I am changing rear brake pads on my 99 max SE. 1st side,couldn't get the piston in the caliper to go back in so it would fit over the new wider brake pads. Bought a new caliper (assumed it was frozen). Now the other side is doing the same thing. I got a bad feeling there is a trick here ??? anyone know what it might be ? just sitting here waiting for help. thx much.

 

for the back calipers you gotta twist the piston. take some needle nose pliers and put them into 2 of the 4 sockets and twist.

 

thx very much. Will do it.

 

If that won't work, you can get a rear piston caliper tool from an automotive store. Usually you can attach that tool to a 3/8" ratchet and then you have some leverage to use as well..

 

thx for the help: I got the passenger rear to turn mabye 1/8 turn (clockwise) but it was difficult. I then tried to pry it back in (my usual approach for other cars). still wont move in. So, do I need to keep turning it (like screwing it back in ???). Should I get the tool or mabye a new caliper ? The drivers rear had the main problem where the pad on the inside wore uneven (metal to metal on one end) but the outside wore fine. I am wondering if mabye I have a caliper problem ? or did something else likely cause the uneven wear. I have never seen uneven wear on disk pads in my life and have changed a bunch.

 

when i replaced my rears, they were really hard to turn, you just gotta keep doing it. as for the uneaven wear, im jsut taking a guess at this, but, our calipers only have 1 piston, so wouldnt the the pad that touches the piston wear out faster than the other one?

the same thing happened to my friends car. he wears his brakes out fast and its always the inside one to go first.

 

Keep turning, takes about 3 or 4 complete revolutions for the piston to fully retract.

 

OK. I got it finally. the needle nose wouldn't work, too hard to turn. Went to the autoparts store and the guy showed me a tool called a "disc brake piston remover" which works on many domestic and imports. He tried in the store to get my driver rear piston back in, he couldn't, said the caliper was shot (so I am assuming that is what caused the inner pad to wear unevenly).
Bought the tool ($9)-looks like a 1 inch cube with little slots sticking out. It worked great on the passenger rear (you use a 3/8" socket ratchet)-screw clockwise to put caliper back in or counter to remove. So, you guys saved me about $80 on a new caliper. Thanks very much. Wanted to put this info in for others who can't get the needle nose to work !

Does anyone know WHY Nissan uses this type of caliper ? what is the purpose of this ?

 

They are pretty common , believe it or not. Apparently you haven't run into multiple-pison calipers yet.

After I did my first brake job on my Max, I took on the task for 2 american cars: a Mercury Sable, and a Dodge Stratus. Ours are simpler to maintain and use, believe me, but the basic principle is the same.

 

the mistake i was making when i did this job was that i was not pushing on the piston as i was turning it. i was turning the piston with needle-nose pliers about 20,000 times with no noticable retraction. i finally figured it out that i had to push on the piston as i turned it. that's what the tool does that makes it work: pushes and turns.

 

lol, you're kidding right?

Haha, I too recently replaced my pads and didn't know how to retract the caliper piston at first, but I never sank so low as to even for a second think that I have to buy a new caliper.

 

the back pistons turn in, they dont push in like the fronts. You can use a pliers to turn them in or an auto part store will carry a tool that will work with a socket to turn it down.

 

"Floating caliper" disc brakes allow the caliper to move from side to side slightly when the brakes are applied. The leverage from the piston creating contact on one side of the rotor causes the otherside to 'pull' over to create braking pressure. They should wear at same pace.

 

It's usually considered a bad idea to replace only 1 caliper. You might consider taking the new one back/buying another new one/using the old one.

 

I was asking myself same question when I changed the rear pass side caliper, 17 months ago. I decided to change the caliper only on that side. There is no left/right bias when braking. I changed both rotors, tough.And naturally, new pads on both sides. And eventually I had to replace the ebrake cable on that same pass side. It was frozen in the sleeve.

 

break the bleeder valve, and the piston will rotate in with ease, then just bleed them after wards

 

use a c clamp to close while you twist with some channel locks
i usually use a rag over the piston surface that the channel locks will grab just so you dont knick em up

 

Will the boot spin along with the piston? or should the piston spin freely around the boot?

 

as far as I know, that's irrelevant

 

When I did it, the boot tried to turn with the piston, but only because it was stuck there. It should stay put. I took a small screwdriver and got the boot unstuck from the piston so it wouldn't twist.