StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

good, because i dont know anything! help a noob out, need some basic info, nothing difficult.

1. for some reason, 2 of my friggen caliper bolts have come out, the back bottom ones fall out...is there any special reason why they are coming out?

or are they just not torqued enough?



ouch



this is the other bolt to the caliper

---back story...skip this if you're not intrested in what happened--

its rediculous, the first one came out on the back right caliper, then somehow i found out the ******* back rear bottom caliper bolt hole was stripped.

after i found that out, it was shipped tothat installed my caliper immediately ordered me a new one, and the machine s a machine shop, but then they accidentally broke the caliper trying to re tap it, so the place hop threw away my brake pads, so they had to buy me a new set of rear brake pads too(luckily these two companys did all this stuff before i even knew about it so it was hastle free.

after i reinstalled the new brake pads on that new caliper and hooked it up, i was on my way to a full day of cruising and hammer and tongs canyon driving, and on the way home, as i was exiting the highway the bottom caliper bolt on THE OTHER BACK caliper comes off and my caliper is dragging on my wheel shaking the entire car violently making a grating noise you could hear for a mile away so i limp across an intersection after the highway exit and have my car towed the remaining mile home. i jack it up at that point and examine my brakes to find i lost a caliper bolt, and i was about to have heart attack worrying if THAT caliper's threading got stripped and luckily it didn't. good thing the bolt didnt come out on the highway or i would have been fucked...hell good thing it didn't come off during my driving because if my brakes froze at 50mph on latigo i would probably be dead.

i know for sure im not letting anyone that doesn't know a lot about brakes work on my car ever again. so im trying to clean up this mess right now and ive encountered another problem





2. how do you create more clearance between your brake pads when reinstalling your caliper onto the rotor? also is it supposed to slip on without any friction between the brake pad and the rotor or should it fit on just a little snugly or tightly? my new mazda caliper on the back right side fit on just fine but mine old one on the back left is giving me a hard time going back on. i assume that you need a special tool to twist the brake piston back to give it more clearance?



as you can see i need about 5mm of extra clearance that i cant seem to get. the pads are seated in properly all the way.



that should give you an idea of about how far the piston is portruding right now with both brakes disengaged



3. and finally under what circumstances is brake bleeding required, i thought it was just when you were disconnecting brake fluid lines that air gets into the system and makes your brake pedal feel like a clutch? when i removed my caliper recently my brakes just went to ****. will i need to bleed all of my calipers or just the one i removed? also can anyone point me out to a manual brake bleeding tutorial? ive only done the pedal pushing part, not the actual valve operating. :\

thanks in advance

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

For the rear caliper pistons, you need something like this:

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...65&postcount=2


When pushing the pistons in, you should have the brake line loosened. So, after inserting the pads, then you'll need a quick bleed of the brakes.

SoontobeLS1'd

I've seen something similar used with the two knbbies at the end but it was about 6" long with a T-handle to grab onto.

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the link mahjik, i'll look for one of those. how tight should the caliper assembly be over the rotor when i'm fitting it over?

Black91n/a

With full depth pads (new pads) and the caliper piston fully retracted there shouldn't be much wiggle room at all.

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

hmm, anybody know the name of the tool that you use for the rear caliper pistons or should i just try to describe it the best i can to someone at the auto shop

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Brake Piston "Cube"

jacobcartmill

iTrader: (6)

i believe its called a brake caliper "spanner" tool

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

thanks mahjik, does that thing somehow fit through the hole and onto the piston for you to turn it?

and jacobcartmill, is the spanner tool the one that has the teeth or whatever on it with a bar connecting to a t handle?

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

Best bet is to search for a "Lisle" brand caliper tool, eBay is a good source.

I have never seen the caliper bolts come out like that, I am guessing that they were either not tight enough, or too tight and stripped the thread.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Basically, a socket wrench goes on one side, and the proper sized square goes on the piston. Then you just use the wrench to turn it back. It's easy, and those things are usually under $10 from Autozone or NAPA.

That's a good tool, however, $70+ is a little much for a task like this.

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

after spending the past few hours working on my brakes i found out that my caliper threading is stripped down...now this shouldn't be too much of a concern considering the shop is the place that stripped my threads and they'll buy me a new caliper. my concern is how the thread got stripped...i mean they didn't go super crazy tightening them...but overtightening is the only way you can strip a thread...right? anyways about how many lbs of torque should the caliper bolts be tightened to?

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

mahjik is right, i went to kragen autoparts and got a piston tool, i just attached a 3" 3/8s drive extention to my trusty 3/8s ratchet and voila piston back in caliper, that 10 dollar tool did the job about as well as i needed it to be done. thanks for the suggestion mahjik...kind of a strange looking object so i was confused as hell how that thing would work at first.

White94RX

Yeah, you gotta use that special tool to push the piston back into the caliper. You put the tool on the piston, engaging the little notches, the just twist it like you're screwing in a bolt and it will retract back into the caliper.

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

yeah i also noticed disconnecting or just loosening the brake line helps a lot because it lets the pressure out and prevents pushing air back into the hydraulic system. it also pushes all of the old brake fluid out of the caliper too.

StealthFox

iTrader: (2)

**** i just noticed on my back right caliper(the not new one) that BOTH of my threads are stripped on the caliper. are these threadings made out of play-doh or something because this is the second and third caliper hole that's been stripped, i need to go back and complain to that shop so they can buy me ANOTHER new caliper. im pretty damn confused as to how these got stripped, they WERE NOT tightened that hard, i was with the people that were working on my brakes, they weren't doing anything stupid. they just tightened the bolts, then gave them a few tugs so they wouldn't come out, i dont see whats so complicated. i think if they had stripped them right then and there by overtightening them, they wouldn't have lasted 400 miles of canyon driving on the annual socal rx club cruise, AND ON TOP OF THAT, another 200 miles of HAMMER AND TONGS ***** OUT canyon driving through the santa monica mountain ranges. i was literally bombing everything running redline for 200 miles and my brakes worked perfectly, and even lasted 95% of the trip back home, what the **** is going on??? did god just decide to save me by keeping those bolts in those stripped caliper holes for 600 miles of driving in desolate canyons or did those threads somehow strip themselves after the brakes were mounted?