Rusted Screws!

Ok so I am trying to do a simple thing, changing my brakes and brake rotors on the front of me 1990 crx. But the screws on the rotor are rusted in. We have trying a hammerd powerd impact rinch, propaine torch to heat the screw, and we are messing with some rust pinatrator. Nothing is working! This is suppose to be a simple job lol.
Any advice ?

You are doing all the typical things that should eventually work. I would continue to use the torch, the rotor is large and will take time to heat correctly. However if all the above fails you could go to Sears and they have "easy outs". GL

I had to drill off the head of the screw with a large drill bit to get one of mine out. I've tried those "easy out" things and it kept breaking, good thing for lifetime warranty.

Just drill it... Those screws arent very important... All they do is hold the rotor on when you take the wheels off... While driving the lug nuts and wheel will hold the rotor in place just fine... My old car had all of them drilled out for that exact reason... Just be sure u only drill the head out and dont drill into the hub assembly...

Actually, they only hold the rotor on when the caliper is off....not just the wheel. The caliper holds em in justfine...But really they are supposed to keep crud from bulding up while everything is off and loose, so that when you go to put em back on they dont seat crooked from some gunk or rust....I say drill em. Or heat and penetrating lube (not at the same time mind you), do that 2 or 3 times then put some torque on it and they should practically melt off.

Impact Driver, gets them most of the time. You can pick a cheap one up at your local parts store for $10-20. Using some penetrating lube while using it wouldn't hurt. I had to use it when I took mine off, and we use it all the time at my job, very seldom it won't get them off if the head on the screw is still decent and it can get a bite on it. The Impact driver is made for you to just hit it with a hammer and when it compresses it turns at the same time.


Now if that is what you meant by "hammerd powerd impact rinch" I don't know because I wouldn't really call it "hammer powered" or a wrench.

They're apparently on there for assembly line purposes. You don't need them.

They're apparently on there for assembly line purposes. You don't need them.


We stated earlier what purpose they serve. Only to hold the rotor still while the wheel is off. The caliper keeps the rotor from coming off completely, but the screws keep it still. I'll admit, its a little easier to put pads on a rotor thats not flopping around everywhere, but other than that, it doesn't really matter.