Replacing Rear Brake Pads

Hi, we changed our brake pads on our 1.2 16v stilo at the weekend the front ones went on fine but we had a problem when it came to the back ones, we had problems with the piston not moving, so we could slide them out. Does anyone know if we have to do something different than we did at the front? We can't find a haynes manual anywhere for a fiat stilo to answer our question?

covered a lot in the stilo section(should be a sticky stilo gurus
rear pistons need wound in not pushed.tool required though im told the tool from an angle grinder fits

The rear pistons need to be turned whilst retracting.
You need something like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sykes-Pickavan...QQcmdZViewItem


or if you're making a career out of it then one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAKE-CALIPER-...QQcmdZViewItem

Look at the threads on the piston as they wind back in different directions
One clockwise the other anticlockwise
Fun isn't it

I changed mine last week, as best as i can recall-

Near side ones turn the piston in anti clockwise
Off side turn the piston in clockwise.

I found oin both sides the pistons needed to be tapped (and i do mean "TAPPED"), slightly with a mallett every so often to keep them turning freely.

Was quite an easy job, and the brakes feel great now.

Dont forget to release the handbrake so that you can move the pads.
And i found removing the handbrake tension spring ((located to the rear of the caliper)) helped, i used a pair of pliers for this to take of and put on,no problems.

(Tip:You should use chocs on the front wheels, or ideally jack up the whole car and use good axel stands- as i reckon a car falling on your head will sting a little in the morning)

If i can help in anyway, as i did this last week, let me know

Rob

Excellent post there Rob, as suggested this is going to become a sticky and recorded in our little list of Stilo solutions

No criticism intended here to our good friend Decks but the second link for the kit is no good for the stilo because the stilo as previously stated has caliper pistons which screw in on different rotations and therefore you need a kit which has TWO thrust bolt in the kit for screwing back in either direction the job can also be done using a large G clamp and the disc fitting spanner from a small angle grinder as previously stated as well. I found that when doing mine it was much easier to remove the calipers from their mountings and cover the disc and put the caliper on top and work on it from there good luck its fiddly but NOT an impossible DIY job.

As Phil said. Use a G clamp, small angle grinder spanner and rest the caliper on top of the disk assembly. Relatively easy to do.

Use a Caliper wind back tool, You can get them off Ebay, or through Draper, for £5. You use this with a decent socket and extension bar and it allows you to put pressure on the caliper via the socket.
Remember to buy some copper grease too, so you can grease up the wheel hub and the area around the handbrake cable etc ((Making sure not to get any on Disc or Pads!!!!)), this will help prevent corrosion and future problems associated with age and wear/tear.
Good luck and remember SAFETY, UNSURE?..............................THEN ASK FIRST!!!!!


p.s. Cheers Rich

Thought I'd put this in here
There is a wind back tool from Fiat specifically designed for the Stilo with wind back on left hand and right hand threads

Checked it out and it costs £11.46 from Fiat, available 2 days special order


Part Number 1.870.886.000

Aha! The blisterless option Think I will be at the JTD's brakes shortly not liking the feel of them much at the mo...

Get greenstuff for the front and standard pads for the rear THEN you will see the differance MASSIVE

Here's the tool in the flesh:



As supplied it actually needs to be modified since the locking bolt is far too long and strikes the side of the caliper after only half a turn. You could either cut the bolt in half or do as I did and find another shorter bolt that screws directly into the spindle (as shown).

It's quite important to easily be able to unlock/remove this screw as I was to discover on my 1st attempt. Once the piston is fully retracted you need to remove the tool - but as soon as you try to loosen it you start to wind the piston back out The answer, of course, is to unlock the rotating disc so that it's able to freewheel.

Using this tool turns a job you're dreading into a job you can actually look forward to doing and in my view is fantastic value at £13.14 (inc)

I used a proper retractor for the front pads but as a bonus I could have used one of these to do that job too.

Phil, just fitted GreenStuff all round on mine.

Is there any particular reason you only recommend them for the front?

Heard a slight squeak from the front this afternoon I think those pads might need a bit more copper grease. Didn't want to grease em up too much as was quite liking the green pads/read calipers effect

Sorry I missed this Argo I simply found that as the fronts did the majority of the work I didnt need them on the rears you possibly might get a slight improvment tho by useing them I didnt have any squealing from mine spos you did fit the stick on shims that were supplied I stuck some copper greas in all the usual places and everything was a ok funnily enough tho my lad did have squealing on one side of his car but its gone now its all bedded in you got red calipers I'm gonna rename you now Chavystilo

Oh no , not that

I put the rubber shims on the rears OK (they’re nice and quiet) but didn’t find any in the box for the fronts

I think I'll whip them out and grease them up a bit better