Brake caliper issue.....any help would be nice!

[win911]

Hi Everyone,

I have a problem. I have a 1999 C4 and I was changing my brakes pads and rotors. Everything went well except..... the front right/ passenger side. My problem is that the silencer broke off in the piston caliper. The 2 metal round tubular thingy is stuck in the piston of the caliper. I have tried WD40....PBlaster...soaked them for half the day. Tapped it with a hammer and screw driver without a budge. Turn the screw and the whole piston is spining with it. I am currently letting them soak overnight and go at it again tomorrow. Any suggestions? I do not feel like buying a new caliper if I really do not have too. If this does'nt work I might take it to a brake specialist and have the caliper rebuilt. Has anyone ever had this problem?

Thanks......

[Ahsai]

Never happened to me but just a thought...can you replace the short screw with a longer one and try to pull the screw/damper out?

- Ahsai

[win911]

Never happened to me but just a thought...can you replace the short screw with a longer one and try to pull the screw/damper out?

- Ahsai

Not enough space to use a puller. What I just did right now is I was able to pull out the pistons out of the caliper. I pushed air into where the brake line connects to. Held the other pistons down and the 2 pistons that I wanted out came out.....well 1 of 2. The other I had to pry it out, damaging the upper surface of the piston.

This has been a brake job from hell. Still worth it though. :D

Now I am trying to take out the rest of the rubber seal out of the caliper. Using a blade and flat head screw driver. IS THERE AN EASIER WAY?

Thanks again!

[RFM]

You have to use a hook if the damper spring sticks in the piston, simply pull out.

[win911]

You have to use a hook if the damper spring sticks in the piston, simply pull out.

This is way beyond the hook thing....It looks like it was rusted in there. I wonder anyone else had to deal with this situation.

[RFM]

Not many DIY people have got this situation, they have to change the pads in average 5 x in the time they own the car. This is too little to have a good overview, once you have done a couple of thousands ( since the introduction on the 964 ) the overview is totally different.

[win911]

Yah, I have never seen this happened before. I have changed many Porsche brakes and other cars but this is a first. An update.....I threw in the towel and sent it out to goldlinebrakes.com in Washington. Before I decided to do that....I called my local Porsche dealer to see if I can purchase the caliper piston. No luck, they do not sell them. They said that I needed to buy the whole caliper which list for $650 ish. 2nd option call Brembo and see if I can purchase the caliper piston from them. The rep said that they do not sell the pistons and claims that Brembo calipers never need rebuilding.......Then I asked why they sell the rebuid kit? His response........"good question". Next option....junkyard. No luck, all they had were the black and red one...Mine are the C4 silver color. Why I am so picky...I don't know. So I decided to order from Sunset Porsche $450 ish. But wait....1 month wait...special order from Germany.

That is when I decided to call John in goldlinebrakes.com. He assured me that he can fix my problem. I'll let you guys know when I get it back.

[justinfielding]

So what happened? I have exactly the same issue on my 987S. I've taken the piston out as I was planning to flush the fluid anyway, tried to drill out the screw in the middle so I can put another screw in (head was rounded) and blunted all of my drill bits getting about half way through the block. Even if I get through and manage to get a screw in there I don't think it's going anywhere.

About to go mad and I can't believe I need a whole new caliper, that seems extreme.

I can't believe a simple pad change has turned in to such a nightmare. What a stupid design. :angry:

[ericinboca]

So what happened? I have exactly the same issue on my 987S. I've taken the piston out as I was planning to flush the fluid anyway, tried to drill out the screw in the middle so I can put another screw in (head was rounded) and blunted all of my drill bits getting about half way through the block. Even if I get through and manage to get a screw in there I don't think it's going anywhere.

About to go mad and I can't believe I need a whole new caliper, that seems extreme.

I can't believe a simple pad change has turned in to such a nightmare. What a stupid design. :angry:

If you can't the thing out of the piston, you can order a single piston, along with seals and boots.

[jyoteen]

You can contact Stoptech to see if they'll sell you individual pistons/seals.

http://www.stoptech.com/

[ericinboca]

You can contact Stoptech to see if they'll sell you individual pistons/seals.

http://www.stoptech.com/

also here

http://www.paragon-products.com/Brembo_Cal..._Kits_s/538.htm

[justinfielding]

If you can't the thing out of the piston, you can order a single piston, along with seals and boots.

I was under the impression from the previous post that piston/seal sets aren't available?

[justinfielding]

That's great but will they fit my 2006 Boxster S calliper? The damping pads have different size weights on the top/bottom. I'm sure the top and bottom pistons are the same size but the hollow which accommodates the damper is larger for the top weight. I see different size pistons on that site but there is no mention of the hollow dimensions.

[ericinboca]

If you can't the thing out of the piston, you can order a single piston, along with seals and boots.

I was under the impression from the previous post that piston/seal sets aren't available?

You can get them. I just replaced all the pistons, bore seals and boots on my 986S track car. See the later post.

[ericinboca]

That's great but will they fit my 2006 Boxster S calliper? The damping pads have different size weights on the top/bottom. I'm sure the top and bottom pistons are the same size but the hollow which accommodates the damper is larger for the top weight. I see different size pistons on that site but there is no mention of the hollow dimensions.

The pistons are two different sizes - one larger, one smaller, of course. I'm not sure, but I think your pistons in an 06 are the same as the ones in my 04. I measured mine to figure out what size to get, but after doing that, I realized that the PET - at least for my model - had the size of the seals/boots listed - and that size corresponded to the piston size.

[Orient Express]

I think what you are saying is that the anti-squeal dampener is stuck in the caliper piston. Is that right?

If that is the case, don't worry about it, just leave it in there, collapse the piston in the caliper and install the new pad.

Unless you have boogered up the dampener, then there is really no difference between a new one and an old one.

When I do a 996 brake job, if the old anti-squeal dampeners are still good, I just reuse them.

This is no big deal.

[ericinboca]

I think what you are saying is that the anti-squeal dampener is stuck in the caliper piston. Is that right?

If that is the case, don't worry about it, just leave it in there, collapse the piston in the caliper and install the new pad.

Unless you have boogered up the dampener, then there is really no difference between a new one and an old one.

When I do a 996 brake job, if the old anti-squeal dampeners are still good, I just reuse them.

This is no big deal.

I second this. I don't use the dampers front or back.

[justinfielding]

I think what you are saying is that the anti-squeal dampener is stuck in the caliper piston. Is that right?

If that is the case, don't worry about it, just leave it in there, collapse the piston in the caliper and install the new pad.

Unless you have boogered up the dampener, then there is really no difference between a new one and an old one.

When I do a 996 brake job, if the old anti-squeal dampeners are still good, I just reuse them.

This is no big deal.

I second this. I don't use the dampers front or back.

All sorted. Full fluid flush really made a difference, got quite a bit of cloudy fluid out of the rears which I didn't think were working as hard as they should be. Now the discs are nice and shiny so they're doing a lot more.

Took it for a run earlier to start bedding in the new front discs. I was taking her up to about 60 mph and then braking heavily down to about 10mph. Repeated this 10-15 times. Is there much else I should do to make sure the new pads and discs start their lives off healthily?