OK, I read OctaneGuy's excellent guide on replacing brake pads and attended a stlmini club session on brake pad replacement and did my front pads and rotors without any problem. (Thanks guys!). I have driven quite a bit since the job and everything is fine.
Then I attempted the rears. I read all the threads I could and did the following:
- used the Harbor Freight tool
- loosened the cap of the brake fluid reservoir (made sense to me, although others say it isn't necessary).
- hand brake disengaged (not detached though).
There are several threads discussing the difficulty (or ease!) in compressing the piston back with various contradictory experiences:
- some found it easy, others difficult with the reservoir cap either open or closed
- some had to remove the brake cable others did not
- some have been able to compress the piston with just a needle-nose plier and simple pushing (!)
I made sure (I thought) I understood the brake system before attempting this, but with all these variations in difficulty/ease I am wondering what's going on. If the rear piston is rotated properly while compressing, why would it be so much more difficult compared to the front pistons when they share the same hydraulic line?
Please help me understand the variety in results people are getting.
(Oh, I was intending to bleed the system tomorrow, but was just seeing how easy it would be for me to do the compression after reading about all the variations people where getting.)
