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Tonight I dug into the rear disc brakes on my 2005 Ford Five Hundred and ran into a problem while trying to remove the caliper. Just a heads-up, this uses the screw piston design in the rear as the cable parking brake uses the disk pads – so I already know that I need to screw the pistons in and have a tool set for that. Just forcing the piston in isn’t an option here.
Catch is, the pads don’t ride against the entire rotor, leaving a edge of unworn metal around the circumference of both the inside and outside of the disc rotor. Add to that, the root of the problem of this 1 wheel out of 4 being an issue is that the inside pad has been sticking and has really ground into the rotor. Since I can’t just crack the bleeder and force the piston in – well you can start to imagine the problem!
Thinking I may just have to pull the calipers / rotors off and replace it all, and indeed that would fix the caliper sticking issue but for all I know it’s just a pin lubrication issue and general cleanup that will get me back on the road. Thankfully I have a second car.
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Have you removed the guide pins and looked at them? If the lube is long gone and there is rust on the pin and in the hole it slides into, you need to do some serious cleaning. A wire brush can do the pin if you clamp it in a vise or some locking pliers.
To clean inside, I have a little trick. Get a wood dowel that is a bit smaller than the pin. Cut a lengthwise slit down the middle of it. Slide a strip of sandpaper into the slit, a short piece. Roll the dowl to wind the paper gritty side out, then put that in the pin hole and spin to grind out the rust in the hole.
Also, what color is the brake fluid? If it isn’t clear or nearly clear, then you need a complete brake fluid flush. You can do that, plenty of vids online. And of course, use silicone based brake lube on those pins.
I mentioned the brake fluid flush because if the fluid is contaminated with atmospheric moisture then there is a seriously reduced amount of clamping force because water is easily compressed while brake fluid is not. I almost want to say look at the brake fluid first.Thank you for your quick answer. I have not done that yet, but will. I already have the correct lubricant from a previous brake job.
My mistake at the start was following a video where the entire caliper assembly w/bracket was removed vs. just pulling the pads by removing the bolts at the pins. Watched another video that showed just removing the pads (which I should have done first) and they did manage to pry the pads apart enough to remove them.. then deal with screwing the piston in once the pads were removed. Hopefully I will have the same luck as it’s the act of screwing the caliper piston in that I can’t do – yet I need to expand the pads to remove them.
I am doing this outside (never mind having a nice, roomy 2 car garage :S ) and the weather has turned against me for a couple days.
Thanks again and I’ll post an update.
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