I have a few questions concerning brake maintenance. I have a 1996 Accord EX coupe 2.2L, with ABS. I am in the midst of replacing the rear brake pads and rotors. I have the Chilton's manual for this model and year, but the steps concerning the re-positioning of the caliper piston are somewhat lacking in detail. Am I supposed to compress the piston with a C-clamp, or is the piston supposed to be turned, and if so, in which direction? This is my first car with ABS, so will compressing the piston affect the ABS system in any way, and are there additional steps to be followed? Also, what affect does compressing the piston have on the parking brake, and will this need re-adjusting?

I appreciate any and all advice and/or steps to follow on resolving this issue. Thanks.

Mike

 

Honda rear calipers need to be twisted when retracting the piston. Just like 'screwing' it in tighter. There will be a big cross (grooves) in the face of the piston - use a huge screwdriver or a putty knife.

As you twist the piston in, be careful you don't tear the rubber dust boot around the edge. If it's packed full of brake dust, clean it first.

That's got nothing to do with the ABS, it's the auto-adjusting mechanism for the handbrake. If you force the piston in (C-clamp) you'll break it.

If you retract the piston too far, the handbrake won't work right away. You have to pump the handbrake 400 times to auto-adjust it back out. Or just twist the piston only enough to assemble the caliper with new (thicker) pads.

 

Thanks for the information, Jim. It was most helpful. I thought I would quickly recap how the job went. Who knows when work on the rear brakes was done last, but I'm guessing it was some time ago.

This job really turned into quite a nightmare. The pads with the wear indicators were ground down to the indicators on a really weird slant. The lower caliper bracket pins pushing against the outer pads on both driver and passenger sides were very much stuck in the compressed position (these pins were opposite the extreme wear on the inner pads with the indicators - I'm guessing that is not coincidence), and really had to be forced out, cleaned and greased. Whoever did the job last used really soft metal screws for the rotor attaching bolts, and those just stripped easily without much effort, which then had to be drilled out. Also, the caliper bracket retainer bolts on the passenger side snapped with little effort as well. Luckily the bracket could slide out of place, and then those too had to be drilled out and tapped. The piston on the driver side had to really be worked slowly back and forth, and with the help of a little grease, finally gave up the fight.

Mike