2011 Honda Civic - Rear Brakes
2011 Honda Civic - Rear Brakes
Author
Discussion

CalNaughtonJnr

Original Poster:

488 posts

177 months

Thursday 14th March 2019
quotequote all
I need to replace the Rear Pads on my Civic - having done them last year I know what to do, I am just slightly confused about the process of resetting the caliper piston. Every guide I have seen or read says they are threaded and need to be wound back in, however my attempts at doing this last time were unsuccessful and I resorted to trying a g clamp to simply push them back in, which worked.

My question being, surely if they were threaded is there any way I would have been able to do this and is it possible I may have damaged the piston? (MOT fail yesterday on brake imbalance and low pad advisory after only around 8,000 miles use)

Coilspring

577 posts

79 months

Friday 15th March 2019
quotequote all
Sounds like the caliper is damaged.

Forced it back without winding it woukd take some excessive force. I doubt that it survived that.

CalNaughtonJnr

Original Poster:

488 posts

177 months

Friday 15th March 2019
quotequote all
Coilspring said:
Sounds like the caliper is damaged.

Forced it back without winding it woukd take some excessive force. I doubt that it survived that.
It doesn't appear to be binding on or not working and the Handbrake is fine so I'm at a bit of a loss - both side were done (rightly or wrongly) the same way

Sheepshanks

37,369 posts

135 months

Friday 15th March 2019
quotequote all
I've never actually done this - my days of rolling around under cars are over - but I looked at what was involved for daughters car and apparently you have to push and turn the piston at the same time and it can be difficult without opening the bleed nipple.

To be honest it doesn't bode well for its thread if you've been able to force the piston straight back.

Coilspring

577 posts

79 months

Friday 15th March 2019
quotequote all
CalNaughtonJnr said:
It doesn't appear to be binding on or not working and the Handbrake is fine so I'm at a bit of a loss - both side were done (rightly or wrongly) the same way
Brake imbalance and low pads after 8000 miles (especially on the rears), suggests binding .

Imbalance suggests 1 side is worse/better than the other.

As I said initially, I doubt your caliper (s) have survived being forced back without being wound.

E-bmw

11,123 posts

168 months

Friday 15th March 2019
quotequote all
I am going to guess that you fooked your callipers changed your pads after your MOT last year & so the fact that the callipers were stuffed didn't come to light until this years test but as has been stated above by 2 people your callipers are almost certainly now scrap.

CalNaughtonJnr

Original Poster:

488 posts

177 months

Monday 18th March 2019
quotequote all
Pads replaced and piston wound back in this time - MOT brake test was carried out again on Saturday morning all was fine. Garage suggested the pad had got stuck in the carrier and wasn't releasing so i cleaned everything up and used plenty of copper grease this time - fingers crossed it has resolved the issue

Coilspring

577 posts

79 months

Monday 18th March 2019
quotequote all
If you wore the previous pads that low in 8000 miles I trust you checked the calipers for correct operation etc. An mot brake test is not that test.

If the pads had been binding that much to wear that much I am sure it would have been noticeable on performance too.

Good news if all is sorted, but I doubt that all is as it should be.

CalNaughtonJnr

Original Poster:

488 posts

177 months

Tuesday 19th March 2019
quotequote all
I will just have to keep my eye on it - nothing seems to indicate any damage to the caliper itself. As you say, the rolling brake test would not specifically check the operation of the caliper, but my understanding is that it would highlight the brake either not working at all or was binding on.