What a relief. Long gone are my days of twisting the pistons with a channel-lock to compress them in my regal.

Cccccccchit! That would suck.

I bought my tool from Harbor Freight. It cost $25 and allows you to do the job without holding the caliper with one hand and turning that "cube".Free Catalog
Free Reta

This is the tool in my previous post. Works on front and rear on all GM cars + lots of foreign (yuk) too.

The brakes are still smoking.. only the top inch of the pads are rubbing the rotors all the time.... what is going on? do i need to bleed the brakes? I don't understand the problem... the pads are the correct pads for the car... and ive used the pads before...

Then either the piston is hanging (replace the caliper), or you have a bad slider pin. Checked to make sure the pins are straight, clean and rust free, and well greased. Another thought, make sure the caliper is seated flat with nothing between it and the mount. Pretty sure you wouldnt leave a bolt loose. The smallest pebble could keep the caliper from seating flush. Your pads have to move pretty freely in those clips as well. As a matter of fact my last set were a pain because it was hard to keep them in place to re-assemble because they were so loose in the clips.
Something is out of alignment. By which I mean the parts that make up the braking system, not the front end.

its both sides... so I doubt its the calipers..idk I mean Ive done brakes on alot of cars.. and this just confuses me... cause its soooo simple.. well I guess not.. I checked the slider pins and they seem to move in and out.. now that you mentioned it maybe I need to shave down the pad ends a bit more in the clips... cause they are still a bit tight... that could be the prob the whole time... its like I put the pads in and they move but not freely like you described... so I guess it compresses and the pads just stay attached to the rotor cause the clips are tight...I did shave them down a bit.. but I guess they need to be pretty loose in there. Thanks for the help... I really hope that will do the trick... this is getting out of hand for a brake job.

Yes, the pads need free play in those clips or they wont back off. And as you mentioned, it'* at the top they rub. Try tapping the clips at the corners with a chisel and a tiny dab of grease wouldnt hurt. I know the feeling. Yes brakes shouldnt be that hard. I had a Pinto and a Ford truck that always gave me fits.....Hmmmmm I see a pattern. Dont buy Ford!

Thats looks good and thanx for the tip, Bill. $25 is worth it to me the way I go thru pads, and like I said, none of the round choices on the cube are a good fit and the constant slipping off a pain.

so I took the brakes apart today and I had thought the pins were moving smooth.... but it turns out that the 1 pin onboth sides with that rubber busing on the end is very tight... so I took both sides and cleane dthe inside and pins, and really scrubbed them out and they still don't have free movement, so I am just going to buy new brackets. gotta wait for them to be shipped from gms warehouse, so yet another week of my car down. I love having a work truck, no real need to drive my car.