Frustrated at cars

[donnelly.me]

First, sorry to hear about your issues with your shop. It is getting hard to find independent garages that know their stuff anymore and are also concerned with customer satisfaction. When I was in tech school for automotive, the first thing they taught us was to be safe and the second was to keep the customer happy.
Second, Mortten and J-Mech are correct about that tool it works and if memory serves is about 10$. Kind of a pain though, push, twist, push ,twist curse. I picked up a nice tool at Harbor freight that makes the job much easier. the part number is 61381 (sorry but I stink at adding pictures) People have their reservations about some harbor freight stuff but this tool has served me well as a shade tree mechanic. If I was in a shop maybe I'd spring for a name brand. Good lock, Mark

[dvogtvpe]

I'm surprised they are willing to warranty the parts and labor from the first repair. I've known allot of people that take cars to brake/exhaust repair only shops that advertise lifetime warranty only to find out that unless they replace the rotors and calipers along with the pads they really had no warranty

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by dvogtvpe

I'm surprised they are willing to warranty the parts and labor from the first repair. I've known allot of people that take cars to brake/exhaust repair only shops that advertise lifetime warranty only to find out that unless they replace the rotors and calipers along with the pads they really had no warranty

Had a friend have everything replaced @ Midas(brakes) with warranty, and in a year the rotors rusted taking the pads out and they said it was covered but not labor
Cost her durn near as much to get it fixed, just paying labor.
Total rip off, the rotors were low quality, quickly rusting.
Glad I'm still able to do everything, but just ain't as easy as it used to be.
Dam old age.

[jimbob200521]

Almost ran into this issue on the wifes car recently. She has a 2005 Malibu and the brakes weren't working as well as they should have. Went to Napa, bought some new pads for all around (thankfully they had a 20% off bucket sale which saved me like $30), went home, and got to work. Got the fronts on no problem then turned to the back. That's where I ran into that mysterious tool posted above. Having had a few cold but refreshing beverages and being after 6:00pm, our Napa was closed. Did a little google-fu and found a shade tree trick that I'm sure some won't approve of. Was able to take a big ol' pair of channel locks and CAREFULLY retract the caliper cylinder back in. Started the car and tested the caliper a few times before I reassembled to make sure it worked like it should and I was good to go. Cars been driving (well, stopping) great for a few weeks now so I'm pretty sure I'll be ok but time will tell.

Anywho, sorry to hear about your trouble. If we were closed, I'd be more than happy to lend a hand helping you out!

[mortten]

Harbor Freight set looks nice. I may have to pick one up.

[REDDHOGG]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

It would have been both.... that's kind of how it works.



Daniel:
Yeah, they went to a funky caliper design on cars for the rear. It's because the parking brake is built into the caliper. The tool pic posted is what you need. Like everything, there is a trick.

Better luck with shops. Sorry you got tangled up in a mess.

Sorry for the dum question,, but if the piston is not clocked property it can put uneven presure on the inboard pad ,most of the pads have two razed pins to hold the piston from turning when applying park brake and thay seat in the x on the foce of the piston

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by REDDHOGG

Sorry for the dum question,, but if the piston is not clocked property it can put uneven presure on the inboard pad ,most of the pads have two razed pins to hold the piston from turning when applying park brake and thay seat in the x on the foce of the piston

Yeah..... that is true. But if one tang on the pad isn't in the piston, the other one won't be either, so it would still wear relatively normal. For the most part when a pad wears uneven from top to bottom, it is the slide pins.

I'll just go park myself elsewhere. I see there are plenty of techs here to help him out.


Just as a note, that odd little square tool is what I've always used, even as a professional tech. I put it on my 3/8" impact, crack the bleeder, put the caliper up against something solid, and PUSH while hitting it easy. Piston goes right in. If it doesn't..... replace the caliper. As a note: some are left hand, some are right hand thread.