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I replaced rear pads and rotors on 2009 Caravan by turning pistons in and when brakes applied the left side worked fine, but the right side piston retracted leaving a gap between the piston and pads. This meant that the brake pedal would gone down until the piston hit the pads. Not finding a answer on the net I took to the dealer and they said that they adjusted the piston to proper pad depth. How do you adjust piston to pad depth? Thanks for any help so I know next time.
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They must have turned the piston out a little more so it would close the gap.
Thats the only way I could see them “adjusting the piston”I thought caliper pistons were self adjusting? when you did
the job. did you have the special piston tool to reset the piston?
those pistons are screw drive. usually once the brake pedal is
applied the piston releases. was this done before driving?Yes I had the cube type of retracter and used a ratchet to turn in. I turned till it bottomed out. After put all together the piston would retract once the brake pedal was released causing a soft pedal even before taking off jack. The emergency also would not hold. Once the garage adjusted the piston every thing okay. They would not tell how they adjusted the piston to the pad depth. Do the notches for turning in have to be in any certain position? The left side worked okay it was the right side that left a gap between the piston and pads.
To me it sounds like you need calipers as they should self adjust as suggested, there is no ‘adjustment’ as disc brakes are self adjusting by design, when the square cut seal inside the caliper begins to fail they start to have issues with retracting. One more thing of note is that if you have a spongy pedal AFTER you address the caliper issue perhaps look to the pads themselves, I’ve seen occasion where the brake pads themselves were responsible for a soft pedal, also if you have rusty shims on the backs of the pads just discard them as they act like a cushion when you apply the brakes for that reason you’re better off without them.
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