Rear Brake Caliper Questions Options

[ljubodraz]

Firstly, many thanks to Eric Shea and the rest of you who have written threads that are helping me rebuild my rear brake calipers on my own.

I've got a few questions so far as I wait for parts:

1. What is the purpose of the mechanism within the brake pistons? Does it allow the piston to extend and retract beyond the limits of the adjustment bolt that threads into it?

2. Is there anything I should do to test that it's working properly?



3. I see that Eric Shea recommends and uses Permatex Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant for assembly purposes. I've also seen other threads saying to only use some hard to find $$$ ATE paste. Aside from lubricating the parking brake mechanism that pushes the internal bolt, can't I (should I) simply use brake fluid to lube the pistons and seals during assembly? Unlike Eric's calipers, mine won't be sitting around too long before being installed preventing the brake fluid from absorbing water.

[ljubodraz]

Eric,

Thank you for finally chiming in on this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Would you please confirm my claim in post #5 that the rear calipers were designed with the intention that they auto adjust via the internal piston mechanism?

[Brain2000]

Eric,

Thank you for finally chiming in on this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Would you please confirm my claim in post #5 that the rear calipers were designed with the intention that they auto adjust via the internal piston mechanism?

It is a few years later, but I wanted to chime in on an experience I had today with rear caliper gap adjustment.

I was replacing both rear calipers on a 2014 Kia Soul and afterwards it had a low pedal. The car stopped fine, but not until it was halfway down. After a couple days of gnashing teeth, I found a procedure in the Kia Soul service manual for adjusting the "Rear Brake Caliper Gap", as they call it.

1) loosen the parking brake cable (it's under the center console's back panel, easiest to access while lying down on the back seat)
2) have a 2nd person pump the brake pedal to push all the pads up against the rotors, and then hold pressure on the brake pedal
3) while the 2nd person is holding tension on the brake pedal, tighten the parking brake cable to the proper tension

There's something about having the pads sitting on the rotors when tightening up the parking brake that also sets the gap. After I did this, the brake pedal activated a bit higher, and the parking brake worked much better.

Maybe this is unique to Kia's, but I wanted to mention it because I couldn't find anything on the internet about this (except the Kia Service Manual). Might be worth a video.