[teezythakidd]

They fell from behind the rotor while I was trying to remove the rotor retaining screws with an impact screwdriver... needless to say, that failed, and I am currently out of an Impact screwdriver because it apparently broke. Or rather, I broke it lol. Help?

 

[RacerRik]

If you are talking about the Impact Screwdrivers you hit with a hammer, they are junk! And everyone always recommends using those pieces of junk to get those dang rotor screws out. Just take that thing and throw it away - but keep the bits cause they are handy!

If you have not mangled the heads too much yet, get a #3 Philips bit in an electric impact driver and zip those screws right out. You might be able to do it with a strong cordless drill also. Just hold the impact driver or drill with the bit tight against screw and hit the trigger.

Once you get the rotors off, you can see if those parts came from the behind the rotor but I don't think they did. They probably fell off the busted impact screwdriver.

If you have an air impact gun and adapters to go from the 1/2" drive down to a Philips bit, that will also work nicely in case you don't have an electric impact driver.

One more idea, those impact screwdrivers usually have a bit holder with a 3/8" square driver. So you can take the bit and bit holder plus a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter and use them on your air impact gun.

If you don't have an air impact gun and you plan to keep working on cars, you need to get one. Even a cheapy from Harbor Freight will do for someone who does not use it every day. And you can power it off an air tank if you don't have a compressor. A tank full of air will be enough to get a few stubborn bolts out.

 

[2012Taffeta]

TeeZy they go between the caliper bracket which I assume you took off and the knuckle. I would call them shims. I have no idea what they do but when I did my brake job they fell out too so I was careful to see where they go when disassembling the other side. Also drill out the screws on the rotor if you can't get em loose. Good luck bro

 

[RacerRik]

I actually took those rotor screws out of my 2001 Accord this past weekend. 14 years of rust and the electric impact driver popped em out like nothing!

 

[2012Taffeta]

I actually took those rotor screws out of my 2001 Accord this past weekend. 14 years of rust and the electric impact driver popped em out like nothing!

I took mine out with a hand screwdriver lol. I only had like 35k and I'm in California. When I did my girls brakes on her civic with 45k I had to drill one out. 1/4 impact is the way to go if you have it tho.

 

[teezythakidd]

Thanks, guys! By the time I saw the replies I already buttoned everything back up. My friend and I were pooped so we gave up on getting the rear rotors off and are gonna try again at some point this week. Fortunately, replacing the front rotors went perfectly smooth. ALL (front + rear) guide/slide (w/e) pins are cleaned and re-lubricated, all caliper brackets were cleaned and the seats were lubricated, and I cleaned the backside of each pad and added a bit of lube there. The drive home from my friend's house is about 14mi, and it was a good drive. There's no more steering wheel jitter, no more of that annoying "whoo...whoo...whoo" noise, no more squeaking without application of the brake (albeit it was raining when I drove home, interested to see if they'll squeak when it's warm and dry outside; i should be ok though), etc etc. pedal feels good... and yeah! Everything is good. Gotta get those rear rotors off though. Ugh.
And I've gotta replace those "bracket shims". I didn't bother putting them back on because I didn't have a clue where they went lol. Didn't take the bracket off the other side so no worries there. Yet. Lol. I have all the old hardware in a bag. Including those "shims" that fell out. I also figured that impact screwdriver would be crap. It has a rubber grip lol. Worked like a charm in the front, even though one of the rotor screws came out without the "impact" and instead just a bit of elbow grease and the screwdriver. Didn't take much to it, anyway. The screwdriver started to cave in on itself too, my friend ended up taking the whole thing apart and hammering it back into place (the metal part that you hit with a hammer started to literally cave into the grip, diminishing the tool's overall efficiency) and so it worked for about 5 more minutes........ and I can't get the bit that's in it.. out.. so I'm just gonna pretend I never bought that stupid thing lol. It has a 1/2" drive and a #3 phillips bit.. and I think that's the one that's stuck lmao

Nonetheless though I'm satisfied. A bit irked that we couldn't get the rear rotors off. But... another day.

Also, I think I'll need a smaller ratchet and smaller torque wrench. I had quite le struggle working with my torque wrench in the rear, and mostly with the upper bracket bolt lol

 

[BLCKFLSH]

You have to buy a GOOD impact driver (JIS or not). I made the mistake of buying an Autocraft impact driver from Advance first, and the first time I hit it with the hammer the bit shattered, then I had to dig the small pieces out of the screw heads. I bought a Craftsman impact driver after that, and it's loosened a lot of screws since then, without shattering any bits.
Bottom line though, if you have a drill, and a decent 5/16" drill bit, you can have the rotor loose in no time.