Front Brake Disc replacement

[kevcorks]

Hi,

I am after some advice on replacing my front brake discs on my 1990 T25.

I have the Bentley manual but I'm not sure how big of a job it will be. Are there bearings in the disc that need replacing during this, or is it just the discs and pads I will need.

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kevcorks

[pionte]

HI Mate, yes the bearings are all part of the disc, here is a write up i did a while back which shows how to replace the bearings. Not a hard job if taken steady .



https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=122485" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kevcorks]

Thank you very much, great write up, much appreciated.

[pionte]

Thank you very much, great write up, much appreciated.

you are welcome mate.

[AdrianC]

If you buy discs and bearings together from BW, they will - if you ask very nicely - fit the bearing races into the discs for you.

[kevcorks]

Thanks Adrian that sounds great, I'll give it a go.

[busbuddy]

does your van have abs? if so there other bits to press off the old discs and onto the new ones

[kevcorks]

No there's no ABS

[California Dreamin]

But...despite what people have said above ^^^^^ you don't have to AUTOMATICALLY assume the bearings will need replacement. Of course the thinking behind this is 'well you might as well do them whilst you are doing the discs and pads'. The reality however, is that we (at the main dealership) always cleaned and checked the old bearings for serviceability and if they were found to be in good condition, they were cleaned in petrol, dried, re-packed with fresh grease and re-used.
The job involves knocking out and fitting the bearing races (old to new discs) and I can understand that there would be a delay IF you first ordered the discs & pads and then LATER ordered bearings. I changed my discs and pads about 5 years ago, I re-used my old bearings....and here we are five years later and those bearings are still going strong.
I can knock out and re-fit a pair of bearing races in about 2 - 3 minutes, so you're certainly not replacing them because of the 'difficulty factor'. You may on the other hand benefit from time saying If the bearings turn out to be unserviceable. BTW..with taper roller bearings it is very easy to tell whether they are good or not, water ingress, pitting, discolouration are all very visual faults...if they look OK then they almost certainly are.

The long and short of it is..if you are loose with your money and don't mind spending another £56.00 on the off chance that they might need changing then go for it.

Martin

[CovKid]

Agree with every word of that

[kevcorks]

Thanks for the info.

I have ordered the discs and pads and will give them a go at the weekend. With regards to the bearings I will see how they are once I remove them. Doreen isnt my daily driver, so her being off road for a couple of days if I need to order bearings won't be an issue.

Is it possible to get the bearings from a generic bearing supplier cheaper than the VW suppliers? I know from my work on motorbikes in the past that as long as you know the spec of the bearing required it is usually cheaper this way, although I so far haven't been able to find any dimensions for the bearings, even in the Bentley manual. Just a thought.

Thanks

[Oldiebut goodie]

I always took my old bearings into my local bearing supplier who never failed in matching quality and price although as I get less mobile online with the trusted suppliers is now preferred. It just meant that you had to whip the old ones out and have a delay in putting the new ones in.