Need new rear brake caliper suggestions please.

[Black95Z28]

So I went to do what I thought would be a routine brake pad change, and it's turned into a royal pain in the a$$. I noticed that when I pulled the pads off the passenger's side, inside of the car, that the pad was completely warn down to the metal on one end, and about 3/16" left on the other end. The guys at the auto parts store told me that this was due to a bad caliper. Uneven wear. So after a few orders of the wrong parts and days waiting I find out that they can't get what I need.

I called up another parts store and they can get the rear calipers fully loaded for $284 each with the old core! Is this normal, or really over priced? This just seems like a lot to me, and i'm wondering if you guys could shed some light on the situation. I need the caliper, sliding bracket, and e-brake setup that is attached to the caliper. Basically the whole deal. I could attach a picture if it would help, but you guys probably know what i'm talking about.

I would really appreciate any advice/suggestions. If there is a aftermarket setup I could get i'm cool with that, but bottom line i'm just looking to save some money right now on this since finances are tight.


Thanks,
-Ben

[0rion]

send a PM to LSx Heaven and see what they have. They part out f-bodies and might have some and could save you a ton of money.

[Black95Z28]

Awesome. Stupid question, but is LSx Heaven just someone's username on here? Also, how do I send them a PM? Sorry, i'm rather new to this site.

Thank you.

[0rion]

LSX Heaven

click that link and that'll take you to their profile then you can PM them from the "contact" tab. If they don't have what you need you can always check around at some local junk yards.

[ls1camino]

I have some Rear Calipers (with lines) I'll sell to you for $150.

[blue02Z]

just because your inner pad wears faster doesn't mean your caliper is bad. it is prolly cuz your slide pins are dry and/or stuck. they allow your caliper to pull the outside pad in. btw: your inner pad will ALWAYS wear faster, i know they are supposed to wear evenly but it will. take those pins out and make sure they are straight and grease them up with high temp/brake grease.

[0rion]

just because your inner pad wears faster doesn't mean your caliper is bad. it is prolly cuz your slide pins are dry and/or stuck. they allow your caliper to pull the outside pad in. btw: your inner pad will ALWAYS wear faster, i know they are supposed to wear evenly but it will. take those pins out and make sure they are straight and grease them up with high temp/brake grease.

excellent point that I never even thought of. I was just trying to help him get a caliper.

Have you taken the calipers apart yet and cleaned/lubed the pins? If not definitely start there.

[Blackbird WS6]

my 1997 mustang GT did the same thing in the back i change the pads and cleaned everything and grease it and back on the road

[Black95Z28]

Well I went out and bought some new calipers from a junk yard....$75 for the pair. not too bad. I got them home, went to put them on, and now I can't compress the piston far enough for it to fit on with the pads. WTF is the deal here? Sorry, i'm just getting kinda annoyed with this whole thing at this point. Is there a trick to compressing these? Do they need to rotate somehow or something? One of my old ones compressed just fine, and I messed up the other by trying to clamp down on it (too hard apparently). Naturally the one that compressed fine is the one I took all the e-brake stuff off of and am having a hard time getting back together. Do you guys think the ones I got from the junk yard are just that....junk? Or am I missing something here? You should be able to compress them by squeezing by hand really hard right? The old one that I had did.

[Wesman]

Well I went out and bought some new calipers from a junk yard....$75 for the pair. not too bad. I got them home, went to put them on, and now I can't compress the piston far enough for it to fit on with the pads. WTF is the deal here? Sorry, i'm just getting kinda annoyed with this whole thing at this point. Is there a trick to compressing these? Do they need to rotate somehow or something? One of my old ones compressed just fine, and I messed up the other by trying to clamp down on it (too hard apparently). Naturally the one that compressed fine is the one I took all the e-brake stuff off of and am having a hard time getting back together. Do you guys think the ones I got from the junk yard are just that....junk? Or am I missing something here? You should be able to compress them by squeezing by hand really hard right? The old one that I had did.

This is on a 95 Z28?? Don't the LT1 4th gens have the parking brake built into the caliper, instead of having a brake drum parking setup like the LS1 cars??

If thats the case, then you can't just compress the piston back into the caliper. It needs to be twisted back in, as you rotate the piston it will retract back into the bore. It should have some grooves in the piston face for a tool to grab into in order to rotate it. Usually you can use needle nose pliers. If you compress the piston without twisting it in, you will destroy the caliper. Which may be what you have already done.

[Spaz]

Well I went out and bought some new calipers from a junk yard....$75 for the pair. not too bad. I got them home, went to put them on, and now I can't compress the piston far enough for it to fit on with the pads. WTF is the deal here? Sorry, i'm just getting kinda annoyed with this whole thing at this point. Is there a trick to compressing these? Do they need to rotate somehow or something? One of my old ones compressed just fine, and I messed up the other by trying to clamp down on it (too hard apparently). Naturally the one that compressed fine is the one I took all the e-brake stuff off of and am having a hard time getting back together. Do you guys think the ones I got from the junk yard are just that....junk? Or am I missing something here? You should be able to compress them by squeezing by hand really hard right? The old one that I had did.

no... you need a large adjustable wrech... use a piece of wood so that you don't scratch the piston...

[Spaz]

This is on a 95 Z28?? Don't the LT1 4th gens have the parking brake built into the caliper, instead of having a brake drum parking setup like the LS1 cars??

If thats the case, then you can't just compress the piston back into the caliper. It needs to be twisted back in, as you rotate the piston it will retract back into the bore. It should have some grooves in the piston face for a tool to grab into in order to rotate it. Usually you can use needle nose pliers. If you compress the piston without twisting it in, you will destroy the caliper. Which may be what you have already done.

hmm... i didn't knwo that... i thought their brakes were the same as ours...

[Black95Z28]

Hopefully this isn't a double post, but if so, sorry.

Long story short. I went out and got some new calipers from a junk yard that looked to be pretty good. Got them home, and now I can't compress the piston far enough to make it fit over the rotor with the new pads in. Is there any trick to this with these cars, or am I just missing something?

I'd appreciate any advice/help.

Thanks for the replies so far!

[Black95Z28]

Sorry for the double post. The e-brake assembly is more or less attached to the caliper setup. I tried cranking down on one of the old ones with a big C clamp, and i'm pretty sure it's F*@cked now. So apparently that wasn't the way to fix it. lol

I heard someone saying that there might be the grooves in it that you were talking about. Is that it perhaps? Are these grooves just under the boot where I could pull the boot back and see them?

The odd thing is that one of the old ones I had seemed to compress just fine by hand.....so this leads me to doubt.

Ideas??

[bigrondownhiller]

I have a 96. I just compressed the pistons with a piston compressor tool. It is alot easier than a c-clamp. Sometime though you have to use an old pad to compress the piston. Make sure that you arent pushing in the piston with the ebrake on.

[Black95Z28]

I'm not exactly sure what tool you are talking about. The thing about the C clamp is that you can't clamp straight on it, so if you apply a lot of pressure on it it will ruin the piston...as i did to the old one. I could probably get one of those compressors from the local auto parts shop right? The e-brake is detached from the caliper. I actually have the calipers off the car right now, so i'm not clamping against the brake, but thank you for mentioning that. I could have pulled a bonehead move. lol

Do any of you know for sure if this piston just compresses straight in, or if it needs do turn on the way in? I don't see how you could rotate it as you push it in though. ? I'm sure I must be missing something here.

Sorry for all the questions, this just has me confused and i'm kinda pissed since it should be a simple fix.

Thanks for the help!

[Blackbird WS6]

yes you can buy the piston compressor tool at a local auto parts store

[0rion]

use an old pad to press on. Put an old pad in place on the piston just like it would be on the car and compress against that. It would be a very good idea to take the pins out of the caliper and clean/grease them too before putting them on the car. I'm not sure what type of e-brake system was on the 95-96's. If it uses the caliper as an e-brake the caliper piston itself will have 2 small grooves across it that looks like a big ass flathead screwdriver would fit it. You can use an open pair of needle nose if it has them. If you can post a pic of the caliper I can tell you if it uses it as the e-brake. I'm thinking it doesn't but I'm not sure.

[axxdet]

check the slid pins of sure, I took mine off and painted them without checking well to new calipers later and ones that don't match.....

[Spaz]

if you take the pins out check them for scratches... they are cheap to replace...