Hey everyone,
I'm just wondering if there is an easy way to compress the rear calipers? I have tried my damnedest and still can't get it. Does having the car running matter at all?

Thanks for the help guys.

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

You have to twist the piston clockwise. Either with a good pair of needle nose pliers or go to advance/autozone and buy the tool for a few bucks. It's a little cube shaped thing. It'll look like this:



Stick a 3/8 ratchet in the hole and turn it.

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2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT2
MODS: Wizaired|Custom DHP Tune|180° Thermostat|DR F/R Brackets w/GMPP STB's|UMI Trailing Arms|Bilstein HDs w/SSC|Projector Retro|Black SPO Grilles and Spoiler|SS Inserts Rear Inlay|ZZP Volt. Booster & Alt Rewire

Yeah, it is a pain. I actually prefer the plier method,, provided you're careful and don't tear the piston seal.

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One Big Ass Mistake America

yeah i would rather use a c clamp and push the piston back. not sure why they made them threaded

Because they have the ebrake built in.Its not really a bad idea just a pain sometimes.

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02 Chevy Zr2-sl2,2"BL,Mtclassic II's,Flowmasters,duratrak lockers 3.73's gears
97 Dodge avenger-to many to list-Sold
02 Gp Gt- Intake,Gmpp,PCM,3In Dp.

Ah ok, so the fronts you can push back, the rears you have to thread them back in? That helps.

Now that I've got the piston back, The pads seem to sit on an angle inside the caliper and that makes it so I can only get the rotor about a quarter of an inch deep on the pads when they're inside the caliper. Is there some way to make sure that the piston is flat?

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

I believe you have to turn the piston until it won't turn anymore, if you haven't. I don't remember how the GP rear brakes were, but on my sister's Mazda, they just kept turning. Also make sure the pad is seated fully. You may have to use just a bit more force on new pads to get the clip inside the piston fully.

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2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT2
MODS: Wizaired|Custom DHP Tune|180° Thermostat|DR F/R Brackets w/GMPP STB's|UMI Trailing Arms|Bilstein HDs w/SSC|Projector Retro|Black SPO Grilles and Spoiler|SS Inserts Rear Inlay|ZZP Volt. Booster & Alt Rewire

Everything seems to be clipped in fully and I seem to have the piston in as far as it will go. I've turned the caliper as 4-5 extra rotations. I did my passenger side fine. The driver's side was the side that was worn most. Strange enough the driver side was worn more than the passenger side by about the amount of space I need for these pads and rotors to work. Could their be some sort of setting on the caliper that could be effecting how far the piston is seated in? Possibly something to do with the E brake?

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

Not unless you have the ebrake set. You don't have it set do you?

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2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT2
MODS: Wizaired|Custom DHP Tune|180° Thermostat|DR F/R Brackets w/GMPP STB's|UMI Trailing Arms|Bilstein HDs w/SSC|Projector Retro|Black SPO Grilles and Spoiler|SS Inserts Rear Inlay|ZZP Volt. Booster & Alt Rewire

No the brake isn't set.

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

Make sure the v-shaped channel on either side on the calliper lines up directly virtical. The little circles on the back of your brake pad have to sit in them or the brake pad will not sit flat and ware improperly.

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oh thats right forgot about that

The pads are sat in properly but the tops of the pads want to angle inward when I try to get it over the rotor. I'm going to pick up some anti-seize and see if that helps at all.

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

Where is the spot you even compress the piston with? I'm following up on this topic because mine need to be changed to, and I can't seem to figure out anything.

*rage*

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2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

If you haven't taken your back rotors off and seen the inside of the caliper imagine there is an hour glass shape raised off of the piston (this contacts the inside brake pad). You have to use something to spin that to get the piston to retract back in (righty tighty lefty loosey). I used pliers, not that difficult to do. If you need anything more than that I can help even though I'm probably the only one here that can't get this POS to install properly. lol

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

Mkay so I figured it out. I thought there was this "slot for the piston" on the outside. I didn't see where anyone had specified otherwise, and at first I had trouble getting the caliper off in the first place. However, I got them all redone now.

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2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

woot
pics?

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I'll have pics in a bit.

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2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!

I have one of these


As has already been said the rears are threaded because of the selfadjusting ebrake mechanism (which is why it's actually a good idea to use your ebrake every once and a while at least so the mechanism can compensate for pad wear).

These are from my other VW, but the system is the same. You can see I took the pistons out (on the left) and you can see the female threaded part that sits in the piston (it's free to spin but there's a circlip that holds them into the piston so they don't back out. Then you can see the male threaded part in the caliper). What happens is the threaded rod in the caliper pushes out when you apply the ebrake, but in order for the system to selfadjust it has to be able to move with the pads wear. Thus the female part in the piston rotates and extends outward when the pads get thinner. Thus instead of pushing the ebrake all the way to the floor in order to get the brakes to engage on worn pads, it only takes the same amount of travel as new pads.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow 91 VW GTI 8v, Shave the Bay!! 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

Figure I'll update everyone now. I took off the Ebrake cable to try and get the back off the caliper to see if it could be adjusted. Doesn't look like it can. While the caliper was off I tried to check the rotor and pads again. They fit. For whatever reason I was unable to get the angle of the caliper right which caused the pads to angle. Everything is good now! Put on Napa Ultra Premium rotors and the best ceramic pads they had. These rotors are pretty wild looking. Seems weird since the back is done and the front isn't lol.

Thanks for the help on this everyone.

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DD: Cruze LT
04 Comp G: All dash no flash.
"I'm not an alcoholic but I keep a gallon of whine under the hood."
"My Grand Prix has a first name its W H I N E R."

Sweet. Take some pics!

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2004 Grand Prix GT2: cone air intake, rebuilt HD transmission, rebuilt camshaft, rebuilt top, repainted black rims, rebuilt suspension, slotted/cross drilled rotors, Pioneer AVIC-D3 TV stereo, and more!