I'm half way done a brake pad change and I'm about to roll the car out in the road for a truck to hit. I had no problem with the front pads, but the rear caliper pistons will not compress. I've tried with a c-clamp, vise grips, all kinds of fancy lever ideas, and still absolutely no movement in the piston. I need several millimeters of extra clearance before I can get the calipers back over the rotors. I even tried putting the stock pads back on and they will also not fit. Anyone else had this problem who knows a real way to fix it without using the normal answer of elbow grease?- I've been trying that all night. Thanks for the help.
-Dave

 

On most cars (FD included) the rear pistons actually screw back into the caliper, this is because of how the handbrake works. Very carefully grasp the notches in the piston with a pair of needle nose pliers and turn it clockwise. The piston will retract.

 

Thanks, that was the trick. I had tried messing with the notches earlier, but its pretty stiff and I had to get more leverage to turn it. I took the rotor off and mounted the caliper to do it for the second one since it was easier to get a good angle on it that way.

 

Yep. First car I had that on was a acura way back - thought I was going to go ballistic. Personally, I think they should do front calipers that way - seems much easier than using a c-clamp. Plus if you have painted calipers its a pita to keep from messing them up (maybe a slight exageration, but you get the picture)

 

It's hard to use a c-clamp when you have 2 or more piston brakes; there's no room to fit it in there. I use this tool from Mazda Motorsports that compresses all four pistons at the same time and does not touch anything but the pistons themselves. You also don't have to remove the caliper to compress the pistons with this tool. Just pull the pins, pull the pads and tighten the tool to retract the pistons. I love this thing!

 

that's a great looking tool in the past I've just used the old pad and compressed on that.

I'm suprised autozone & such don't have them.

 

waht is the part number for that tool?

 

0000-09-0216 DISC BRAKE EXPANSION TOOL $29

I think it's only available through Mazda Motorsports, so if you're not a member your out of luck.

 

I gotta get me one of these, you mean I can't order from Mazda.

 

The part number is definately a Mazda Competition part which is not sold through dealers, only to race members. Just call a Mazda dealer and ask, if they have no idea what you're talking about it's not available to "civilians". You only have to race twice a year to qualify as a member and you've already raced once...

www.mazdamotorsports.com

 

Ha ha. It figures you crazy racer guys would have some freakin'awesome tool that would make these things so easy.

 

I have the same problem with the front brakes Passenger sid ewen in but the driver side one hapair is out and wong go back in. Ive tried everything.

 

Guys, make your own. You need a bolt, 4 nuts that will thread on the bolt and two flanges or pieces of metal as spreaders. Either by turing the nuts in oppositedirections you will open the caliper to gain enough clearance to insert your new pads. You need a bolt long enough to spread the sides of the calipers wide enough.

This should work on the same principle as a turnbuckle that you use to tighten up or loosen support cables. I'll make one up and get a list of materials and take a picture to post if anyone has any questions or can't figure out how it should work.