I am replacing my rear rotors myself and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to remove the bolt the holds the rotor onto the car. I replaced my front rotors a few months ago and had a very difficult time removing the bolt. I used an impact wrench on one of the bolts and it cracked the head of the bolt right off and I had to drill the rest of the bolt out.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove that bolt an easier way?

 

Honestly? No. I always say just bust 'em off or bypass that even and drill it out from the start. They serve no purpose other than to make it a little easier to reinstall the rotors. If you're dead set on getting them out and it's rusted, use either a drill driver (like a screw driver with a bit on the end, you pound it with a hammer and it pushes in while it turns) or use a lot of force pushing in while you slowly spin it.

 

Try just a torx bit on a regular ratchet (not too big) and see if you can get it out without stripping it. If not, I used a dremmel to cut notches into the bolt head so that it looked like a big flathead bolt. Then used a chisel and hammer to slowly turn it.

 

A little penetrating oil works wonders...

 

In case you're trying to remove the bolt with the caliper removed you should re-install the caliper, set the parking brake, and remove the bolt. If you're trying to remove the bolt with the rotor free-spinning you're just asking for a difficult time.