TIL you can unstick a frozen caliper piston with a cheap C-clamp and a old brake pad

Last winter I had a Ford F-150 in the shop with a dragging rear caliper. Customer said it was eating pads every 6 months. I was about to order a whole new caliper for $85 when a guy I worked with years ago told me to just pop the piston out with some compressed air and clean the bore. Tried it with the C-clamp trick first to get it loose, wiped out the crud with brake cleaner, and slapped it back together. Been 3 months and no issues. Anyone else bother rebuilding calipers or just swap them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler5163d ago

The 2003 Ram 2500 I had would go through calipers every 18 months until I started doing this exact thing with a C-clamp and some brake fluid. How do you tell when the bore is clean enough to trust it, or do you just run it until the piston starts sticking again? I usually end up buying a rebuild kit with the rubber seal anyway, but I'm curious if that's overkill for a daily driver.

gibson.sean3d ago

On my 98 Chevy I just run it until it sticks again lol. Rebuild kit is like $12 so not overkill for peace of mind.