Hi Rear Changing rear pads out on my 98 Deville. Started with the drivers side(this has all thee-brake stuff on it maybe, both side do?)can't get the caliper piston to retract to go over the new pads.Am I doing something wrong that is Caddy specific?Or is the caliper just bad.Have done many brake jobs so I am not new to this.Thanks for any help.

They just screw back in the same the previous years did.

Are you saying the caliper piston screws in to ajust ? don't understand what you mean?

Yes they do as slowroll says. You will see a cutout in the piston, you can use a pair of needle nose pliers engaged to turn the piston into the bore or buy the special tool. The cutouts should be positioned 90 degrees to the mounting bolts when fully seated. The buttons on the back of the pads need to engage with the alignment cutouts after the caliper has been installed on the anchor plate.

I will try this thanks for the help.

For info's sake these pistons do not screw in.They compress like a regular caliper.A c-clamp works good,cracking the bleeder a little make them go a little easier.

Yes I found a c clamp works fine on my 2000 DTS rear brake pads. I didnt screw them in, unlike my son,s Volkswagen Jetta. However getting the cable back in it sholder was a challenge but eventually did it when I worked it out.

My post above is directly from the FSM so what you have done with the C clamp is bad.

Here arethe instructions from the official GM ServiceManual for the Cadillac Deville, Year 2000 Model for compressing the rear piston:

Volume 1, Page 5-50: "3. If new brake pads are being installed in the vehicle it may be necessary to bottom the caliper piston completely inro the caliper bore. Use a large C clamp and compress the piston into the caliper bore."

"Never use a C-clamp on rear calipers. Fronts are fine this way, but rear are designed different.
Rears you "MUST" screw them back in. Failure to screw them back in, may damage the piston / bore and may result on a faulty leaky system."

"Use a 6" C-Clamp, put it around the calipers in what a centered position over the whole assembly, and start turning it in SLOWLY. 1/2 a turn, wait 20 seconds, 1/2 a turn, wait 20 seconds.... and so on. This takes a few minutes to screw them in, but eventually, the piston is all the way in."

"easiest way to get the pistons to move easily is to open the bleeder valve and let the fluid be pushed out."

There are cars that old, have the same fluid that came from the factory. Brake fluid absorbs moisture (water), and will rust and eat away brake components.

If you change out your fluid when you change your pads, the seals will get a cleansing, and your brakes will perform much better, and your equipment will last a lot longer.


the par below may refer to the end of travel not the overall movement of the pistons.


ORIGINAL: derrickwi

Here arethe instructions from the official GM ServiceManual for the Cadillac Deville, Year 2000 Model for compressing the rear piston:

Volume 1, Page 5-50: "3. If new brake pads are being installed in the vehicle it may be necessary to bottom the caliper piston completely into the caliper bore. Use a large C clamp and compress the piston into the caliper bore."

ORIGINAL: derrickwi

Here arethe instructions from the official GM ServiceManual for the Cadillac Deville, Year 2000 Model for compressing the rear piston:

Volume 1, Page 5-50: "3. If new brake pads are being installed in the vehicle it may be necessary to bottom the caliper piston completely inro the caliper bore. Use a large C clamp and compress the piston into the caliper bore."




Car in question was a 1998 on top of what Stealth wrote.

I put a pair of needle nose in the detents as suggested and turned about 25 rotations in both directions.The piston did not move in or out.This is when I used the c-clamp,bleeder open,screwing in slowly.Brakes are in work fine. Soooooo if they don't screw in and a clamp is not the correct way to do this.What Is?