Brake

[Mark B]

Can anyone tell me the best way to compress the piston in the disc brake calipers. When you change brake pads, the old pads are worn down to the metal. The new pads have lots of lining and will not fit on the calipers without compressing the piston.

[VXstickers]

Hi,
When I did mine I used a piston compressor from auto zone. It was like $12.00 and worked great.

[rowhard]

Well, there is a tool and it ain't the expensive. But, if your in the middle of a brake job and don't want to go to the store, in a pinch, use a large cold chisel, and wedge it between the piston and rotor, and slow push the piston back into the caliper. You might loose or remove the brake master cylinder cap so it can bleed pressure. Now, IF and a big IF you have added brake fluid since the last pad change, you might end up spilling brake fluid all over the engine bay. Brake fluid and paint ain't compatible, so be warned!

[kpaske]

I usually just use a large C-Clamp.

[Kenny]

also helps to pop off the lid on your fluid reservoir and/or use tubing and the bleed line to give the pressure somewhere to go...

I also use this from my wood tools:

[Joe Isuzu]

my advice is to get the tool from autozone, or pepboys, or whereever they sell auto parts, it's very common, works easy, doesn't damage anything and doesn't take up a lot of space
I can't remember the name, but I'm certain if you tell them what you need, they will have it, if you ever plan on doing brakes again, you will definitely need it
and yes, you're supposed to release pressure in the system by opening the master cylinder, you may want some towels handy in case brake fluid spills over and close the master cylinder reasonably quickly as the fluid absorbs water in the air

[tom4bren]

I used to use a big C-clamp but it's a bit awkward to use. Vicegrips makes a brake tool (caliper compressor) that works well.