Hi all.
After a problem with binding rear brakes I've dismantled the caliper on the stilo's near side.
I cant seem to see a piston seal, is the seal integral with the outer dust cover?
Also the screw in the centre of the piston is difficult to screw into the threaded bush in the caliper, is that normal?

If you manage to reassemble the rear caliper you will propably be the first one on the forum...

the reason the piston is tight to turn is the reason you have binding brakes.you must first remove the piston by turning it.each side turns a different way,but its quite obvious.its important to ease the dust seal out of its retaining groove on the piston,this is the rubber thing you can see when you take the caliper off. when you have wound the piston out you will see the seal in a groove in the bore of the caliper.remove this seal,clean out the groove and reassemble.if you wreck the dust seal,you must replace it or you will be in the same boat again soon.
this is not a difficult operation but if you think you may have problems maybe you should take it to agarage for your own safety,mind you agarage will probably just change the caliper at great expense!
big red do a good rebuild kit for about 30 quid and they are always available on ebay.
hope this helps

Just a heads up that these do caliper seal service kits for brake calipers-looks like around £7 a unit
and pistons around £16

http://brakeparts.co.uk/

Seals harden with age so if you have it apart it's well worth changing the seals

I'm just being lazy but does anyone know the bolt size for the lower bolt on the rear caliper on the Stilo 1.9 JTD ?

It's just had an MOT done and failed on out of balance rear brakes. It might be that the garage that replaced my rear pads have forgotten to replace the lower bolt !!!
(just wait 'till they get in on Monday)

StiloHal said:

I'm just being lazy but does anyone know the bolt size for the lower bolt on the rear caliper on the Stilo 1.9 JTD ?

It's just had an MOT done and failed on out of balance rear brakes. It might be that the garage that replaced my rear pads have forgotten to replace the lower bolt !!!
(just wait 'till they get in on Monday)

Click to expand...

More likely that one of the calipers is sticking.

Could be seizing caliper but handbrake tested out ok on the brake tester.

I'm guessing brake application being uneven could be rusty edged brake discs combined with new pads ... would explain the handbrake locking out the brake tester but the footbrake being out of balance ... Anyone support this theory ?

Binding rear brakes on nearside are legendary on the stilo (search this forum !). Can be a)cable sticking in sheath, b)rusted pads not sliding in caliper, c)caliper corroded so it sticks .
Cable parts are cheap to replace. The pads can be easily checked on removal. I recommend replacing caliper if in doubt about it.

That's right but the remedy can be so simple in many cases. On the nearside rear especially the caliper hanger rusts and this happens under the spring clips, forcing them up and making them hold the pads too tight. the pads can't then come back off the disc when the brake pedal is released. The remedy is easy; scrape the rust away with with a file or screwdriver, refit the spring clips and then the pads.

with 2 days before my MOT retest is due and a shed load of work on, I'm not going to have time for a caliper strip and refurb. Anything I can do with a drift, hammer and a tin of WD40 ? :idea: