I replaced pads on the rear last night (2000) and wasn't reading my manuel closely enough. I put a Cclamp on to compress the piston so that I could fit the new (thicker) pads on. Of course nothing moved and I ended up actually bending my Cclamp. Then I re-read the instructions and screwed the piston back into the bore. Questions:

1.) Is it likely that I damaged the caliper by trying to compress it? So far the brakes work fine but I have only driven a few miles.

2.) How does this threaded piston work? As the pad wears is there a self adjusting mechanism? With the pin on the back of the pad I don't see how the piston can rotate. What is the purpose of the piston being threaded - is it because there are also parking brake actuators in the caliper?

Thank you,
-Shawn

If the piston screwed in easliy, then you probably didn't hurt it.

(Good thing you had a wimpy C clamp)

The screw in part is actually the adjustment.

adjustment for what ccan you enlighten us [/b]

The rear calipers on 2k+ bonnevilles has an integrated parking brake, hence the need for the screw adjustment.

Crap, am I glad I just read this post. I am going to replace pads tomorrow and would have certainly have used my "beefy" clamp to push the piston in.

A suggestion. When moving the piston back in make sure you open the drain screw on the caliper. That way you will push any crap out of the system and not back into your brake lines! Make sure you install a tube over the drain screw, and run that tube into a contain to catch the crap.

so this park brake does it need to be set or is it self adjusting i changed my pads and ised the correct tool to compress them but never did any thing but pumped the pedal to go out an rip agian let me know

its completely self adjusting... nothing to do but pump the brake like you did

thanks for the info ttyl