right hand corner of the 0, so I thought it was a 27mm, it is a socket I have had for many years and has worked on many makes must be universal hub nut size then.

I paid £93 for mine which I thought was a good price, I used EBC pads, no squeels yet, we have a parts supplier up here called Brown Brothers, one of the lads I know works for an ex Renault dealership, and they have used Brown Brothers a couple of times for rear discs for Scenic and Megs 2's there have been a few occasions though when these discs have put the ABS light on, and they don't know why, returning them is a nightmare and I think as a DIYer you would have no chance once they had been fitted, the disc face would give it away.

The hub cover for me was no problem I have seen these in many forms over the years on fronts and rears, you can actually get away with a screw driver and hammer to pop em off if you wish, just don't hole them.

Job was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but would have been impossible without the piston return tool, they where quite hard to turn back in, thum presure i was told would do it, I don't think so, especially on the driver rear, which is one i will be watching as it was extremelly tight to start with bordering on semi seized I thought once started it wound in ok though, will explain the clunk I was starting to get in the last few weeks from the hand brake when released, which has now gone.

saved a few pennies and it was a lot easier than the the rear drum brakes on the wifes Meg 1 Coupe, and all those silly springs that come with brake shoe replacement..