Brake Pad Replacement – Resetting Caliper Piston

[J Miah]

Hi,

Question: I understand its unusual but would the following method for resetting a caliper piston work?

1. Top up the master cylinder and refit the cap tightly to prevent any old fluid being forced back.
2. Attach bottle and tubing to bleed nipple in order to catch old fluid.
3. Slacken off bleed nipple.
4. Push piston back using G-clamp.

I notice that on Eric’s videos, he attaches a pain of mole grips to the brake hose in order to prevent air and old fluid being pushed back up the system. The hoses on my car, although fairly flexible, the walls feel too stiff to attach a clamp without causing damage.

Any pointers?

Thanks :side:

Topic

[Bill]

Really, the only thing I do every day is to loosen the bleeder and push the piston back. Been doing this for as long as there have been disc brakes without problems. In my humble opinion I don’t like pinching brake flex lines or hanging the caliper from them.

When the job is complete and have pumped up the brakes, then top off the master cylinder. Don’t try to reinvent anything.

[Player101]

Be careful what u are doing cos this applies mostly for front end brake calipers. Cars(im not sure if all of them) with rear disk brakes have caliper pistons which needs to be “screwed back” do to the design of the hand brake system. If try to push one of those back, u will destroy the caliper.

[J Miah]

[quote=”wysetech” post=91936]Really, the only thing I do every day is to loosen the bleeder and push the piston back. Been doing this for as long as there have been disc brakes without problems. In my humble opinion I don’t like pinching brake flex lines or hanging the caliper from them.

When the job is complete and have pumped up the brakes, then top off the master cylinder. Don’t try to reinvent anything.[/quote]

Awesome, thanks. I’ve done one brake job before but instead of loosening the bleeder, I just pushed the piston back and removed any excess fluid from the master cylinder. However, I’ve read rumours about possibly damaging seals and the ABS unit by doing it that way; loosening the bleeder seems more of a logical method. 🙂

[Author]

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