03 Camry Rear Brake Woes

[budz]

Hello All,

The 03 Camry XLE that I drive recently needed rear brakes. New pads and rotors were purchased and installed partially. I'm a bit stuck and would like guidance.

A C-clamp was used to push the piston back into the caliper prior to removal. It appeared to retract into the caliper assy although I encountered some trouble.

With the new brake pads installed the distance between the pads was not great enough to slide over the new rotor for installation.

So my question: Could this problem be anything other than something to do with the piston not receeding properly?

It's been a couple of days since the work was done and I plan to address this on Sunday this week. Are there any tricks for compressing the piston aside from a C-clamp & if it does not properly compress does this mean that the caliper must be replaced?

Thanks
Budz

[njerald]

Originally Posted by budz

Hello All,

The 03 Camry XLE that I drive recently needed rear brakes. New pads and rotors were purchased and installed partially. I'm a bit stuck and would like guidance.

A C-clamp was used to push the piston back into the caliper prior to removal. It appeared to retract into the caliper assy although I encountered some trouble.

With the new brake pads installed the distance between the pads was not great enough to slide over the new rotor for installation.

So my question: Could this problem be anything other than something to do with the piston not receeding properly?

It's been a couple of days since the work was done and I plan to address this on Sunday this week. Are there any tricks for compressing the piston aside from a C-clamp & if it does not properly compress does this mean that the caliper must be replaced?

Thanks
Budz

You can use wedges of any kind in caliper to retract the piston.

It would help if you opened the bleeder so you wouldn't have to push the brake fluid all the way to the master cylinder when you do it.

[gdanaher]

The upper edge of the piston will be flush with the lip of the caliper if it bottomed out. If there is still much of a step between the lip of the piston and the caliper, then it has not yet bottomed. If you are using a c-clamp you will know when it has bottomed.

[budz]

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies!

I am into the brake job currently and have ensured that the piston is all the way back into the assy,

This is great however the gap between the outer pad and the shoulder of the inner pad mount assy is not wide enough to allow the rotor to slide in for mounting.

A photo is attached(Link provided not sure how to insert the photo). Please have a look and advise if I am doing something wrong. I may look to put the old pad back in since it is half worn and will fit over the rotor yet I feel this just isn't the proper approach.

Any help is appreciated.

Budz

[toysarefun]

I've had this happen but it was always because the pistons will start coming out again right away so you have to slip it back together really quick. They don't like the C-clamp method, but like previous poster said, you can tell when the piston is bottomed out. I usually have the bleeder open as well.