Please help - Rear Brake Pads - How to Retract the Caliper Piston

willskiGT · Jul 15, 2019

ems657 said:
@willskiGT

Thanks so much for your helping hands. Can I please ask for a bit more details?

4. Disconnect electric motor from parking brake ball screw mechanism
>> Is this to disconnect the harness/wires at the back?

5. Manually retract the ball screw mechanism with torx driver
>> Sorry, need some help. Are we sticking the torx driver into some hole from the outside of the ball screw mechanism?

Having to ad-lib a bit here, as I haven't done the procedure on an FK8 yet.

Honda Civic 10th gen Please help - Rear Brake Pads - How to Retract the Caliper Piston s-l1600

Unplug the electrical connector and unscrew the 2 torx bolts holding the housing to the caliper (step 4 in my instructions). The entire black plastic housing (with the parking brake electric motor) should then come off the caliper, revealing a hole that you can put a torx bit into (step 5).

Put a torx bit into the hole and twist to retract the internal ball screw mechanism. It should be clockwise, but I'm not 100% on that. The correct direction to twist will have much less resistance because you will not be pushing the caliper piston outwards.

ems657 said:
6. Use tool (from Autozone or wherever) to retract parking brake piston (do not force it - if you get resistance, you need to retract the ball screw mechanism more)
>> Can I use a tool like this (someone suggested) https://www.amazon.com/8MILELAKE-Br...er/dp/B0122Q83T4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=KJZETUPRMEQG
>> Do we turn "clockwise"?

Yes, that's the tool. AutoZone or other automotive shops usually have one that you can "borrow". You pay a deposit for it but can return it and get the whole deposit back, so it's basically a free rental. Yes, turn clockwise ("righty-tighty") to retract the piston.

ems657 said:
8. Manually extend ball screw mechanism with torx driver until parking brake piston is snug
9. Reconnect electric motor to parking brake ball screw mechanism
>> These 2 steps are essentially reversing step 4 and 5?

Exactly.

TheSnakeJake · Jul 15, 2019

just posting to say thanks to everyone who has provided help on this topic. i will be doing a brake job soon and this thread will be very valuable!

EnjoyDriving · Jul 15, 2019

It's the 7mm torx right? And is it the same torx for the 2 bolts and the "hole to retract the ball screw?

willskiGT said:
Having to ad-lib a bit here, as I haven't done the procedure on an FK8 yet.

Unplug the electrical connector and unscrew the 2 torx bolts holding the housing to the caliper (step 4 in my instructions). The entire black plastic housing (with the parking brake electric motor) should then come off the caliper, revealing a hole that you can put a torx bit into (step 5).

Put a torx bit into the hole and twist to retract the internal ball screw mechanism. It should be clockwise, but I'm not 100% on that. The correct direction to twist will have much less resistance because you will not be pushing the caliper piston outwards.

Yes, that's the tool. AutoZone or other automotive shops usually have one that you can "borrow". You pay a deposit for it but can return it and get the whole deposit back, so it's basically a free rental. Yes, turn clockwise ("righty-tighty") to retract the piston.

Exactly.

TypeR · Jul 16, 2019

So I assume if you just turn the rear caliper piston in with a tool like this (with the e-brake off) you risk damaging the e-brake or the caliper itself? I did it this way once with no issues but if it might cause problems I'll use the method above going forward. Picture is from this thread but I did the same thing https://www.civicx.com/threads/i-replaced-my-pads-and-my-rotors.14898/

Honda Civic 10th gen Please help - Rear Brake Pads - How to Retract the Caliper Piston 20170828_173338-

willskiGT · Jul 16, 2019

TypeR said:
So I assume if you just turn the rear caliper piston in with a tool like this (with the e-brake off) you risk damaging the e-brake or the caliper itself? I did it this way once with no issues but if it might cause problems I'll use the method above going forward. Picture is from this thread but I did the same thing https://www.civicx.com/threads/i-replaced-my-pads-and-my-rotors.14898/

Correct. There is an internal ball screw mechanism inside the rear caliper piston. Forcing the piston down without retracting the ball screw mechanism can damage the ball screw mechanism, which is connected to the e-brake electric motor. This can also cause damage to the e-brake motor, which is probably expensive to replace (for reference, Audi charges over $1000 for the one found on the A6/Q5).

EnjoyDriving said:
It's the 7mm torx right? And is it the same torx for the 2 bolts and the "hole to retract the ball screw?

Haven't done this job on an FK8 yet, so I can't confirm.

FK8 Twigs · Jul 16, 2019

willskiGT said:
Correct. There is an internal ball screw mechanism inside the rear caliper piston. Forcing the piston down without retracting the ball screw mechanism can damage the ball screw mechanism, which is connected to the e-brake electric motor. This can also cause damage to the e-brake motor, which is probably expensive to replace (for reference, Audi charges over $1000 for the one found on the A6/Q5).

Oh crap! I used one of these recently to do my rear pads and screw the piston back in. Everything seemed fine but the electronic break started erring and has been giving me intermittent issues

RacingManiac · Jul 16, 2019

When I did mine I never actually unplug the motors but I removed them to turn the torx spindle then did the rest of pad swap. Not very difficult aside from the tool access because the way rear lines are routed made it pretty annoying to get to one of the slider pin...

ems657 · Jul 16, 2019

To chip in a bit more info
> The slider pins require a 7mm hex bit. I can confirm this. The brake hose is actually in the way, so a set of stubby bits will work a lot better.

@willskiGT - Thank you so much for the info and picture. Sorry to bug you again:
8. Manually extend ball screw mechanism with torx driver until parking brake piston is snug
>> Does this mean we need to insert the torx bit and "tighten" the ball screw mechanism"?

@all - If someone does this job in the future, please kindly post some pictures to help the community. I will do it if I get to be the first (probably in the next 2-3 weeks).

Sil98 · Jul 16, 2019

.....and please clarify if you need a torx bit, a hex bit or both (never heard of a "7mm Torx").

TypeR · Jul 16, 2019

Sil98 said:
.....and please clarify if you need a torx bit, a hex bit or both (never heard of a "7mm Torx").

It’s a 7mm hex/Allen key for the slider bolts. From the picture above it looks like a smaller hex/Allen is used to remove the bolts that hold the black plastic housing on. I haven’t seen the ball screw mechanism but the service manual indicates to use an e-torx socket E11 like this

Honda Civic 10th gen Please help - Rear Brake Pads - How to Retract the Caliper Piston upload_2019-7-16_21-11-8

02SilverSiHB · Jul 17, 2019

Harlaquin said:
So after treading this thread and seeing some other videos .. front pads a snap do your self at home. back pads take to dealer save yourself headaches. I mean for the everyday guy who only changes pads once every 3 or 4 years. Now you track guys yeah might wanna get all the tools for doing it yourself or would be a fortune to take to dealer every couple months

I'm getting hated on, but rears were simple, just used my needle nose pliers to slot into those notches and turned clockwise...half a turn and I could then turn by hand...easy as pie

.grimace · Jul 17, 2019

02SilverSiHB said:
I'm getting hated on, but rears were simple, just used my needle nose pliers to slot into those notches and turned counter clockwise...half a turn and I could then turn by hand...easy as pie

you didn't even bother taking it all apart like mentioned above?

02SilverSiHB · Jul 17, 2019

.grimace said:
you didn't even bother taking it all apart like mentioned above?

I did it like I have on other civics...just removed the caliper, took out the pads and then turned counter clockwise until I had enough room. Took me maybe 20 min each side I guess...not long at all, but slightly longer than the fronts of course

.grimace · Jul 17, 2019

02SilverSiHB said:
I did it like I have on other civics...just removed the caliper, took out the pads and then turned counter clockwise until I had enough room. Took me maybe 20 min each side I guess...not long at all, but slightly longer than the fronts of course

Good to know that is how I planned to do it. You obviously started with the cars e-brake off right?

02SilverSiHB · Jul 17, 2019

yes, definitely. I just put the car on jacks on all corners to prevent the feeling of the car rolling away on me

Please help - Rear Brake Pads - How to Retract the Caliper Piston

willskiGT

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