My rear passenger caliper piston is stuck in the "compress" position. I tried forcing it to move with a c-clamp, with no luck. Should I just replace the caliper, or is there some kind of easy fix?

 

This happened to my 99' last year, except it was drivers rear. Better off just buying a rebuild. Got mine at Adavanced Auto Parts (chain store). Forget exact $$ but there was a core charge and I know it was under $90.00.

 

You've tried the obvious like rotating the piston while compressing it?

 

If you can't fix it with a c-clamp, get a new caliper. I got mine from a forum member-internet automar. If you can wait a few days, he's reasonable and efficient.

 

Like plate stated, you have to turn the piston while cpmpressing it.
If this still doesnt help, its most likely screwed. Kind of common for the rear calipers.

 

you cant compress using a c clamp it twist in you can buy the tool for 5 bucks at a parts store

 

yea what they said........

 

if you're careful, you can turn the piston using needle nose pliers. but if it's not going back in,your caliper is probably done. just pick up a remanufactured one.

 

Mine was stuck really bad when I first bought my car. I somehow pulled it out using pliers and a vicegrip. Then I cleaned the shaft it goes into and greased the caliper pin and the shaft and put it all back together. Never gave me a problem after that.

 

I just replaced both of my rear calipers along with the rotors since they were grinded down so bad from the compressed pistons.

My experience:
-one rear caliper freezed up
-couldn't turn it with needle nose
-used Autozone brake compresser set to compress it
-one month later it froze back up
-took out piston, greased it up and put a new rubber piston gasket on it
-8 months later it freezed up and it was too cold to work on.
-shredded my rotor so i replaced both and did the other side as well.

Should be okay for another 10 years at least.

 

I think the most painless way will be to replace the caliper. For less than $90, it just doesn't make sense to take the time and screw around.

So if I buy a new caliper, is there any other hardware I'll need? I'll be replacing pads on both sides in the rear, just to keep the wear even.

 

Same thing w/ mine, replace the caliper for less than $100 w/ advance auto parts. BUT, replace the guide rods, too. I replaced my caliper and then 6 months later found guide pins frozen and not allowing full pad contact w/ the rotor on the inboard side.

 

they make this tool to compress the caliper

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...tnumber=T75520

 

You cannot compress that caliper. There is a special tool you use to TURN it back to all the way open. forget trying to compress it. forget trying to turn it with pliers. do it right the first time, and save yourself money in the long run... Check this tool out. http://www.drivewerks.com/catalog/sh...AT265_pg26.htm.

 

If one rear caliper is seized, you should replace both of them at the same time. The brakes are hydraulic and your braking will be uneven if you don't replace both calipers at the same time.

 

i have been helping a .orger with his frozen caliper and as a temporary fix, i put the caliper in a vice and beat the piston back into the caliper housing. the caliper is siezed up pretty bad and there was no other way to do it. untill he gets a new one this one wont stop him. ill also tell him its a good thing to replace both.

 

the front calipers are different then the rear. the fronts can be clamped back down, the rear need to be turned.... DO NOT BANG THEM INTO PLACE, do not try to clamp them down. It WILL NOT work, you will ruin the caliper. I have done brakes on my car plenty of times, the first time i did it i thought my rears were frozen. a friend who is a tech at a nissan dealer showed me how to do it properly.

 

Well I bought one "new" caliper (refurbished from Autozone) and installed it and some new pads onto the rear passenger side. Went to put new pads onto the rear driver's side and what do ya know, the caliper is frozen on that one too! So back to Autozone to get another caliper. Rotors were in good shape on both sides.

In the end, for less than $200 the problem is fixed. I've got a pretty good feeling that I won't need to be servicing the rear brakes for quite some time.

 

i am glad you bought calipers and didnt try to bash them into place... i do hope you tried turning them back into place first...

 

I didn't buy the tool, but I tried twisting with some pliers. No go on either. I figured for the price it would be worth it to just get new ones and not have to deal with it again for another 130,000 miles. After some stories about calipers un-freezing from twisting, only to freeze up again after a few months, it just didn't seem to be worth the effort of doing it twice.

How much do you think the dealership would have charged for this affair? I'm thinking in the $500-$600 range including parts. That's where I really feel good about how it all turned out.

 

While we are on this topic, The first time I did my rear brakes on my I30, I was puzzled as well as to why they wouldn't compress back in like the fronts did, until I looked here and realized that they needed to be turned in clockwise with a special tool, which I got from pep boys. Right now my piston is a bit chewed up and the tool constantly slips off, so three weeks ago it took me about 2 hours to turn back the piston as it moves about a 100th of a micron per turn and my piston was way out there because I had nothing left on my brake pad.

Now to my question, my friends wife has a 97 max and the shop she took it to told her that her rear brake pistons were so far out that they couldn't be repaired, as bad as my brakes have been I've never seen or heard of this , is it possible? They ended up charging her around $1200 for replacing almost everything...

 

Sound fishy and expensive. The pistons had to have been able to squeeze the rotors a little or else her stopping would be done by the fronts only.

 

Anyone know any other stores besides Pep Boys where I could find that tool for my rear brakes so i can compress the piston back in? I don't know of any Pep Boys stores in this area where I live...

 

AutoZone has them. Free with deposit. There are like 17 AutoZone locations in Cleveland.

 

Ugh, rear calipers suxorz. I had my passenger side rear freeze up like you said. The boot was torn and sand got into the seal and bound everything up. There wasn't even any brake pad left. Rotor fuxored as well.

P.S. If you don't know how to bleed your brake lines, DON'T take the caliper off. Just a word of advice.

 

Oh definitely I know there's a whole bunch of AutoZones... What I said though is that i don't know of any Pep Boys around here. Thanks for the info man. I'll go get one. I think someone mentioned it's like $35 in one of the posts above... Haha... I hope this is gonna work out for me... Those Brembos and Hawk HPS look too good in those boxes.

 

it cracks me up. all of this advice and only a couple of people actually realized that the caliper probably isnt frozen and you cant c clamp or "compress" it.

 

well technically, you can still "compress" it. You just have to spin it clockwise to do it. It's on a helical center shaft. Also notice the 4 "cutouts" on the head of the piston to grab it with. Mizzax, all advice on the .org is like this. A few people say something useful, and the rest spit out whatever they know.