Rich1995

so i got new rear brake pads for my maxima and am attempting to install them on my own assuming that it would be as easy as changing the front ones....wrong...

i can not for the life of me figure out how to compress the piston in the caliper. Ive done some searching and found you need a special tool that rotates the piston while also compressing it? How do you guys change your rear pads or am i missing something here. I guess this is why you don't change your brake pads at 9:00 at night when you need another special part to finish the job.

thanks for the help..i tried searching for this but surprisingly there arent many threads or writeups on changing the rear pads

vtkahns

You don't compress the rears..just turn them in... a needle nose can be used (watch for that popular oh crap pinch) or i hear you can buy or borrow the tool from autozone.

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

Turn the piston clockwise. There is a special tool you can rent or buy, I just use needle nose pliers.

SVI30

After buying the rear pads along with the front two years ago, I got tired of waiting and changed the pads today with the ODO at 87K. There were quite a bit of wear left on the pads. Here is a few things to note:

1. No need to remove the eBrake cable. Just remove the 10mm bolt on the rear axle trailing arm holding the cable and replace it afterwards.
2. The Lisle 25110 Caliper tool keep letting the ratchet extension tip come thru so I finally tied a rubber band behind the tool on the extension to keep it in place. Needle nose pliers work also.
3. Note how the 4 slots are positioned as the piston needs to be positioned in the same way after you turn it in. This fit the nib on the inside pad.
4. The inside pad leading edge (pointing down) wore the thinnest so the wear sensor should be placed there. There were two sensors on the original pads and the new set only came with one sensor.

It took me mounting the caliper twice on the first side due to item 3 above but the second side only took 30 minutes.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

The ebrake cable only takes a second to remove when you have the caliper unbolted, all you need to do is remove the retaining clip and slide the cable end off of the caliper. Makes the job alot easier, and when you need to hang the caliper you can put the ebrake cable back on the caliper side and let it hang by that (it's shorter than the brake line so it holds the tension).

Needle nosed pliers didn't work for me, but channel locks worked perfectly - just watch the boot.

I never got the brake pad nub in the caliper piston thing, would that not prevent the piston from rotating?

SVI30

You want to take a look again. The piston don't rotate once the nib is in the key slot. It is not good that the piston is pushing the inside pad by that nib.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

What I had meant by that was I didn't understand how it worked, I assumed that the piston rotated outward as it does when collapsing it. So it expands directly outward as would a regular caliper?

SVI30

No, the piston don't rotate while it is working as it is keyed on the pad nib.

There is a bolt called push rod in the center that push out the piston whenever you pull the eBrake level. As the pad wear and the piston move outward, the adjusting nut slip on the push rod. The push rod has a spiral groove on it and the adjusting nut turns as the piston moves.

Quadcells

Hi All,
I was about to buy a new caliper for the rear because I could not compress it. Also the out side pad is worn down to the rivits and the inside pad has a little more then half left. Should I still replace the caliper or try to turn thr piston clockwise to compress it.
Thanks in advance.

SVI30

Something unsual is going on. Since this is a single piston design and the caliper is clamping, I would guess the inside pad is jammed in the torque member (frame) or the retainer (sheet metal) is missing. The caliper is moving anyway.

The pad should going in the retainer freely. Were the old pads OEM Nissan pads? Were they tight when you originally install them?

May be buying a new set of retains would be the place to start.

Quadcells

Thanks, I will take a closer look at those.

Quadcells

Hi All,
Yep, I used a pair of hevyduty long nose pliers and was able to do one side, but the othe one was too hard to turn. Went to AutoZone and they let you use the tools for free. Just a deposit down that you get back when you return the tool. The was pretty easy to use.
Looks like these were the original rear brake pads, seems like everything is ok.
Thanks everyone.

SVI30

Just FYI:

Both old and new OEM rears pads I replaced over the weekend has NBK markings on them. This company is called Nisshinbo.

The front pads I replaced two years ago were Akebono on the car and Hitachi from the box.

Looks like Nissan buys from quite a few companies.

http://www.nisshinbo.co.jp/english/field/brake/dib.html
http://www.akebonobrakes.com/
http://www.hitachi.co.jp/Div/apd/en/...st5.html#dcs05

holymoly

After watching two kids change front brake rotors and pads a couple of weeks ago, I told myself, "hey that's something I can do." I always presumed it was for the experts. Not so.

The only thing one kid advised was you need a "special tool" to engage the rear caliper piston. (Look at me talking now, like a pro)

I was so intimidated by that, I was alsmost resigned to let the pros handle the rears, but I did my rear brake inspection yesterday and upon reassembly the pin didn't seem a problem. I just held the square piston head by hand and ensured the caliper screw engaged into the pin.

Sounds simple, too simple but did I miss anything?

SVI30

You just want to make sure one of the 4 slots on the piston fit over the nib on the inside pad, roughly the slots faces the center line of the caliper. This is outlined in post #4, point 3 above.