well, here's the skinny.

other day i hear this horrific metal on metal sounding scrape when i hit the brakes, sounded aweful. so i conclude that its def time to change the pads.

pads get here and i start changin, first i do the drivers side(not the godaweful noise side) and everything goes smoothly. get over to the passenger side and GAH DANG. inside pad is GONE. metal has been scraping the rotor. so im thinkin, damn, how could this pad wear so much faster than the rest(the others had a good 1/8th" pad left on em).

well, i go to put the new pad in knowing im going to need a new rotor and i find the problem, the top piston in the caliper is stuck about 3/4 of the way out...IT WILL NOT GO BACK IN THE CALIPER. so, ive been riding around like that for god knows how long fuggin up my rotor and killin my power, gas mileage, etc. the piston will move out fully, but won't even go halfway back in.

so now the car is stuck hanging halfway out the garage on jackstands with a fugged rotor and caliper.

what should i do? i'd imagine this would be a warranty claim if i were able to drive it to the dealership....but of course i can't do that.

this ever happen to anyone else? any secret way i can get that booger back in there and working properly? HELP HELP HELP!

thanks guys.

 

bump, help please

 

What are you using to push the piston back in? C-clamp? wrench? Sounds like the piston might be stuck which would be time for a caliper overhaul.

 

Dude its easy pay for a tow truck and have the big fix it under warranty!!!

Yea and make sure you call them before you do it. Come on man its not that hard to figure it out .

 

well, id like to avoid a tow truck taking my car to mitsu. the local mitsu dealer would rip my warranty as soon as he popped the hood....where as the one 100 miles away would do the brakes and be done with it.

plus, im better they will say i fugged something up by doing the pads myself rather than letting them do it.

i was using a wrench to push the pistons back in the caliper, worked for all of them(with ease i might add) except this one.

im going to take some pics of my stock pads, just to show how bad this thing was.

 

try cleaning it with brake cleaner first and that may help dissolve any residue stuck in there. It may just be seated in there crooked too. I think auto zone sells those caliper tools to spread them evenly. That may help. Other than that....

 

I dont own an Evo, so i'm not sure how it looks. BUT, on the piston, is there a groove? Like a line or a cross on it? You can use a screw driver and rotate it back in. If there's 4 little points on the outside face of the piston, then you need a tool to rotate it to turn it back into the caliper. Or you can be ghetto and jam a screw driver between the caliper and one of those points and pry it to rotate the piston. If there's no marks, indents, or grooves on the piston, then take a C clamp and clamp it back in... However make sure you put a towell or something on the outside of the caliper so u dont kill the red paint. Even if you can get the piston back in, you should be very careful and take note of any leaks, because with the piston that far out, it could've broken a rubber seal and all the brake fluid will leak out from the caliper... it's probally a good idea to bleed your brakes after pushing the piston in. Most likely your brakes are going to feel spoungy afterwards. If it still leaks after putting the piston back in, you're going to have to rebuild the caliper. If you lived closer, i'd show u how to do it.. Good luck with this though.

 

If you have a big pair of ChannelLocks or a clamp try that. If you don'r have that put the caliper back and carefully use a small pry bar against the piston and the rotor. It should work.

 

ive pryed on it like you wouldn't imagine. it WILL NOT go in. the other 7 pistons were fairly easy to push into the caliper, took hardly no force at all to get em in.

this one has some sort of problem, but not really knowing how brake calipers work(extensively) i don't even have a best guess is to how one piston on the caliper can just get stuck like that.

 

if you pryed and cant get it back in... well it's just frozen... you can get them rebuilt or find someone selling a used one.

 

if the car is still under warranty i'll drive that bish back to the dealer and play dummy. who cares if it jacks up the entire area, suspention and all. it's under warranty. they'll have to replace it and whatever damage it has caused.

 

just open the bleed screw and move the piston back and then bleed your brakes cuz chances are after working the brakes like that you're due for a bleed anyway.

 

ive contacted 'my man' at mitsu, he told me to send him the whole assembly(pads, caliper, rotor) and he'd do his best to get me a new one.

 

CAL MITSUS ROAD SIDE ASSISTANCE

 

Just wanted to bump this and say something good about mitsu. The service is pretty good if you find the right dealer.

I sent my caliper, rotor, and all 4 front pads to mitsu(dealer not disclosed) and told him what happened. he got the stuff and said it looked pretty clear cut to me. asked how many miles were on the car and said he was taking pics to send to the DSM. Well, DSM actually came to look at him and ok'd the replacement under warranty. so, without the car they sent me a brand new caliper and rotor.

just thought id share.