That $60 brake piston tool saved me from a full shop visit

I was swapping rotors and pads on my old '03 Civic last weekend, went to compress the rear caliper piston, and realized it needed to be twisted in, not just pushed. My C-clamp wasn't gonna cut it. I ran to AutoZone and grabbed that cube-shaped brake piston tool kit for like $60, and man, I was skeptical but it worked perfect. The piston screwed right in, no fighting with it or risking damage to the caliper. If I hadn't bought that thing, I would've had to tow it to a shop and probably paid $200+ for them to do the whole job. Has anyone else run into those twist-in calipers on Japanese cars? Feels like a weird design choice to me.

2 comments

2 Comments

hugos673d ago

That twist-in design is actually to keep the parking brake mechanism working properly on those rear calipers. On some Honda models the parking brake cable actuates a screw inside instead of a separate drum brake setup, so you gotta rotate the piston back into its housing or you'll mess up the whole assembly. Seems like a hassle until you realize it saved them from needing a whole separate parking brake system in the caliper.

blairstone1d ago

First time I ran into one of those I spent twenty minutes trying to force the piston back with a C-clamp before I realized I was being an idiot. Got it all back together with the twist tool and only snapped one brake line fitting in the process. Ever had a moment where you fought a repair for way too long before reading the instructions?