Hey everyone, yesterday while I was replacing my suspension I noticed that all 4 rear rotor screws are pretty much stripped. They're not COMPLETELY stripped, but enough that if I tried to unscrew them it would probably finish them off.

I really don't know what to do about this. I could drill it through and risk drilling into something else, but that's a big risk that I don't really want to take unless I absolutely have to. Anyone have any tips to get it out of there without potentially messing up other stuff? And anyone know the size of the screws? I'm just going to buy all 8 new ones for all the rotors to play it safe.

And before anyone asks, no I did not strip these screws the person that owned the car before me must have had the brakes done and the shop messed up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

Very common. You don't really need them.

You can drill the head off, or use an impact chisel to unscrew it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turkishEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Very common. You don't really need them.

You can drill the head off, or use an impact chisel to unscrew it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Impact chisel? Never heard of that. I have heard of an impact driver though, is that the same thing?

And I know I can run them without the screws, and many cars now use the free-floating rotor design, but I'm more of a better-safe-than-sorry kind of guy, haha. I don't think it would hurt anything by putting new screws in just to be safe.

I've been considering leaving them out for a while though, but I do plan on autox'ing the car and want to take as many precautions as possible. Thanks for the help though!

 

You can drill them out. I think turkish is talking about in impact driver. I never had much luck with that when the screw heads were stripped.
I always just drill the heads off, unscrew them with a good set of vice grips and replace the rotors. Luckily, I've never broken one off in the hub.

 

air hammer uses a chisel

 

i just drill off the head and dont use them again, they are not nessecery

 

Agreed, not necessary, been running my rotors without them for 2 years now, since I did it myself. They just seize in there and cause headaches. Drill bit should get them out just fine. Be sure to torque your lugnuts down well and evenly, and the correct amount of pressure presses the rotors against the hub.

 

Thanks a lot for all the help/suggestions everyone! I will try some of these methods and see what happens.

 

Coming from a guy who has used many air and hand tools, i really reccomend a hand impact (and a pair of gloves) with a 28oz hammer. you just have more control it seems with a hand impact, and yes, you may have to whack it multiple times.

Should you choose to buy new screws and use them, make sure to add anti-seize (this grey compound) to the threads to prevent future seizing. And yes, on stock cars, they are not needed.