front disc rotor replacement

im gonna be changing my front rotors on my 93 geo metro. anything i should know before i start ? any special tools etc.....or problems i could run into :banghead:

You might consider doing this where there is a press handy, for shoving the hubs out of the bearings. This merely makes things easier. I have done this the barbaric way, and simply used a correct sized drift and a large hammer, but it can be a pain.
The recommended method is a slide hammer on the wheel studs, and use it to pull the hub out. I have tried this method on several different cars, and it hasn't worked yet..... Maybe its me.
Other than that, 17mm socket to remove the wheel nuts, 30mm socket for the cv axle nut, 14mm for the bolts holding the rotor to the hub, 12 mm holding the brake caliper to the steering knuckle assembly, a c clamp or other clamping device for spreading the brake pads, pushing the piston back in to the brake caliper.
I have found, when i need to hammer and drift the hubs out, that removing the lower ball joint bolt ( again, 14mm socket ) then removing the lower ball joint stud from the steering knuckle, can really help you get a better angle of attack on things.

Good Luck, Enjoy the job, don't take anything too seriously.

woah there. No hub pulling on the Geo. Jack up the car, take off the wheel, and remove the brake caliper. There'll be 2 screws holding the rotor to the hub. Use an impact screwdriver to remove these. You'll never get them out without it. The rotor will then come right off. Might need a lil wd-40, but it should come off. And btw, those 2 screws are not necessary. They were put there to make it easier to manufacture.

funny zuki, not to be arguementative, but dude, I have a 93 that i am using for parts, and thats the way i had to remove the front rotors. Maybe its me. ehehhe

Besides, if it were that easy to remove the rotors on the 93, I would have done a complete hub/rotor upgrade on the older cars with parts from that one.

Heh, well. I've had about 10 metros in total, building my 2nd GT convertible, 2 Swift GTi's, and several conversions including a 96 metro 4 door DOHC swap, I think I know the brakes pretty well. Just take off the 2 screws, whack the rotor a few times, and it'll come right off the hub. And yes, it's true from 87, alll the way up to the 2001 metro's. They never used an integrated rotor and hub. If they're old, it'll be a real chore to take the rotor off, but nonetheless, if you take out the retaining screws, the rotor will come off. Are you sure you're not talkin about the rear drums Pind? Cause you do need a slide hammer for those.

No man, not the rears, I have never used a slide hammer for them. Take the nut off the spindle, a quick tap on the outer part of the drum with a ball peen hammer, and they slide right off.
I currently have added 4 more 89 - 94 sprints, flys and metros to the stable of racing parts cars, and i can assure you, I have yet to see the front rotor setup of which you speak. I pulled a bunch of wheels today, just to check it out further. My 91 that I just finished putting together has the style of hubs/rotors that I mentioned in my first post on this thread, and I thought " hey, if the new ones are easier, I'll do an upgrade " No such luck, they are all bolted behind the hub flange, with 4 bolts. I must live in a different world.
Anyway, thats where I was coming from on the initial advice, and unfortunately, I have a set of rotors to change in the next couple days..... going to love it as usual.

Enjoy

very nice pics zuki, and handy as heck for anyone doing this job.

As soon as I can get myself some hubs like that, I will upgrade, til then, I continue my battle.

The other day, I looked at it, and got lazy, swapped the entire front suspension, ball joints, c/v axles, full meal deal out of my race car, into the new one that I just put together. It was a whole bunch faster than changing rotors on the style of hubs that i seem to be a magnet for.

Punchline is this, the car now handles better, since the struts, springs, and ball joints on the race car were new, and with the c/v axles out of the race car, there is no more c/v joint death rattle going on either. the only part of the "new" car that I kept, were the brake calipers, as they were in good shape, and I really did not feel like bleeding brakes.

One of these days, we'll have to get together through some form of messaging, and compare notes on these aggravating, yet simple and fun little cars.

I will follow up with a post of some pics of the hubs I have here in the near future, as soon as I can knock one apart.

Happy Motoring

And the future is today

http://www.teamswift.net/forum/album_personal.php?user_id=1778

Woah, those are some goofy lookin rotors! lol j/k. I've never in my life seen metro/swift rotors like that. What year/body style were those on?

those rotors are off my 93 metro 2dr hatch parts car, with a 3cyl/auto. hence parts car. they are all the same on my 89s, the 90s, the 91, the 92, and the 93. The 89s are 4 door hatch cars and they share the same rotor and front suspension setup. That is exactly why I dislike doing rotor changes so much. is it a stricly canadian thing, where somehow the engineer knew we had more patience for stuff like that? I don't know.

What i do know, is like I said, it is quicker for me to change the whole suspension out, than to swap rotors. Every so often the rotors will come out of the hub just fine, but, I think I have seen that once. the rest of the time, you need a press, or a really big hammer. The hammer that is supporting the housing in the pics is the one I used yesterday. Not really big, but the only one I had at the time. Swing/bash/repeat as necessary. LOL

And hey, saying those are goofy looking, is not a problem, they are, and they are hateful. Or as close to it as a car part can get.

Like I said before though, on the rears, take the nut off the spindle, a quick tap with a ball peen hammer on the outside of the drum, and they pretty much just fall off. At least thats a bonus.

happy putting

That really sucks. Time to do a hub swap! lol. If ya want some, my new convertible has a complete front suspension i'm not gonna be using. It'll be a direct fit replacement. If you want em, let me know.

im gonna be changing my front rotors on my 93 geo metro. anything i should know before i start ? any special tools etc.....or problems i could run into :banghead:

It's not that bad but it's not for a beginer. Try the slide hamer first I've never had a problem with it. Maybe my hamer is just biger. Don't forget to take the axel nut off first. I always shove the axel in about a inch first just to brake the rust lose. Be careful not to get the bearing full of rust.

Seeing as he's from the U.S. (look in the info) he won't be needing a slide hammer. Just need to remove the retaining screws on the rotor, and it will come right off (check my link from earlier for U.S. model geo metro rotors)

i think ill just take a look and see didnt mean to start a civil war aaaa

Hey Craig, thought I'd add some input to your post, though I'm pretty late..

I just got my new rotors yesterday - $28/each from the NAPA store in town. Had to send the $47 AC Delco "vented" rotors back to rockauto.com, because they didn't fit... might be something to do with our '93 Metro 4-door being manufactured in Canada. Rockauto has been a pretty good source for parts, and I just misunderstood their part description this time around... my fault.

Anyway, the rotors that didn't fit had the two screw holes Alan was talking about, which our metro doesn't use. And they were also a different bolt pattern and larger in size than what I took off - wouldn't fit, period. Like Pind and kingmt have resorted to at one time or another, I used a sledge to hammer off the old ones, which didn't bother me this time around, because I knew I'd be tossing them anyway - runouts. Had to do a lot of pounding, though, to get them off. So it would really have been nice if they'd had those retaining screws in them, instead...

Now it's time to put the new ones on. Maybe I'll even to that today! But first I'm going to install some new wheel bearings. Was going to install new control arm bushings while I had everything out, but I think I'll save that effort for another time. Haven't found an inexpensive source, yet, and the old bushings aren't really all that bad... which is amazing considering the fact this old Metro has over 200,000 miles on it.

How did your rotor install go? Did you have to use a big hammer?

Later, Rick

Damn, lucky on the pricing. My vented swift GT rotors are $86/piece. I don't know why, but they are :(. Kills me when I go to do the brakes.