If you drive around a Silverado, you might have faced a problem with its brake rotors. What size bolt to remove Silverado brake rotors do you need? Let’s figure it out.
First things first: you need to know what rotors are. Rotors are attached to the brake shoes and look like flat discs. The brake rotor’s primary function is to make the vehicle slow down and eventually stop when you apply the brake.
Sometimes the brake rotor in your vehicle malfunctions, and if that is happening to you, you need to change it. To replace the Silverado brake rotor, you need a bolt of the right size. In this article, you will learn about the bolt size and discuss everything related to this topic.
What Size Are Brake Rotor Bolts On Silverado?
You need to choose the correct bolt size to do the needful, as mentioned earlier. There are several models of Silverado which are there on the roads.
The average bolt size suitable for all the models of Silverado is M 8×1.25 or M 10×1.5. The bolt head should not be more than 12 mm long.
You can remove all the brake rotors within 10 minutes. Whenever brake pads are squeezed with the help of the attached clippers, these brake pads will put pressure on the rotors, which will cause the slowing down of tires.
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How Do You Remove A Brake Rotor On A Silverado?
The brake rotors can become non-functional, or they may also lose efficiency. This usually happens because of less maintenance. You need to have the correct size bolts and nuts to fix the bolts properly.
In this section, we will tell you the proper way by following which you can remove the Silverado brake rotors without causing any damage to your vehicle.
The right amount of force needs to be applied to get the job done, and your wrong move can damage the whole system. You can take professional help if you cannot get the job done.
But before all that, you need to understand the tools you require and the different accessories needed to remove the part from the wheel.
What Tools Do You Need To Remove Brake Rotors?
Required Tools
The following is a list of required tools,
- Adequate sized bolts: The bolts will help you attach the rotor with the brake pads properly.
- A ratchet: Using the ratchet, you can prevent the motion in your undesired direction.
- A socket kit: From the socket kit, you will be able to find the right socket that you can attach with the bolts.
- Torque wrench: Torque wrench will help you tighten the nut and bolts used in the process.
- C-clamp: The C clamp will hold the brake rotor throughout the operation.
Other than that, you may also need to use the following tools,
- Torx
- Jack
- Jack stands
Removing your Silverado’s Brake Rotor
Now let’s discuss the removal process of the brake rotor on a Silverado.
- First, you need to remove the screw of the lug nuts to remove the vehicle’s wheel.
- Then take a hammer and begin hammering the sides of the wheel close to the brake rotor. There is also a risk involved in this process as the hammer’s heavy impact can produce a huge amount of stress on other parts of the vehicle.
- You can simply use the appropriate bolt size. You can easily find the threaded hole in your car’s brake rotor, and in that hole, you can fit in the M 8×1.25 thread having a 12mm head to remove the rotor.
- After applying the bolt in the hole, with the help of a very little amount of force, you can take the brake rotor out of its position.
- If rust has accumulated on and around the brake rotors. Then at first, you need to get rid of that rust first. Only then can you get the bolt to pass through the threaded hole.
- In some cases, it has also been seen that the rotor gets stuck. To remove that, you can use penetrating oil.
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How To Know That The Brake Rotors Required Changing?
Your vehicle will give negative signals by identifying which you will come to know that the brake rotors require changing.
- Vibration: whenever you start slowing your car down, you might feel vibrations. In the case of a wearing car rotor or an old brake shoe, the touch of both these will make the steering experience rough.
- Screeching sound: when the brake gets in direct contact with the brake rotor, the collision of these two metals will not cause a pleasant sound.
- The appearance of blue color: behind the spokes of the wheel, a blue coloration will appear if the brake rotor gets exposed to much heat.
- Enhanced braking time: if your car takes a little extra time to slow down or halt, it’s the brakes responsible for the entire problem. Your vehicle’s brake rotors must have worn out and thus creating problems. Hence check for the issues immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
#1. What should I do with my old rotors?
After approximately driving for 75000 miles, you will feel the need to change the brake rotors. Once removed, the old rotor can’t be reused.
After removing the old rotor, put it in a disposal bin to send it to the nearest salvage yard. If you want to get rid of the scrap material, then the best way is to sell it to the salvage yard.
How do you get a rotor bolt off if it gets stuck?
In case the rotor bolts get stuck, you can apply force on the sides of the brake rotor to take it out. If the rotor bolts get stuck because of rust, you can use penetrating oil to make it go in.
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A Few Final Words
Correct size tools are always better to change any auto parts. This makes the task easy and quick. Change your brake rotors whenever you feel that they are not working properly.
Make sure that you use the right-sized bolt after examining the brake rotor assembly and reading the hints from this article. In most cases, for a Silverado, it would either be M 8×1.25 or M 10×1.5.
You can do it on your own, or you can also take your vehicle to the nearest garage to get professional help. Thank you for reading the article.
