PT Cruiser Brakes

If it's like 99% of other brakes systems on today's cars, you simply push the piston all the way back into its bore in the caliper to make room for the new "fat" pads.

Sometimes the piston can be hard to push by hand, in which case you would use a special tool made for that. I have always been able to accomplish it using a C-clamp with a large enough throat, being careful to position it so as to push straight in on the piston and not cause any damage (i.e., it can't press on brake lines that come out of the caliper at inconvenient places, etc.).

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

A C-Clamp like Bill says or a large pair of channel locks will do it. The PT brakes are about as simple to replace as any I've done. Two bolts on the back side of the caliper holds it on. Simple to remove, simple to replace the brakes.

Be careful not to pinch the rubber around the piston with the channel locks.

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I have also heard that a slide needs to be greased. Does the grease come with the brake pads, and what size wrench for the two bolts on the back side of the caliper?

sounds to me you have no clue, maybe you shoudn't try this,someone might get hurt.

You buy silicone brake grease at your auto parts store. The containers are rather large for the occasional DIY'er. You might opt for the foil pouches on impulse buying racks that many of the auto part stores have on the counters. One or two pouches would be plenty for a brake job.

Probably the caliper bolts are 10mm hex, but I can't swear to it on the PT. Some manufactures use allen head or Torx? head. Investigate a day or two before you do the job, and if it takes a tool you don't have, buy it then. Your auto parts store may be able to look up the replacement bolts on the computer and tell you what type of head (or pull a set off the shelf to show you - generally they would have the same head as the OEM, but I guess there's no guarantee on that).

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

hiya all,

Before pushing the caliper pistons back, unscrew the brake fluid reservoir cap. If the reservoir has been topped up since the last set of pads, the brake fluid will squirt out of the breather hole and cover your wings and other painted bits, the technical term for this is "a bad thing". At least with the cap undone it only drips down the master cylinder and is easily cleaned up.

And the silicone or copper grease goes on the rear of the pads. I've seen it done with the grease on the front of the pads, honest. Very funny, or very not so funny.

pottsy

Richard.

If you don't have a large c clamp, you can try something else. With the old pads in the caliper and the caliper raised, or removed, stick a large screwdriver between the pads and pry the piston open. The thing to watch out for is master cyclinder brake fluid overflow. If you kept adding brake fluid because the level was dropping, you can be sure you are going to spill fluid when you replace the old pads with new pads.

-------------- Alex

If you think you will have this problem, you can use a turkey baster to suck out some fluid before you push the cylinder back in and avoid spilling brake fluid. Make sure you don't use your kitchen baster, use one dedicated for this use only.

--------------- Alex