I am helping my father in law with the brakes on his 2003 9-3 Saab 2.0t Linear. I've done brakes on my Honda, Mercury, and Chevy, but never on a Saab, so I was in for a treat! After taking off the tires, we spent the better part of a day searching out auto parts stores that had the right size of the 'specialty' tools we needed (torx, hex). To make matters worse, my father in law bought the car used with 55k miles, and the wheels or the brakes had never been taken off or replaced!!! My 12" brake wrench was not up to the task, and we had to spend about $100 in tools just for this car just to get the calipers off. (yes we used BP to loosen and brake cleaner) not to mention the auto parts guy misread the parts number and sold us the wrong rotors... :mad:
We took the RF caliper off and I was able to push the piston back into the piston housing by hand very easily while bleeding the caliper. After tightening everything back up, and leaving the caliper resting on the suspension, we left it for the evening to go get more tools, etc. The next day when we went to replace the rotors and put new pads on, I found the piston had fully extended itself. I might mention that it was 30F degrees hotter than the day before.
I tried bleeding it again while pressing on the piston, and then with a C clamp trying to push it back in, but with no luck. It seems frozen. The fluid that came out was actually very hot to the touch, even though the car had been sitting on jacks for a week in the garage. So I detached the caliper from the brake line and tried pushing it in on the floor after fully draining the caliper, and still couldn't get it back in. The fluid seemed clean with no gunk buildup, so haven't tried brake cleaner yet. I intend to try blowing it out with compressed air this weekend, and then resetting it if possible.
So...
1) does anyone have any advice or experience with how to fix the piston without buying a rebuilt caliper? :confused: 2) does anyone know where I can get rear rotors, since no auto parts stores in Kansas City stock or sell them? 3) is the piston screw compress instead of just straight compress against the pad? 4) How much does a typical rotors and pads for all wheels cost on this car? 5) I use Wagner Thermo-quiet pads on all my cars, and have had good luck with quiet and long wear, but a little dust. Does anyone have luck with them on Saab? Should I go ceramic instead?I've read many postings here, but haven't yet found anything directly helpful to my problem.
Thanks for any information you can provide Mike