How to Change the Brake Pads on an '02 VW GTI

John was a happy fellow. His life was great and he was loving his new 2002 Volkswagen GTI. The turbocharged 1.8-liter engine was way more powerful than the little 2.2-liter in his old rusty Honda. Of course, with power comes responsibility, which John lacked a little bit when it came to having fun. See, that lead foot that he used to push that little GTI to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds also brought him to a dead stop fast enough to roast through a pair of brake pads in about nine months. Being mechanically inclined he knew he could swap out the brake pads, so he got himself a set of high-performance pads, and broke out the old tool box.

Removal

After loosening the lug bolts, John placed the jack under the pinch weld -- just behind either front wheel -- then lifted the driver side corner off of the ground. He placed a jack stands below the subframe rail, in the flat spot between the control arm mounting points. He lowered the driver side onto the stand, then did the same thing for the passenger side. John held the lower guide pin in place with a 13 mm wrench, then removed the lower caliper bolt. From here, he was able to pivot the caliper upward and remove the pads from the caliper bracket. He then removed the pad retainers from the top and bottom of the caliper bracket. He checked the rotors for pits or grooves, but they were in good shape, so he was able to proceed on with replacing the pads. If the rotors were bad, he would have remove the two bolts for the caliper bracket, then he would have hung the caliper and bracket from the suspension. After removing the two retaining screws, he would slip the rotor off the hub.

Installation

Had John removed the rotor, he would have slid a new one onto the hub and tightened the retaining screws to 35 inch-pounds. Then he would have lowered the caliper and bracket into place and tightened the bracket bolts to 74 foot-pounds. Instead, he installed the new pad retainers on the caliper bracket, and then the new pads. After compressing the caliper piston, he lowered the caliper into place and installed the lower caliper bolt. He tightened that bolt to 23 foot-pounds and the lug bolts to100 foot-pounds.