I replaced my rear brakes today, both new rotors and pads. I got OEM rotors and got Duralast Gold pads. When i put them on, the driver's side piston was easily spun back in, and i placed the caliper over the pads and onto the bracket. The rotor wouldn't spin inside the pads, and i could barely spin it with the tire on.

On the passenger side, the piston was a PITA to spin back in, even with the tool from Autozone. After getting it in, and putting the caliper on, it spun almost freely, with very little resistance.

Now, after driving, the rear driver's side brake smokes like hell and only the part on the rotor closest to the hub was braking. After bedding them in, the rest of the rotor started braking, but it still smoked like hell while the passenger side barely does any braking. What did i do wrong, and how can i fix it? Thanks in advance for the help

 

Is the little pin on the back of the pad aligned with one of the piston notches?

Are the sliding brake pins (with the rubber boots on them) freely sliding in &out? sometimes these corrode and become stuck in place.

 

I changed my rear pads and rotors about a month ago. I used Duralast gold pads and Duralast rotors. I had to fight like hell to get the pistons retracted enough to get them on WITHOUT significant dragging. Both the pads and rotors have a lot of meat on them. I had them on and off twice before I got both sides close but smoothly rotating. I thought I ran out of piston travel but managed to squeeze just a little more out the second time. The second time was about an hour after the first. I drove it just enough to knock down the high spots for a little more room., enough to get them to run free with a little more piston tweak.
They worked fine after about 30 miles or so. However, the ceramic pads started to make some really ugly sounds after they loosened up. So bad that I took the car to a mechanic friend of mine for a second opinion. They moaned so bad I thought I was about to loose a rear wheel bearing. He said that some cars don't tolerate the ceramic pads very well and that they set up a very audible moan based on a tiny bit of surface vibration/friction. They worked perfectly, but I couldn't stand the noise. I swapped out the rear pads after two weeks for a set of OEMs...which make no noise at all. I also have ceramics on the front, but they don't any noise. Weird.

Your issue with one side only hitting on half sounds like frozen floating pins.

jjam

 

How do i fix these floating pins? thanks for the replies so far

 

if your slides are truly frozen, just get new calipers. if they are just a bit sticky you can usually pry back the rubber grommets, clean and lube them with caliper grease (get a small tub of it, not those little squeeze packets). in the end they need to slide easily or your brakes will hang.

as for the pistons - I've never rebuilt a caliper so I don't know how involved it is to fix sticky pistons. my advice - if they are sticky, replace the caliper.

also, heed 7jack's advice - you need to align the piston with the notches in the pads. sounds like you didn't do this on the driver's side.

 

Can i get a picture of the piston being aligned with the notches in the pads? I don't quite get it

 

How hard is it to replace the rear caliper?
Is this a do it yourself job?

 

Look at the notches on the piston. There should be four. When installing the caliper back on the pads and rotor, one of these notches must be in line perpendicular with the notch on the pads. If not, the brake pad will just ride on the rotor because of the misalignment of the piston. The best way to line up the piston is to just look at the caliper head on and use the upper and lower caliper pins as your centering point. Line up one of the notches of the piston in the same line as the caliper pins. It should be line in a way of a right angle (concave) with the caliper and piston and (convex) in line with the brake pad and piston. I wish I could draw a diagram, but it's not that difficult. Just take your time and look at the piston of how it would look if you installed it over the pin of the pads.

 

And if all else fails go to autozone to get a remanufactured caliper.

 

 

Thanks for the diagrams and help, but i figured out that the slide pin is stuck. I bought new ones, but i can't get the old on out. I put on penetrating fluid and it spins around, but it wont pull out. What now, this is pissin me off

 

let them soak in the wd-40 overnight & try again. if they still won't come out, get new caliper brackets. dor-man makes good inexpensive ones w/hardware included. most independent parts stores should carry the dor-man stuff. about $35 ea. if they come out, clean the holes thoroughly until pins slide freely, repack, recheck for full slide in & out.

 

Thanks for all the help, i actually got it done last night, after trying to pull the slide pin out for more than an hour. I finally got pissed off enough to pull hard enough to yank that b**** out. I got everything lubed up and sliding well, reinstalled it, and it works great. Thanks for the help

 

any tips on how to remove this cable to remove the rear caliper? i couldnt remove mine today. i guess i could have just removed the 10mm bolt instead.