Mozella
New member
The procedure for removing and replacing the rear disks and pads is detailed in various threads and guides on this forum and the Fiat workshop manual. This isn’t a complete guide, but I thought some owners might benefit from some lesions I learned today while replacing the brakes on my newly acquired 2006 Grande Punto Sport. Although the pads were less than half worn, all four disks were right at the wear limit. I thought I should change the brakes while the glow of owning a new (to me) car was still bright. 
I found that it is not necessary to remove the handbrake handle cover and back off the adjustment nut. Eliminating this step not only makes the job quicker, it keeps you out of your nice clear interior. Performing brake work is a dirty job; therefore, if you can avoid going in your car until after you clean up, you’ll be ahead of the game.
Once you have the rear caliper off rotate it so that you have access to the handbrake mechanism without torturing the flexible brake hose more than necessary. Simply grab the handbrake torsion spring with your largest adjustable channel lock pliers and squeeze it closed. Now, to prevent putting your eye out with a flying spring, drop your largest screwdriver through the center of the spring before you attempt to actually disengage the spring. That way, if it gets away from you, it won’t fly too far. Work the spring lose and then disconnect the handbrake cable end using a pair of needle nose pliers.
Be sure clean up the gunk around the piston and rubber boot so you don’t force dirt and grit inside the boot as you rewind the piston.
Although a special tool exists to “wind back” the rear caliper pistons, I took the advice of others here and used the special wrench which came with my small angle grinder. It’s a perfect fit and lets you turn the piston with ease. You also need pressure at the same time, and that’s why owning the genuine special tool would be nice. However, I used a small tack hammer as a lever after giving up on the suggestion some have made to use a C clamp (G clamp to some folks). By positioning the hammer in such a way that one end of the head rested on top of the angle grinder wrench, I was able to pry with considerable force as the other end of the hammer head contacted the caliper casting opposite the piston. Of course, any kind of lever will do, so use your imagination. The routine is to twist 180 degrees while applying pressure. Then you must re-position the wrench and lever for another go. The pistons retract by turning different directions on the left and right side. Remember to turn the piston in the same direction as the wheel rotates when going forward.
Some people report wrestling with this literally for hours but it took me only two minutes for one side, and for reasons I don’t quite understand, four minutes on the other side.
Be sure to finish the wind back routine with the piston indents aligned at 90 degrees to the caliper. That way one of the indents will properly engage the little bump on the brake pad. If this is your first time working with this type of caliper, a quick look at the pad and piston will remove any doubt about how this all works and what you must do to align the piston correctly. It’s important to do this correctly.
After you refit the disk and caliper mounting bracket with the pads in place, give them a squeeze with your big channel lock pliers to position them against the disk. Even after rewinding the caliper pistons as far as I could, I could just barely fit the caliper over the new pads and disk, so you want the pad and disk stack as thin as possible.
Use the big screwdriver and large channel pliers again to safely install the handbrake mechanism spring. The remainder of the job is routine, assuming you didn’t put your eye out with the hand brake spring.
I found that it is not necessary to remove the handbrake handle cover and back off the adjustment nut. Eliminating this step not only makes the job quicker, it keeps you out of your nice clear interior. Performing brake work is a dirty job; therefore, if you can avoid going in your car until after you clean up, you’ll be ahead of the game.
Once you have the rear caliper off rotate it so that you have access to the handbrake mechanism without torturing the flexible brake hose more than necessary. Simply grab the handbrake torsion spring with your largest adjustable channel lock pliers and squeeze it closed. Now, to prevent putting your eye out with a flying spring, drop your largest screwdriver through the center of the spring before you attempt to actually disengage the spring. That way, if it gets away from you, it won’t fly too far. Work the spring lose and then disconnect the handbrake cable end using a pair of needle nose pliers.
Be sure clean up the gunk around the piston and rubber boot so you don’t force dirt and grit inside the boot as you rewind the piston.
Although a special tool exists to “wind back” the rear caliper pistons, I took the advice of others here and used the special wrench which came with my small angle grinder. It’s a perfect fit and lets you turn the piston with ease. You also need pressure at the same time, and that’s why owning the genuine special tool would be nice. However, I used a small tack hammer as a lever after giving up on the suggestion some have made to use a C clamp (G clamp to some folks). By positioning the hammer in such a way that one end of the head rested on top of the angle grinder wrench, I was able to pry with considerable force as the other end of the hammer head contacted the caliper casting opposite the piston. Of course, any kind of lever will do, so use your imagination. The routine is to twist 180 degrees while applying pressure. Then you must re-position the wrench and lever for another go. The pistons retract by turning different directions on the left and right side. Remember to turn the piston in the same direction as the wheel rotates when going forward.
Some people report wrestling with this literally for hours but it took me only two minutes for one side, and for reasons I don’t quite understand, four minutes on the other side.
Be sure to finish the wind back routine with the piston indents aligned at 90 degrees to the caliper. That way one of the indents will properly engage the little bump on the brake pad. If this is your first time working with this type of caliper, a quick look at the pad and piston will remove any doubt about how this all works and what you must do to align the piston correctly. It’s important to do this correctly.
After you refit the disk and caliper mounting bracket with the pads in place, give them a squeeze with your big channel lock pliers to position them against the disk. Even after rewinding the caliper pistons as far as I could, I could just barely fit the caliper over the new pads and disk, so you want the pad and disk stack as thin as possible.
Use the big screwdriver and large channel pliers again to safely install the handbrake mechanism spring. The remainder of the job is routine, assuming you didn’t put your eye out with the hand brake spring.
