S2 Front Brake Pad Removal

[neil-yaj396]

What tool are members using to drive out the pad pins? I need to buy one.

(Working on my friends Fulvia this weekend. Hats off to all you owners who work on your cars. After years of working on Betas everything seems so much more complex on the Fulvia....)

[lancialulu]

They should be just big split pins - use pliers or  mole grips to pull out. Check there  are  anti squeal thin metal shims between pad and pistons - often missing....

If they are not split pins then they may have been  upgraded to a plain pin with small R clip.  Even easier.

[HBG]

I recently had squealing pads on the front. The big split pins came out as Tim said and I found the pads jammed in the calipers as the metal backing plates were just a touch too large to allow free movement. A few moments with a grinder to remove the edge was all that was needed.

Nice and quiet now. The brakes, not the car!

[Jai Sharma]

I recently had squealing pads on the front. The big split pins came out as Tim said and I found the pads jammed in the calipers as the metal backing plates were just a touch too large to allow free movement. A few moments with a grinder to remove the edge was all that was needed.

Nice and quiet now. The brakes, not the car!

The pads sticking is quite common. On S2/3 cars at least, the calliper has to be removed to get the pads out. Also, the brake cylinders sometimes are sticky, which in turn can wear the pads unevenly.

[lancialulu]

Also generally missing and a safety issue is the calliper mounting bolts tab washer (one per side)

[neil-yaj396]

They should be just big split pins - use pliers or  mole grips to pull out. Check there  are  anti squeal thin metal shims between pad and pistons - often missing....

If they are not split pins then they may have been  upgraded to a plain pin with small R clip.  Even easier.

These seem to just be straight pins with nothing on either end, so presume I need a narrow punch to drive them through far enough to then pull with pliers?

[neil-yaj396]

Also generally missing and a safety issue is the calliper mounting bolts tab washer (one per side)

These are present and I have hammered them flat ready to remove. Imagine bolts are very tight.....

[lancialulu]

Also generally missing and a safety issue is the calliper mounting bolts tab washer (one per side)

These are present and I have hammered them flat ready to remove. Imagine bolts are very tight.....

Tight but  probably not a  problem for a man of your stature!

[Wangler]

Regarding hammering out the pins (or drifting - sounds less crude but amounts to the same thing!) it’s easy to end up mushrooming the end of something if it’s really stuck, which seems likely.

You have to get rid of the mushroom by drilling it off and ideally making it flush with the calliper body using a drill bit slightly larger than the diameter of the pin. Use a centre punch to get an accurate starting point for the drill.

Then (after letting penetrating oil do its job) take a drill bit fractionally smaller than the diameter of the pin and drill out a couple of millimetres of the pin to make a small “tunnel” into which you’ll be able to insert a hard metal pin to drift out the one that’s stuck.

If the calliper is completely stripped down you could try some heat, but that’s a last resort in my book and probably best left to a proper engineer.

[lancialulu]

I hope these are original fit split pins that only take a mole grip to pull out....

[Wangler]

I hope these are original fit split pins that only take a mole grip to pull out....

Indeed - from the previous posts I was getting the impression that they weren’t split pins, which of course is what they should be, but my apologies if I misunderstood. I hope so because getting seized non-split pins out can be a real pain.

[neil-yaj396]

I hope these are original fit split pins that only take a mole grip to pull out....

Indeed - from the previous posts I was getting the impression that they weren’t split pins, which of course is what they should be, but my apologies if I misunderstood. I hope so because getting seized non-split pins out can be a real pain.

As far as I can see they are not split pins on the car I'm working on.....

[lancialulu]

Give us a photo.....