Started a brake/rotor job on the MINI this afternoon. It all seemed straight forward, thought the tricky part would be getting the torx bolt out but that came out without too much trouble. But the rotor... it didn't budge.

I tugged and pulled on it, tapped around it with a hammer, pulled more, tapped more, sprayed pb-blaster, tapped, pulled. Hmmm... maybe for some dumb reason this axle bolt is keeping it on?? Remove axle bolt, still stuck solid. Find wood, start REALLY smashing it with the hammer with the wood there... over and over and over all around the hub part, more spraying, more hammering, more pulling, more screaming.

It's bloody stuck SOLID AS A ROCK. I even brought out my 10 lb sledge and tapped on it with the wood just to have some oompf. It won't even pretend like it's going to come loose. I've been at it for the better part of an hour.

What in the world can I do to get this off?? I live in FL and as far as I know the car has always been in FL. I don't know why it's like this. Does anybody have any tips??

 

Try this out ,
Let us know if it works out for you

 

So, after almost 2 hours I finally got the rotor off.
I kept coating it with PB blaster and tapping with the hammer not so hard without the wood. I did that for about 10 min and then started pulling on one side while tapping all around the rotor and then rotating a bit and repeating.
After a half dozen rotations of this I started to notice the sound pitch of the hammer was different on the side I was pulling on than the other side. I kept going and noticed air bubbles coming out of the lug nut holes as a tiny gap was formed when I pulled on it. That little gap let the PB Blaster get in there. I started tapping from the back while rotating it and after a couple minutes of seemingly getting nowhere it just fell off.

I forgot what it was like to curse and scream in sheer frustration. Reminds me of when I changed my control arms bushings. :p

Hope this bit of experience can help anyone in the future that might have a stuck rotor. It's a PITA but just keep tapping, just keep tapping, blasting, tapping, blasting, tapping. (PB Blasting that is)

 

Haha yeah that one was a cake walk! That's what I usually do when I've changed rotors in the past.
I think it's time for a beer, good thing is I have all weekend to do four brakes (and painting calipers).

 

Here's a trick I've used on other cars but haven't tried on the MINI yet.

You remove the brake caliper and get a bolt with matching nut. The bolt needs to be smaller than the caliper mounting hole and longer than the distance to the caliper. Pass the bolt through the back of the mount and thread the nut on. The bolt should spin freely in the hole and you hold the nut with a wrench as you turn the bolt with a socket. You may need to put a shim between the bolt and rotor if the bolt is pushing against the swept area of the rotor and you plan on re-using the rotor.

If the rotor doesn't pop loose right away, try hitting it with a hammer with the bolt still torqued against the back of the rotor.

With the rotor still bolted, I've also used this method to pull wheel bearings.

A lost easier to see than explain so here's a pic (not a MINI).

 

Also, many rotors have threaded holes on them into which you insert bolts that press against the hub face, forcing the rotor off.