brake disc removal/caliper piston stuck

[mosguido]

Hey,

Having received my new brake pads/discs for my fc from Clive a few days ago, thought its about time to fit them.
Just a few questions as have run into a few problems while working on the rears.

Firstly the drivers side caliper piston does not turn. I have a caliper rewind tool which doesnt turn it, and needle nose pliers dont either. Having inspected it closer up (and comparing with the other sides caliper) I have found that the piston boot is missing (the other side has one around the piston and turns freely using pliers or the rewind tool) and so i think its rusted in place. Any ideas on how i can remove it/free it up. I\'m thinking i should be replacing the piston boot also so where can i get the part for this or do i need a full rebuild kit for the caliper?

Would I also need to replace the piston itself at this time or just fit a new boot clean it up and all good?


Last question.. Seeing as i got annoyed at the piston on the drivers side I thought hey lets try the other side and see what its like. All easy peasy tbh until it came to trying to remove the disc itself.. No matter what I tried I can not remove the damned philips screws (2 countersunk ones) and thats using the correct sized screwdriver (as big as i could find haha) and all my strength..no luck..

Is there and easier way to remove the screws aside from drilling them out as I really don\'t want to do that.
Oh the screws aren\'t stripped btw..

Sorry for all the q\'s, but thanks for any help anyone has to offer..

I gotta say also, that although i\'ve only had problems today, good to be out in the sun at least, think i got a bit burned even

Guy

[grinder]

best way to remove the locating screws are with an inpact driver ( as i found out ) and when you put them back in use copper grease

if you cant get them out that way - then drill them out ( i know you dont want to - but its the only way )

and i cant help with the caliper - sorry

[Brett]

The rear calipers are a total mare - Only thing I can suggest (depending on how much time you have spare) is to go to a few scrap yards and remove a selection of rear calipers, that way you can make up a pair of good ones, or get one set sent away for service/exchange.

[FlappyCat]

I\'ve often had to go the drilling route and as long as you\'ve got a replacement screw it can be much quicker.

[mosguido]

Cheers for the advice peeps, much appreciated!

Sourced an impact driver and had some fun this afternoon, took a while, but the screws came loose quite nicely, woohoo!

I then ran into a bit of frustration trying to fit the new black diamond discs and finding that they didn\'t fit, the wheel hub holes on the disc were not aligned correctly and were set too close together if you know what I mean.
Anyone else run into this? According to the BD website they are the correct ones for the car, but they clearly don\'t fit. Its 5 lug if that helps?

Anxious to get my car back on the road now, its been waaaay too long..

cheers for any more help

[grinder]

if the disc dont fit then send them back - they havent supplied you FD ones have they

it should be 114.3 distance on the stud spacing - if it helps ??

Stu

[mosguido]

these are the rears btw

[mosguido]

damn that was a quick reply, i\'ll have a quick check of the discs now!

[Grizzly]

I would sugest you don\'t bother with the stock FC Calipers, Just find an FD braking and get the two Front calipers of it (not usaly expencive) Btw don\'t buy the rear Calipers as they don\'t fit.

Fc calipers from my experiance are realy Prone to Seizing, Once they have done it once you can garantee they will stick again. I sugest the Fd calipers becouse they are a direct swap and to date i\'ve not seen a stuck piston in one.

Disk wise, Both the Fd and Fc (five stud) have 114.3 pcd so the Disk should fit, i could\'nt tell you if the Center bore or the Disk off sets the same but in theory the Fd disk should go over the T2 Studs. I know for a fact the Pads are the same (i have T2 pads in my Fd at the Moment).

You can also tell if its an Fd Disk or T2, the Fd disk is larger

[mosguido]

stupid question, is the 114.3 in mm? and which points do you measure between... heh. I measured between the stud holes on the (BD) rear disc and its like 45mm, the front discs were 55 or so..man i feel like a n00b.

[Grizzly]

stupid question, is the 114.3 in mm? and which points do you measure between... heh. I measured between the stud holes on the (BD) rear disc and its like 45mm, the front discs were 55 or so..man i feel like a n00b.

On Cue....

[Grizzly]

sounds like you have some Scooby disks or something like that. All the mazda five studs are 114.3

[mosguido]

cheers for you advice there on the calipers grizzly, sadly for me it only seems to be my rear caliper thats stuck so far :Grrr

still a little confused with the whole 114.3 pcd thing and how to check it against the new discs... i havent taken my front brakes off yet to even see if the front (BD) discs will fit. The holes for the front discs lined up fine with my rear hub (aside from the philips screw holes..) but the internal diameter of the disc itself wasn\'t accomodating enough to even fit those discs on the rear (just by way of testing in case i\'d somehow mixed the discs up)..

all very frustrating and confusing, made all the more annoying by me replacing my mr2s entire brake system disc/pad/calipers all round with no hassle!

G

[mosguido]

ah-ha cheers for the pcd link there, gonna check that against my discs now...

[Grizzly]

ok if its the rears you have a bit more of an Issue, now there prone for the hand brake bearing (behind the Piston to seize and colapse) i can\'t say i\'ve seen one siezed but would\'nt suprise me.

I rebuilt mine a while back, i used mazdaTrix for the parts and it was not as Involved as i thought it may be.

If i was in your Situation i\'d do one of two things, Buy a recon set?? (tbh proberly the best way to go) or try and Blow the Pistons out using the Car (Conect the caliper up with no pads in, start it and give the brakes some beans, you may have to turn the Piston with some Pipe wrenches to brake any corrosion) then have it Honed and put a Rebuild kit in it.