BigDinTexas

In my experience, this is not true for the rears...

I upgraded my rotors to Powerslots and my pads to Hawk HPS pads, fronts and rears. The fronts were compressed just fine with the C-Clamp and scrap wood... When I got to the rears... no go. The rears required the tool and I had to stop my install, grap the keys to my other vehicle and make my way to the local harbor freight. $10 later and with the right tool, the piston on the rear compressed no problem.

Just curious, but have you actually done the rear brakes yourself?

Don

dcarlinf1

You are correct. Brakes are probably the single most important part of car as far as having them work correctly. It's not a difficult task to do it yourself and I recommend doing it yourself. But, it's also easy to screw it up. Just get someone who's done it before to help you the first time. Then next time you will be good to go.


Oh, and that price is ridiculous.

JimC

Only for the fronts.

The rear brake piston has to be screwed in and requires the tool. But you can rent the tool for free from places like AutoZone, O'Reilly's, etc.

6-Speed

The rear disc brake pistons have to be turned clock-wise while pressing them back into the caliper housing; this is true when the parking brake mechanism is built into the caliper. The HF tool works well for this application; although I had to crank pretty hard to get those pistons turning. You have to turn until the tool binds, then release/re-adjust the collar and repeat until the piston is fully reset.

Lem-06

What is the reason that the ones with parking brakes built in need to be turned while being pushed in?
Just wondering how it works

6-Speed

It's a characteristic of the self-adjusting mechanism. You can read about it here if you wish.

See the part on "Disk Parking Brakes".

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/brake06.pdf

Goldenpony

That price better include buying you dinner.

pinn

$355.00 is highway robbery. You can but new rotors and pads for well under 200.00 bucks and rent the tool from Autozone for free.

JThor

If you are not getting pulsation on the pedal, you can often get away with just replacing the pads. However, once you get it apart, the rotors are a piece of cake to remove and replace. Hour or two at best for the rears. Ditto for front. Haven't done pads on my S197 yet, but a lot of other cars including Porsche and BMW. It's not a very hard job. Tools: Correct socket to pull the caliper, tool for compressing the caliper, rags, anti-seize compound, BrakeKleen, and plenty of rags. Hint: open the bleed valve when you compress it. The piston will move really easily then. However, fluid will squirt out of the valve on compression. So, take the appropriate precautions.

You should bleed the brakes after it is done. In fact you should be replace the fluid entirely every year or so depending on your use anyway. If you track the car, you probably will be bleeding the brakes after every event.

JThor

Great article!