I'm in the garage trying to change my rear brake pads on my 00'. Is there a trick to recompressing the caliper piston? I'm patting a c-clamp on it and it doesn't want to budge. I've never changed the rears before and maybe there is a different procedure? Or is it possible my calipers are "locked up". I did apply the emergency brake while jacking to loosen the lugs but I took it of and lightly tapped the brake pedal to make sure it disengaged? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Turn the caliper clockwise with needle nose.

Rotor & Brade Pad Installation Notes
My notes from rotor and brake pad swap without disconnecting brake lines or bleeding brakes.

Brake Install Notes:

Tools/Equipment:

• Jack & Jack Stands
• Impact Wrench or Lug Nut Wrench
• 14mm, 17mm, 19mm sockets & ratchet
• C-Clamp
• Rear Piston Compression Tool
• Mechanics Grease or Anti-Seize Grease
• Brake Cleaner
• Rubber Mallet


Front:

1. Put the car up on jack stands and remove the front wheels.
2. Remove the bolts holding the upper piece of the caliper on...14mm...these came off without any effort...slide the caliper off and hang it on the coil of the spring.
3. Remove the brake pads...they pop right off...pay attention to the way they are seated.
4. Remove bolts holding the lower piece of the caliper on...19mm...these require some elbow grease to remove, but I did not need any liquid wrench or a breaker bar...slide the second caliper piece off and set aside.
5. Remove the rotor...requires some rocking and tapping to remove...my stock rotors did NOT have a bolt hole easy removal so I did some light tapping on the back side with a mallet as I turned the rotor.
6. Install new rotor...clean up the wheel hub first and rub some grease around the hub to prevent the new rotor from rusting onto the hub like the stock one.
7. Reinstall lower piece of caliper...clean it up first to remove all the brake dust...tighten up 19mm bolts good and tight.
8. Install new brake pads...ensure that you remove the backing plates off the old pads and install them to the new pads.
9. Compress the piston on the upper piece of the caliper...loosen cap on the brake fluid resevoir by the driver's side strut tower in the engine bay to make piston compression possible...use a clamp and equally distribute pressure as you compress...watch for brake fluid overflow.
10. Reinstall upper piece of the caliper...clean it up first to remove all the brake dust...tighten up the 14mm bolts marginally (remember how easy they were to remove).


You're all done. Differences for the rears:

• You must remove the 14mm bolt holding the mount for the emergency brake cable to get the upper part of the caliper off...underneath the caliper.
• Lower piece of caliper is held on by 17mm bolts instead of the 19mm on the front.
• Piston needs to be turned clockwise to be compressed...I suppose you could use pliers, but you can buy a small piston compression tool which hooks on to a ratchet and makes life really easy...the one they sell at Sears has a piston pattern which fits the rear calipers on the Maxima.
• Make sure you hook the emergency brake cable onto the spring mechanism before reinstalling the upper caliper piece as it will be hard to hook back on after the caliper is assembled.

 

Thank for the help, I could have tried to clamp away all day and never gotten anywhere except for a broken caliper!

Ben

 

Sorry, just fixed my post, should turn caliper clockwise.