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Removing and installing brake caliper PC57: VW Golf VII Variant / Golf VII

Step-by-step removing and installing brake caliper PC57 for the VW Golf VII Variant / Golf VII: 8 steps.

Resealing the PC57 front brake caliper is a bench job covered here for the 5G1 and BA5 platform codes. The piston comes out with compressed air, the old seal is lifted out of its groove with the plastic wedge, and the piston and bore are cleaned with methylated spirits only and dried. Both the new seal and the piston get a thin coat of assembly paste before they go in. The protective cap is fitted to the piston first by its outer lip, then the inner lip is worked into the groove in the cylinder with the wedge before the piston is pressed home with the resetting tool. Two things decide it: no mineral solvents anywhere near the rubber parts, and a dust cap that is fully seated all round.

8 steps

🧭 Before you start

Blow the piston out with compressed air, prise the seal out with the wedge and clean the piston and bore with methylated spirits. Coat the new seal and piston thinly with assembly paste and fit the seal. Put the protective cap on the piston, tuck its inner lip into the cylinder groove with the wedge, then press the piston in with the resetting tool.

Fits: VW Golf VII Variant (BA), VW Golf VII (5G, 2012–2020)

  • Special tools named: 3409

Don't miss

  • Keep fingers out of the way when blowing the piston out with compressed air.
  • Clean seal and piston only with methylated spirits, then let them dry.
  • Use the plastic wedge for the seal so the groove is not scored.
  • Apply only a thin film of the specified assembly paste.
  • Check the protective cap inner lip is seated in the groove all the way round.

Written for this job from the workshop steps below · TorqFix editorial.

📋 Procedure

  1. Press piston out of brake caliper using compressed air.
  2. Remove seal using wedge 3409.
  3. The surfaces of the piston and seal must be cleaned only with methylated spirits and then dried.
  4. Apply a thin coat of assembly paste G 052 150 A2 to piston and seal before inserting.
  5. Insert seal in brake caliper.
  6. Place protective cap with outer sealing lip on piston.
  7. Insert inner sealing lip into groove in cylinder using wedge 3409.
  8. Press piston into brake caliper using piston resetting appliance.

🎬 Related video tutorial

Independent AUTODOC tutorial for the same job, filmed on a different model (GOLF 5) — the technique carries over, the fasteners and figures on this page are the ones for your car.

How to change the rubber boots of the brake caliper guide pins on VW GOLF 5 TUTORIAL

How to change the rubber boots of the brake caliper guide pins on VW GOLF 5 TUTORIAL

Other VW procedures

Who makes these pages, and how

TorqFix was built by a mechanic — after a 2,700 km drive with five roadside repairs that no diagnostic tool could explain.

The figures on this page come from manufacturer workshop documentation and are shown as they are. The page is assembled automatically from that data — it is not written by an AI. The AI works in the chat, where it answers for your specific car. It writes nothing here.

Variants of the same model differ. Cross-check torque against the factory manual for your engine before final tightening.

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Workshop data on this page last updated 20 Sep 2026.