yardbirdsax
Junior Member
Today I replaced my rear brake pads for the first time since getting the car. On the driver's side, everything came apart okay, but the caliper piston was a BEAST to get to compress. Yes, I got the special tool from AutoZone with the notches, and it fit, but I had to put a wrench on the end just to get enough leverage to get it to spin. Yes, I opened the reservoir cap so the pressure wasn't building up (I ended up cracking the bleeder value a hair to see if that helped; it did not, and now I have to bleed my brakes too, argh). With the wheel back on I didn't feel / hear any obvious signs of dragging, but I'll have to check more thoroughly once I have gotten the brakes bled etc. I haven't gotten to the passenger side, thanks to how long this took; hopefully it is not as hard.
So far as I know, the brakes worked fine prior to this. The old pads did not look particularly lopsided in terms of wear or whatnot. The car has 48,000 miles on it, so not high mileage. Some forum searches show signs of intelligence that this (sticky driver rear caliper piston) is a thing for these cars. Anyone here have experience with this? Maybe this is just a sign that I should bite the bullet and replace the caliper? They seemed in pretty good shape (not overly rusty etc), but given these are brakes I don't mind being safety conscious.
So far as I know, the brakes worked fine prior to this. The old pads did not look particularly lopsided in terms of wear or whatnot. The car has 48,000 miles on it, so not high mileage. Some forum searches show signs of intelligence that this (sticky driver rear caliper piston) is a thing for these cars. Anyone here have experience with this? Maybe this is just a sign that I should bite the bullet and replace the caliper? They seemed in pretty good shape (not overly rusty etc), but given these are brakes I don't mind being safety conscious.