Honda Pilot Brake question HELP!

[joehahn]

F!

I've got this thing on stands, got my pads and rotors and I'm ready to go and I can not get the mother ****** pads out from the rear caliper? There is some sort of convuluted spring type thing and I just can't seem to figure out how they come out? Anyone have experience? I have the caliper unbolted and folded up, just can't get this damn pads out!

thanks

joe

monish(at)ix.netcom.com

oh yeah, it's starting to rain.

[bell]

on my honda the rear disc brakes were a pain.....until i realized you had to use pressure and turn at the same time the caliper piston to get it to go back in (honda sells a "special" tool for this)

as far as pad removal goes i remember there wasn't anything unusual.
the pad needs to move in order to operate, look closely for a retainer spring clip....but my experience is with the civic/integra.
good luck

edit: i just re-read your post......the spring went in so it has to come out, can you post a pic?

[joehahn]

thanks bell, got the pads out of right rear, went out to dinner and now have basically stripped the screws holding the rotor. I'm calling it quits for tonight, 5 beers deep = afraid to be near heavy object that could crush me. More to follow in the AM....

[Rodeo]

I have a set of pads sitting in the garage for my Honda Pilot. Am very interested to hear more. Good Luck

[joehahn]

Rodeo: the pads are a really a piece of cake. I simply took the caliper off to get the pad that my wife had turned into a shard of thin metal out. It was one more bolt so no big deal. I zip tied the caliper up so it was out of the way to get at the rotor. (old M caliper trick I learned when doing my '68s brakes). I have successfully stripped the snot out of the screws holding the rotor however and will be waiting outside sears tomorrow AM to buy screw extractors. Hope it works. Again, it's kind of an idiot proof pad replacement issue and I would advise you change pads NOW. I can email you link to hondapilot.org that shows how to do it. I am pissed that there "apparently" was no chirp on these pads and now I am stuck with this new melted metal mess that the wife created. I used to drive my wife's cars at least once a week just to mkae sure it was operating properly (ie: 4 wheels, all doors still there, no missing quarter panels,etc) but I just got lazy. I blame myself.

[Rodeo]

Well, I took a closer look at the pads, which the dealer wanted to change when we brought it in for some unrelated warranty service. They wanted some crazy amount of $$$ (I forget exactly, I think $350 for the rears only). Well, the pads are fine, probably 2/3 worn, so I left them (I can't remember the last time a dealer DIDN'T try to rip me off).

But it does look like a fairly simple job, even for a knucklehead like me. I'm a little worried about how to get the piston opened up, though, to accomodate the fatter pads, since the caliper is just hanging there, with nothing to leverage against.

How'd you make out, get the rotor off? I see the screws you stripped, looks like it would be pretty easy to do.

[joehahn]

It was a piece of cake and restrospectively I am embarassed that I even panicked.

1. Calipers are 3 bolts. 2 are 12mm and 1 is 14mm. Took all of 60 seconds to get caliper off. The random "piston retractor tool" at any auto parts store (sears too) works fine. This is a 7 dollar tool and I rank it as one of my best investments of all time. (c-clamp works too).

2. Rotors required a stripped screw retractor ($18 at lowes) and also worked like a charm.

3. Rotors were a challenge but again, like everything else, such a learning curve. Get a #8 3 inch bolt at lowes and screw it into the threaded hole on the rotor made for this purpose and it pops right off.

The first side took me 2.5 hours and 2 trips to Lowes. The second side took under 20 minutes start to finish. I will NEVER take another car in to get brakes done. Email me when ready to this. I could walk you through it over the phone.

joe.