I have a 2003 Mazda Protege es. Everytime I need brake pads , my local mechcanic tells me , the calipers are stuck and I need new ones. Whe I bring it to the dealer, they tell me , there is a specail tool to get them off, and they fix them and I get hit with a large bill. Is this true about needing a tool to get off the calipers? Thanks

 

no but if you don't know what you're looking for you'll not know how to compress the rear piston. There is a nut on the caliper that must be reomoved (simple socket will do it) and inside that hole is an allen wrench. The more you spin the allen wrnech out the more the piston will retreat back into the caliper.

 

about those rear caliper, just yesterday i threw some kevlar pads and drilled/slotted rotors from ractive on, luckily the front, i can see myself squeezing the **** out of the rear piston with a couple of C-clamps, i'll keep that in mind, I've never heard of your problem about stuck calipers, are they front or rear calipers?

 

using c-clamps to push in your caliper is a good way to destroy your master cylinder or abs controller if you're not careful.

 

using C-clamps to compress the piston, nothing to do with the caliper, how else do you suggest compressing the caliper to replace pads, this is how it's taught in automotive school. our calipers are held on the backplate with two simple bolts, how can they become stuck? (this is the front, i've not seen the rear yet.)

 

you can use a c-clamp to compress the front calipers (not the rears) BUT you have to be very carefull not to force hydraulic fluid through too quickly or you can damage the braking system.

It's THIS comment that caused me to issue a warning:

" i can see myself squeezing the **** out of the rear piston with a couple of C-clamps,"

That's bad news.

The rear caliper has an allen-head retaining screw UNDER a bolt. In order to compressor the rear piston you must remove the bolt and unscrew the allenhead...as you do this the piston moves back in.

 

I have been trying to mess with my rear brakes for 2 days now (had them off 4 times in two days), called all my car-guy friends, and everyone agreed that my caliper was seized and I just had to get a new one.

Then had a thought, looked here, and wa-la, stupid allen bolt on the back...

god i love this site.....

 

glad we could help. Yeah that stupid hidden allen bolt always gets people.

 

just an update:

Tried the brakes again, unscrewed the allen bolt, worked like a charm.

My e-brake doesnt seem to be engaging that wheel now, but I think it is just that the bolt needs to be tightened up some.

Thanks a bunch guys.

 

Basically tighten the allen bolt until you can no longer spin that wheel, then back it off a little bit.

 

The e-brake takes time to readjust itself, so don't worry about it. When I did my brakes the e-brake didn't engage at all either, but it will calibrate by itself.

I dunno if this really works or not but it worth a shot. I read somewhere that the easiest way to get it to adjust itself is to drive backwards and slam on the brakes (regular brakes not ebrake). And do that a couple times. If I recall correctly it did the trick for me so you can try it out if ya want. Just go out to a really big and empty parking lot, pop her into Reverse, get a little speed going and just step on the brake pedal. Repeat a couple times and the e-brake should start engaging again.

I dunno how or why that works but it honestly did the trick for me.

 

Thanks, Ill give the reverse trick a try, and if that doesnt work, ill try tightening up that bolt.

Ill let you know how it goes.

 

^yeah, they will self adjust - but you really should get them 'close' first.