I am trying to replace the front brake rotors on my 05 Mazda3. I have not been able to get the rotors off. People at parts stores say that I should be able to tap it and it will come loose. I have tapped and even hit it pretty hard and it will not budge. Nobody has a rotor puller to rent either.
First, make sure the rotors aren’t held on by screws. Hitting the rotor on the edge in a radial direction usually works. You don’t need a huge honkin’ hammer. A 16 oz. carpenter’s hammer will work. Sometimes a smallish hammer that swings fast will give more percussive force than a real big one that you can’t get moving. Swing the hammer like you are trying to drive a nail into the edge toward the center. Hitting the rotor from behind, which would seem to make sense, is futile in my experience.
A lot of rotors also have a threaded hole in the the hat, the part where the lugs are. It’s a metric thread. You just have to find a matching bolt to screw into the hole and that effectively acts as a puller to get the thing off.
I have a 50 ounce hammer that I use to get brake rotors off. Sometimes you have to wail on them pretty hard. As long as you hit the rotor, you aren’t going to break anything.