MK5 Golf GTI
All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: pandaman on December 19, 2020, 08:21:45 pm
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Had a go at replacing a rear bearing recently and whilst at it found the brake dust shield hanging on by a thread around the 3 bolts.
Broke off completely with very little force whereas the bolts did not. Decided not to replace at the time, didn't want to bugger up the 3 bolt heads, i was losing light and euro car parts is about half an hour away.
Surprisingly, only a few days later the other side came loose, it sounded like the exhaust had fallen off! Jacked it up, tin snipped the thin connecting part and yanked it off.
Googling a few posts on here, some say they're not completely necessary and to replace them i'd have to take off the bearings.
Anyone else running without them? whats the worst i could expect not replacing them?
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Just had a pair on mine, they're £27 each + vat from TPS genuine parts, yes the hubs and brake carriers need removing to fit them.
Many people just leave them off, I left them off on my mk2 Golf. Only thing I can see would be more corrosion on inner disc as no guard to stop the puddles splashing on the inner egde of disc? :thinking:
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VW put them there for a reason. If you don't know what the consequences of removing them are, it's probably better to leave them in place?
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That was my thinking tbh. :laugh:
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cutting the flat section off will help but dont leave any exposed metal :happy2:
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VW put them there for a reason. If you don't know what the consequences of removing them are, it's probably better to leave them in place?
I ran my car for about a year maybe longer with no rear shields. Not ideal but no ill effects. I figured I was going to wait to do the rear bearings and shields all at the same time. I still don't have shields on the front.
The screws can be a bugger to get off. If you have trouble, then driving them around with a punch and hammer should work.
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cutting the flat section off will help but dont leave any exposed metal :happy2:
I did this with mine with no ill effects.
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I'm running aftermarket galvanised pressed steel ones that should be a lot less susceptible to rust.
When I converted to Scirocco alloy hubs I had to remove bearings from 2 sets of rear hubs, all 4 times the bearings came off by hand without puller or any fuss - the inner race did not separate, so no damage
Personally, its a lot more work, but I would just dive in and take off the bearing... but the nightmare I had was the caliper carrier bolts.