Brake Caliper, Piston Retraction Tool.

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rustic

Well-known member
Club Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
7,820
OK not 4x4 specific as such, but the other day I was working on the rear disc brakes on the Wife's Picasso, one was binding on the handbrake.

To be able to fit new pads you have to retract the piston, but not the old fashioned way of pressing it in with a G clamp and a block of wood, but you now have to press it in and also turning it either clockwise or anticlockwise,
depending on the manufacture/model type.
In the Haynes Manual it states both go clockwise.
Fortunately the brakes have some service life left and I am hoping that cleaning the pads and regreasing will sort it.

Is there a way of doing the retraction without forking out £35 - £70 to buy a tool and maybe use it once? :nenau
The tool has different heads that have pins that locate into the slots in the brake piston. (All new to Me).

I looked on Youtube and saw a guy trying to use a pair of long nosed pliers,
he slipped several times, which could have damaged the seals or cut his palm of his hand...:eek:



On another matter, I need to replace the front discs on the picasso as they have worn down to the minimum limit, what I don't understand, is there is plenty of life left in all 4 brake pads. Car has done 65 k miles though.
These are all original as we had the Picasso from new, I would expect the discs to last for 2 sets of pads.

I assume that the discs are of softer material, the car has ESP ( Electronic Stabilty Programme) so the discs and calipers are not Picasso standard, of course they are more expensive... :eek: Thicker and bigger diameter.

I have ordered some Mintex pads and discs so I'll see how these get on.
I won't need a retraction tool on these calipers and pistons.:nenau

Advice please,
best regards, Rustic.
 
Had a Picasso great car for fuel economy, but went through front disks, like I change me socks, so got shot, Rick
 
I looked on ebay and they are around £30 but this would only be for say a right handed version, thinking of the future do I buy one that does all, and buy the adaptors as needed?
Luckily I don't need it this year.

How much rotation is required per 1mm of compression ?
ie does the piston follow a helix ( like a barley sugar twist), I've never stripped one down, and since it still works I don't want to.

It would be quite easy to make something, but I don't want to destroy the caliper.:eek:
 
I looked on ebay and they are around £30 but this would only be for say a right handed version, thinking of the future do I buy one that does all, and buy the adaptors as needed?
Luckily I don't need it this year.

How much rotation is required per 1mm of compression ?
ie does the piston follow a helix ( like a barley sugar twist), I've never stripped one down, and since it still works I don't want to.

It would be quite easy to make something, but I don't want to destroy the caliper.:eek:

must calipers are right hand thread but you will need different adaptors for different vehicles. the only left hand thread caliper i have i have come across is on an o5 mondeo .
When you wind back the caliper ,spray a bit of wd40 in the rubber dust cover so as the piston goes back in so rubber cover does not twist and rip
when you put it back together make sure to pump the brake pedal up first before operating the handbrake so the caliper resets

mark
 

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