In a fit of enthusiasm I've decided to replace my rear pads on my Vectra.

"Firmly twist the piston clockwise to retract"

My arse! I can't do it and I now haven't got a car!

Does anyone local to fareham have a brake caliper retraction tool? Or do Halfrauds sell them? The thing for compressing the piston.

P.S. Nice of the haynes manual to tell me I needed a 7mm Allen key. Sigh.

Cheers,
Jon

Pushing it back wont work with handbrake callipers - you need to `screw` it back in . There should be either a slot or a hexagon to help do this .

yep you got to wind it back in, only problem is the piston rotates and not the screw part so you think its winding round but it isnt. If this is the case you need to apply clamping pressure to it to help it stick allowing the screw part to rotate in and last time i did this on a friends car i used a g clamp and a nut under the head so i could get a spanner on it.

A right pain.

Yeah I've tried screwing it in with needle nose pliers but it wont move in.

I can turn it but it won't compress. Is there a technique other than brute force? Any trade secret?

Sierra rear calipers have slots cut in the edges. I made a tool out of angle iron with a piece cut out with a grinder.

Put the tool in the slots.
Push the piston in HARD whilst turning.

Did my sierra ones with the pin spanner that came with the angle grinder.

Add a G clamp for a bit of pressure ?

[Edited on 29/8/08 by givemethebighammer]

G Glitter's in your area and I think he needs a job!!!
Only joking.
Al

I used an angle grinder tool and brute force on my Sierra rears, same as givemethebighammer

make sure you push them in at the same time as turning otherwise they won't go in.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mark G
make sure you push them in at the same time as turning otherwise they won't go in.

---

vectras have a sep handbrake inside the rear disc hub so u should be able to just push the piston in with no turning

quote:

---

Originally posted by givemethebighammer
Did my sierra ones with the pin spanner that came with the angle grinder.

Add a G clamp for a bit of pressure ?

[Edited on 29/8/08 by givemethebighammer]

---

my vectra sri was the same as this! pain in the arse. I used a G-clamp 2 apply the pressure and turn it at the same time. my bros mk4 golf was the same but wouldnt go in with the G-clamp, bought the tool from hellfrauds, used it and the returned it the next day lol