Defeated...Brake rotor separated from rotor hat during hammering....

[John105]

Make sure to grease the hub and inside of new rotor

Wow I have never seen this.

I did my wife's GM SUV in 2018, and my uncle laughed at me and how much anti seize I placed on the hubs, hats, and set screws (if I were a tech I'm wasting material and overdoing it was his thinking). I wonder if they would easily come off today? I was in a rush two Sundays ago and did pads only (shame on me but it was 9:30 PM)....

Hope OP gets them off.

 

[Astro14]

Cut it.

Cut off wheel. Deep cut through the rotor remnant - split it with a chisel. Remove that chunk.

Cut the edge of the remaining rotor parts, then cut the edge of the hat. Be careful not to cut into the hub. Limit the depth to just the hat. Split with a chisel.

Pull off the separated bits.

 

[Trav]

+1 I have also done this with a sawzall, it goes through the rotor like a hot knife, very easy to cut then split with a chisel. It is much easier on bearings, abs sensors and seals.

 

[Chris142]

Are those little holes in the rotor hat threaded? If so, run a high-strength bolt into one and it will push the hat off of the hub.

If they aren't threaded, I'd be tempted to tap one with a bottoming tap and use the bolt technique.

He said that the threads stripped when he tried

 

[MrGraybeard]

He said that the threads stripped when he tried

Sorry, missed that.

 

[KrisZ]

Forget the dead blow hammer, you need a normal 4lb or heavier hammer. A sledge hammer will do, just be careful with it. Let its weight do the work and don’t swing it.

Start hammering at the edges of the rotor hat. Doesn’t need to be super hard, but but hard enough to send shocks and through it. Hit it few times and then rotate 90 degrees. Heat it up with the torch as well. Do this until the hat visibly loosens up.
If it’s really stubborn, soak it in a penetrating oil overnight and try again.

 

[willbur]

ANTISEIZE (in reasonable quantities) is your friend, here. I‘m a big fan of Deep Creep, that stuff seems to work itself into rust really well-and a LITTLE heat & time seems to help it get in even more!

heat causes a capillary action that draws a penetrant like Deep Creep in. Similair to heat drawing solder into copper pipe joints

 

[zzyzzx]

Is pounding out the studs to see if that helps an option? Replacing those as well might be an option at this point.

 

[mattd]

Hit it hard with a large hammer in the area circled in the photo above. It will eventually pop.

 

[John105]

Forget the dead blow hammer, you need a normal 4lb or heavier hammer. A sledge hammer will do, just be careful with it. Let its weight do the work and don’t swing it.

Start hammering at the edges of the rotor hat. Doesn’t need to be super hard, but but hard enough to send shocks and through it. Hit it few times and then rotate 90 degrees. Heat it up with the torch as well. Do this until the hat visibly loosens up.
If it’s really stubborn, soak it in a penetrating oil overnight and try again.

View attachment 177005

This makes sense. Years ago, I would hit the rotor surface, and happened to get lucky. I didn't know to hit the hat, which I learned from wife's car where all 4 were seemingly stuck...

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

If it matters at this point, make sure you're wearing eye and ear protection when you do any of this.

 

[RaymondP]

Ant-seize is great if the parts are apart, but first disassembly from the factory is often a challenge for the initial rotor replacement before you have had the rotor apart from the hub assembly. I have had success spraying penetrating oil (WD40) in the miniscule spaces between hub and rotor wherever I can point the straw and allow to rest overnight. Capillary action will draw the oil in. Then try the aforementioned methods.

Once before I tried this, on a Mercedes E350 I managed to destroy the wheel bearing by aggressively pounding, so be warned.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I hope you got coated rotors to replace them with

Also, replace the rotors every time you replace the pads.

Do you have steel toe shoes? Maybe you can kick the rotor off

 

[dfarr67]

Wow I have never seen this.

I did my wife's GM SUV in 2018, and my uncle laughed at me and how much anti seize I placed on the hubs, hats, and set screws (if I were a tech I'm wasting material and overdoing it was his thinking). I wonder if they would easily come off today? I was in a rush two Sundays ago and did pads only (shame on me but it was 9:30 PM)....

Hope OP gets them off.

I bet the tech's do that to their own vehicles....

 

[RaymondP]

See nothing but a cosmetic benefit to coated replacement rotors. However big fan of cryo-treated rotors. Doubles to triples life for a 20% cost increase.

 

[Rand]

Are those little holes in the rotor hat threaded? If so, run a high-strength bolt into one and it will push the hat off of the hub.

If they aren't threaded, I'd be tempted to tap one with a bottoming tap and use the bolt technique.

Might want to read the first post again.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

See nothing but a cosmetic benefit to coated replacement rotors. However big fan of cryo-treated rotors. Doubles to triples life for a 20% cost increase.

Coated rotors are NOT just cosmetic! The coating makes it easier to remove them when it's time, so you don't end up like the OP.

The coating is to prevent or slow down the rust. And even when the visible parts of the rotor lose their coating, it's still present where the rotor meets the wheel and where it meets the hub, so they will still slide off easy

 

[mrbreezeet1]

Take a grinder, grind a big notch across the hat, use an air chisel-it’ll crack in half. I’ve also ground the notch, used the biggest chisel I have & bust out the BFH, take out my frustrations… FUN!! The danger of the torch is it can easily ruin the wheel bearing seals!

Just what l was going to say to do!

 

[John105]

Coated rotors are NOT just cosmetic! The coating makes it easier to remove them when it's time, so you don't end up like the OP.

The coating is to prevent or slow down the rust. And even when the visible parts of the rotor lose their coating, it's still present where the rotor meets the wheel and where it meets the hub, so they will still slide off easy

I know what you mean and have experienced the ease of removal with BMW OE. I believe the entire disc is zinc coated.

But on GM OE, they have the same appearance. Gray in their entirety when new, only the pads wear away the coating. Nitrogen baked or something. But they did rust and get somewhat stuck, unlike the BMW discs…

I’d want coated for looks alone…

 

[Rand]

See nothing but a cosmetic benefit to coated replacement rotors. However big fan of cryo-treated rotors. Doubles to triples life for a 20% cost increase.

more like 250% increase vs my rock auto raybestos element 3's. Also not sure they would last 200k miles.. or that I would want them to in the salt belt.

Element 3's are 118$ for 4 from rock auto..

Also I disagree with the cosmetic only part. Stock rotors had to be replaced due to rusting at 3.5yr 30000 miles on the 2020 elantra.\
The fins from the side were much worse than the visible part in this photo.