trooplewis

iTrader: (1)

My kid pulled in the driveway, noticed a funny noise coming out of the rear brakes. Took them apart, the inside pad was worn down to almost nothing.

Went out and bought a set of rear pads, when I went to compress the piston into the caliper, it won't budge. Also noticed that the entire rubber cover over it (piston condom?) is shot and there is a lot of the piston metal showing.

I have the "compressor" tool, but it doesn't seem to work. I'm guessing that with the rubber cover torn, there is corrosion on the piston not allowing it back into the caliper. That is probably why the pads wore so fast as well.

What are my choices here? Can I repair it, have it rebuilt, or do I have to buy the whole assembly? Meanwhile, car is on jackstands in my driveway and my kid has no way to get to school tomorrow...


Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bill

Q8BallMAXIMA

Get rebuilt calipers or you can get new ones. Rebuilt ones are cheaper.

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

To compress the rear calipers you have to turn the piston not force it down (I forget clockwise or CCW). Edit it's clockwise to get them in.

NismoVQdet?

you have to turn the piston to compress it.. a pair of needle nose pliers will do the trick..

trooplewis

iTrader: (1)

Oh yeah, we have ratcheting calipers.

THanks, will try again. At this point there is no rubber over the piston at all, hope this works.

maxx0831

iTrader: (2)

sounds like you need to get ya calipers rebuilt

trooplewis

iTrader: (1)

Update...got back from getting the new pads at 6:30pm, had the complications, ate dinner, figured out it was a ratcheting piston, got first side done at 8pm, got 2nd side done by 8:45 including test driving and re-torque the lugs.

Everything is finished and works OK, but I have the one caliper that is missing the piston condom (dust boot?). Will this affect operation of the brakes? I'm thinking not until the next time I need pads, since the piston is always pushing outward.

I suppose it could cause the pads to drag since it may not retract a bit after hard braking, not sure.

What do you folks think?

The passenger side caliper dust boot was fine..

f550maranello2

iTrader: (2)

yep... dont be cheap go to vatozone and get the tool its like 10 bucks... its this

trooplewis

iTrader: (1)

I did them both without the tool, but yeah, it's PITA to do with big needlenose pliers bacause they want to keep slipping off the piston and then your finger gets pinched in them...ouch.

Someone may find this helpful, not sure I have seen it anywhere before, but to retract the piston you HAVE to remount the caliper in its normal place, but without the pads in. That is the only way I found you could put enough pressure on the piston to twist it back in, it requires 2 hands (so you can't hold the caliper).

And on another note, since there is currently a "rust" thread active, when I was doing the rear brakes I noticed that 1/2 the outer shell of the muffler has rusted off. In california, what's with that? Looks like the 2nd layer underneath it is staying together, no leaks yet.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

The cause of the excessive inside pad wear are the guide pins.
Did you clean and regrease them prior to bolting everything back together?
If not, you're going to have the same issue happening all over again.

97SEdriver

iTrader: (3)

what you will most likely find happen is when you park the car and it's cold the piston might freeze on you if you pull the e-brake to park it.

in the meantime, just put a bunch of grease around the ring of the piston, should be ok for a little while.

getting rebuilt calipers from advance auto or something aren't that much, maybe $50 or so, junk yard ones around here are $25.

While you're screwing around with things, make sure your e-brake cables near your trailing arms aren't pinched and starting to rust.

DBear

Since we're letting this thread drift, the first time I tried to retract a piston using needlenose, it turned and turned forever, without going in. I finally broke down and bought the tool, and it worked fine. The last time I tried it with the tool, the same thing happened--it turned but wouldn't go in. It wasn't until I backed it off a turn and tried again that it actually engaged and went in. I haven't taken a caliper apart to see why that should be the case, but if it's turning and doesn't seem to be going in, try backing out and then turning in.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

Front brakes were so easy to do, I will never pay someone again replace my brake pads.

As for the rears, I could not compress the piston no matter how hard I tried... I almost broke my wrist trying to turn the C clamp. I gave up and searched here on the Org. I would have never guessed the damn thing needed to be turned in. The needle nose method worked out fine on the drivers side but the passenger... I turned and turned as described earlier and it would not go in. I had to push and turn in at the same time then it slowly started to retract... sucker was tough to get back in there. Next time I'll just go buy the tool. I love the Org!