How to remove pad damper weight from caliper piston

[dphatch]

While servicing the front brakes on my '07 C4S one of the weights on only one of the  damper pads got stuck in the piston and broke away from the pad backing. What follows is the process I used to remove it with always enjoyed pictures. I posted this because I could not find anything similar anywhere else. Having used the "how to's..."  from this site and others many times I  just wanted to offer a little payback if I could.

 

 

The  bad news, as shown in the above pic,  is the pad damper with the missing weight which was securely entombed in the piston. Damper weights are held in place on the damper pad itself by a screw which was still attached to the weight after I removed the damper itself  and easily removed ( in my case ) from the weight. Good news is that the threads in weight go all the way through to the back side of the weight. I suspect this is deliberate to allow for removal should they get stuck. had the corrosion extended to the screw soaking all in PB Blaster would have been my next step.

 

 

Here's a pic of the screws I used to press the weight out of the piston. First screw was holding the weight to the damper, second and third were a 1-1/2 " cap screw and 1-3/4 " phillips head I had on hand. All screws have  the same thread dimensions to insure a secure fit and allow for a plan "B" approach in the event  plan "A" did not work.

 

 

 

First thing I did was soak the piston and weight in PB Blaster. To facilitate same I removed the caliper  to allow PBB to sock in better and more fully dissolve the corrosion keeping the weight from coming out.

After 3-4 hours of soaking I  inserted the shorter cap screw into the threaded hole in the center of the weight and screwed it in until I hit the bottom of the piston. ( Cap screws are preferable to phillips heads as they allow you to apply more direct torque to screw without stripping the head ) I proceeded gradually tightening the screw for a couple of 1/4 turns to determine if the PPB had had sufficient time to loosen the corrosions hold on the weight. Once I saw evidence of the movement in the weight I proceeded to run the cap screw all the way flush to the top of weight  and then replaced it with the longer screw visible in the picture to force the weight all the way out.

 

Note you do not need to remove the caliper to access the weight this way  if it just needs gentle coaxing. However, the  rotor would need to be removed in that case at which point it seems worthwhile to just remove the caliper.

 

 

And success.  Next step take some emery cloth to the inside bore of the all pistons to clean out the crud and eliminate a future recurrence of this time absorbing issue.

Edited March 23, 2016 by dphatch

[JFP in PA]

While servicing the front brakes on my '07 C4S one of the weights on only one of the  damper pads got stuck in the piston and broke away from the pad backing. What follows is the process I used to remove it with always enjoyed pictures. I posted this because I could not find anything similar anywhere else. Having used the "how to's..."  from this site and others many times I  just wanted to offer a little payback if I could.

 

porsche caliper work 133.jpg

 

The  bad news, as shown in the above pic,  is the pad damper with the missing weight which was securely entombed in the piston. Damper weights are held in place on the damper pad itself by a screw which was still attached to the weight after I removed the damper itself  and easily removed ( in my case ) from the weight. Good news is that the threads in weight go all the way through to the back side of the weight. I suspect this is deliberate to allow for removal should they get stuck. had the corrosion extended to the screw soaking all in PB Blaster would have been my next step.

 

porsche caliper work 139.jpg

 

Here's a pic of the screws I used to press the weight out of the piston. First screw was holding the weight to the damper, second and third were a 1-1/2 " cap screw and 1-3/4 " phillips head I had on hand. All screws have  the same thread dimensions to insure a secure fit and allow for a plan "B" approach in the event  plan "A" did not work.

 

porsche caliper work 135.jpg

porsche caliper work 136.jpg

 

 

First thing I did was soak the piston and weight in PB Blaster. To facilitate same I removed the caliper  to allow PBB to sock in better and more fully dissolve the corrosion keeping the weight from coming out.

After 3-4 hours of soaking I  inserted the shorter cap screw into the threaded hole in the center of the weight and screwed it in until I hit the bottom of the piston. ( Cap screws are preferable to phillips heads as they allow you to apply more direct torque to screw without stripping the head ) I proceeded gradually tightening the screw for a couple of 1/4 turns to determine if the PPB had had sufficient time to loosen the corrosions hold on the weight. Once I saw evidence of the movement in the weight I proceeded to run the cap screw all the way flush to the top of weight  and then replaced it with the longer screw visible in the picture to force the weight all the way out.

 

Note you do not need to remove the caliper to access the weight this way  if it just needs gentle coaxing. However, the  rotor would need to be removed in that case at which point it seems worthwhile to just remove the caliper.

porsche caliper work 137.jpg

 

porsche caliper work 140.png

 

And success.  Next step take some emery cloth to the inside bore of the all pistons to clean out the crud and eliminate a future recurrence of this time absorbing issue.

 

Also add a dab of high temperature silicone based brake grease, or a little anti seize, inside the piston bore and in its face and it will never happen again.