Re: 328 stainless brake lines, rear pads replacement and more
From: Dennis Liu (bigheaddennisgmail.com)
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:45:51 -0700 (PDT)
Doug wrote:

>BUT before you remove the two 17mms, push the piston back into the floater.
>WATCH out for fluid returning to the fluid reservoir and spilling all 
>over - hope the reservoir isn't topped off.  I have used a huge channel 
>clamp to get the thing started then a huge screwdriver and pressed the 
>point into the pad and the shank against the rotor.  Slowly - I don't 
>like thinking that I am bending the rotor (tho my physics professor 
>would tell me I am - even if its just a silly micron).

Todd added:

>When I push back the pistons on my Golf's brakes, I first attach a hose to
the bleed screw, put the hose into a container and crack open the bleeder as
I push the piston back.  This makes pushing the piston easier.  More
importantly, it allows the contaminated fluid in the caliper to be expelled
into the container and not forced back up towards the master cylinder.  This
is expecially important on an ABS-equipped car as you don't want dirty fluid
getting into the (expensive) ABS unit and mucking it up.

============

Excellent advice.  Just need to be sure not to accidentally suck air in
through the bleed screw (e.g., if the caliper is off and tilted so that the
piston will want to slide out - it'll draw a vacuum back through the bleed
screw.

Also, another piece of advice - make sure, when you're working on multiple
corners of the car, if you do one corner (including pumping fresh fluid to
the caliper and bleeding all the air out), that when you move to the next
caliper, you remember to DEPRESSURIZE the pressure bleeder you've attached
to the brake fluid reservoir.  Not only does pressure in the system make it
extraordinarily hard (if not impossible) to slide the piston back in, if
you're not paying attention, the piston may just pop out of the caliper
entirely.

Not that I would have any experience with that happening to me while helping
a friend with his BMW, of course.

Vty,

--Dennis

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