2013 Kia Optima LX
Vehicle history: https://www.vehiclehistory.com/vehicle?cGpLSDJzem9zeXQxNDMvbW9SYWhKK05wWm5uSU1RWlpzVHltVU1sY1dvOD0=
Carbone 10/2017
10/14/18 Rear breaks and rotors
Changed the rear brake pads and rotors. Could not believe how hard it was to get the rotors off. Looked all over the Internet and couldn’t find anybody with a good breakdown. So I figured I’d upload some pictures being it took me an hour and a half to get the first one off and then 25 minutes to get the second one off. you have to first remove the bolt that holds the swing arm out of the way and push it either down or up, and then you have to take the calipers fully off. At that point it’s the usual crack the rotor with a hammer routine. However, it’ll seem to be loose and then you wiggle it and think it’ll pull off but no, no it won’t. It turns out this is because there’s an emergency/parking drum break that latches to the inside center of the rotor itself. This drum brake keeps grabbing the rotor making it a nightmare to get off. Soak it and coat it with penetrating oil then beat it, beat it, spin it, repeat. After doing that for a while and repeatedly spraying it with penetrating oil you’ll notice as it spins in certain spots it’ll be loose, and in certain spots it will bind tight. When pulling it off you want it to be in the loose position. I’ll attach a few pictures of the drum brake hidden inside the rotor below.
