I have a sticky right rear caliper piston. In my Haynes manual it says the rebuild can't be done by a "home mechanic." I've never worked with calipers before and am probably less qualified than a home mechanic, haha.

I did find a rebuild kit for that caliper, though, at Autozone. The rebuild kit is only the rubber pieces, but is it possible that I'd be able to do it? Should I go with a used caliper? Is there a write up anywhere about rebuilding a rear caliper? The autozone webpage shows the rebuild of a front caliper, but not the rear.

Thanks for your help, i hope to do all the brakes tommorrow, wish me luck!

 

its not too bad but the problem is the piston may be rusted and pitted as well. Usually what happens is the big rubber boot gets a hole in it. Then moisture gets in and rust starts to build up on the metal edge between the outer rubber boot and the inner rubber seal. Its a small area but that is usually what rusts. The piston can sometimes get pitted from that rust because its right up against it.

I was going to rebuild the calipers on my car but when I took them apart the pistons were pitted pretty bad so I had to buy some junk yard calipers that were fine but I went ahead and rebuilt them for good measure.

 

Too bad it wasn't the driver's side. I have one for sale.

 

Personally, I wouldn't attempt it with your apparent skill level. Buy a rebuilt one and be done with it.

 

+1 It's a sucky task as is, no reason to prolong the pain...

 

how much is your time worth?

 

My Saturday's are free to do the work, but I called some local salvage yards around here and found a caliper for $15, so I'm just going to go with that. I just hope the car it's pulled from has low miles!

 

so you want to spend your entire Saturday replacing a caliper multiple times from a junk yard.

I guess I just value my time and safety more than most

 

Why do you say multiple times? It doesn't look like it will take long to swap out the old one with the one I'll pick up at the salvage yard. I'll be changing the rotors and pads at the same time, shouldn't take more than a couple hours I wouldn't think.

 

unless you get lucky and catch the car within a few days of it coming in you'll probably end up with another seized caliper.

 

not always...I got my calipers from a car that was sitting for a year. They were not seized at all and the boots and pistons were perfect. I still rebuilt them anyway to put new rubber parts in but the fact was that they were not seized.

Now I live in the south with no snow so that has a lot to do with it but not everywhere has the problem you stated.

 

My gold car's right rear one seized after sitting for 2 weeks with only ~140k

I almost wish I could just disconnect them, not like these BMX brakes do much on our cars compared to the fronts.

 

yes they do, dont disconnect them. They just dont hold much heat...

~Alex

 

Yeah know I was a complete artard when i did my brakes.

I went to replace the pads and rotors but found the calipers seized up, so I just said fawk it and didn’t put any pads back on and just let the piston press against the rotor. Course that let air into the whole system among other things. The good side is I came away with new* rear calipers, pads, rotors, and fresh brake fluid, not to mention all the extra knowledge that comes with that job.

 

that's why I said probably sometimes you get lucky.
I'm not a gambling person though

 

Holy moly mother of buddha

 

That is one of the worst cases of n-word rigging I've ever heard!

 

It's a kentucky thing

 

Hm, so maybe the rebuild is the way to go? I'd rather not buy a new caliper, they're $120 or so from autozone and I can get one from the salvage yard for $15 or so. I know autozone has a rebuild kit (consisting of all the rubber pieces), but I heard somewhere else on the forum that the peices were too big, I don't know if they were for the front or back caliper, though. Where did you get the rubber pieces?

 

I try not to deal with autozone at all if possible.

I got my kit from NAPA. They have front and rear kits...I rebuilt all 4 of my calipers with kits from NAPA. They were not very expensive at all...somthing like $7 or so each.

You just have to make sure the caliper is in good shape before you buy it. You can inspect the rubber boot and take some pliers to see if you can move the piston in. If its frozen you will not be able to move it easily.

Have you taken your pistons out and looked at them to see if they are rusted badly? You may be able to rebuild yours.

 

I haven't taken it out yet and looked at it. I've only done the front rotors and pads last saturday. This saturday I'm planning on picking up a caliper at the salvage yard and then relacing it (the passenger side rear) and also putting new pads and rotors on the back, too. If I can rebuild it, though, it sounds like it would be better, because there's no guarantee, of course, that the salvage yard caliper is going to be any better than mine. I'll have to check it out on saturday, I'll get that rebuild kit from napa though, that sounds great.

Was it difficult to rebuild? Did you get directions from anywhere or did you just take it apart and put it back together yourself?

 

no directions and it can be a little difficult to get the outer boot to seat correctly and be on the piston. Just unscrew the piston all the way out and take the boot and inner rubber seal off. inspect the piston for rust and check that there isnt any in between the inner seal and outer rubber boot. Clean it off the best you can if there is any. put the new rubber seal in and then comes the tricky part. You have to lube the piston with brake fluid and slide the boot on part of the way and you have to try and seal the boot in its groove correctly before pushing the piston in...that is the hardest part. Once its seated in the caliper correctly then you can push the piston in adn start screwing it back in. Then you can seat the boot in the piston groove and make sure it folds up correctly as its going in. Its not too hard just tricky.

 

I had a leaking rear caliper some time ago,and of course idiotzone gave me the wrong rebuild kit..

I just ended up getting a used one from a local j-yard...

I have had my fill of autozone,they are ok for domestic parts,but they seem to have a great deal of trouble getting the correct parts for these cars..

 

Some of the people at my AutoZone know me by name, and I don’t even go there that often.

Guess they are just amazed at the powar of the VG

That or their windows rattle when i drive up cause of my exhaust leak.