Wind back tool (C5 ish)

[RichardW]

Its not really C5, but the C4 Picasso is, I understand, similar. The rear brakes are Bosch, and one of them is LH thread to wind it back in, and they appear to need a tool with two pins to engage in the piston - it seems that wind back tool that will do for the C5 fronts will also do the C4 Pic. So what do people have / use? Can you just do it with a pair of needle nosed pliers, or is there a recommended Draper / Laser tool?

And if anyone knows if you can do it without a Lexia I'd appreciate that - seems scant knowledge about them on the net so far....

[Mandrake]

A Lexia is needed to change the brake pads ? What is the world coming to...

[DickieG]

And if anyone knows if you can do it without a Lexia I'd appreciate that - seems scant knowledge about them on the net so far....

As far as I'm aware diagnostic tools are only necessary for such work if the handbrake actuator motor is built into the caliper, if the C4 is like my C5 the motor is separate and operates a traditional cable so Lexia isn't required.

I know Volvo V70's and most Audi's require diagnostic tools for this work, teach the fools a lesson for buying them

[citronut]

i havent yet armed myself with a left hand thread wind back tool, mainly as i have only done a couple of sets of pads on C5's up to now,
but i have found i can wind backwards with my right hand threaded wind back tool, by rotating the T bar anti clock wise and at the same time keep adjusting the threaded sleeve/nut outwards against the caliper yolk

[SaabC5]

You can use a large pair of needle nosed pliers with the tips bent at 90 degrees to wind the piston back if you don't have a winding back set. See below for a link....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-S0435- ... 4abe71bfed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Xantidote]

pair of needle nosed pliers with the tips bent at 90 degrees

so maybe a pair of circlip pliers would do?

[SaabC5]

pair of needle nosed pliers with the tips bent at 90 degrees

so maybe a pair of circlip pliers would do?

Just the job.

[addo]

The helical "thread" is nowhere near so fine as people imagine. You rotate the piston to help it get the idea about retracting; you're not actually winding it back on an ACME thread or similar. So, from that level of understanding the "wind back" tools do the right thing, pressing the caliper back determinedly rather than focusing on turning it.

To deal with the handbrakes on automatically applied park brake cars, try this:

Drive car up to bump stops or on ramp, hold on throttle or clutch and have your helper chock wheels before shutting off motor with gears in neutral/out of gear. When winding back piston, make sure ignition is off and key out, if you're really concerned disconnect the battery. Crack the bleeder as you go, to expel fluid that way - take care not to allow air in. A manual bleed may be undertaken with the engine off, again I might personally disconnect the battery to make sure it wasn't logging fluid level issues as the process went on.

[RichardW]

Ordered a kit off the 'bay for £25 - actually looks like there are cheaper ones, but hey ho

It does use a separate (noisy!) motor located under the passenger seat, with cables, and I had come to the conclusion that it should be OK just setting the auto function to off so it doesn't come on, winding back carefully, fit new, then apply the brakes hard a few times to adjust up before applying the handbrake - not that different to the normal process of the caliper adjusting for wear in the pads.

How does the tool actually work - the thread looks coarse on the drive bar compared to what I am used to on Xantia calipers - do you need to back off the nut on the yoke plate as you go to compensate for any difference in the bar thread vs the caliper thread? Or just wind away happily?

[addo]

Your caliper "threads" are almost closer in pitch to the flutes on an ezy-out, and the pressure disc of the retraction tool is not rigidly locked to the wind-back tool's driving shaft. The female thread inside the piston can rotate (it's flanged against a planar ball race in many cars), so differential motion is possible there too.

If you've got time and curiosity, pull a spare one apart by repeatedly flipping the handbrake actuator. It'll relax any concerns that may remain about the right way to reset the piston. They're barstools to bleed up once open, so don't do this to an on-car unit unless you have the day free and a couple of litres DOT4 handy...

[citronut]

if you have the correct tool/s ( left and right handed thread winder's ) you usually have to just make sure the nut part of the tool stays against the yolk part of the caliper,

also on this type of caliper i always leave the cable unhooked from it till after pressing hard on the pedal 2 to 3 times, this allows the adjuster mechanism to reset properly

[Lighty]

I recently purchased a Pagid air wind back tool from ECP, it is absolutely mega, and can do left and right hand, depending on which way you turn it.
Winding back any piston now takes seconds, think it was less than £40

[RichardW]

Tool arrived today, and it wasn't raining so I stuck the new pads in. Pretty straight forward really. There is a damper or something screwed onto the bottom bolt - no flats so it has to be removed with gas pliers - but the collar where it's screwed on the bolt is tapered so it's a bit hard to get hold of. Fitted Pagid pads from carpartsforless - impressed with them again, look well made, anti squeal backing, chamfered edges. The paint is really thick, so I had to file a bit off the ends to get the inner pads in - I had the same trouble with the pagids I fitted to the front of the Xantia a while back. No probs with the handbrake, just turned the auto off, did the work, took it for a drive to bed the brakes, and give a few hard strokes to adjust it up, then applied it and seems to work fine. Wind back tool works a treat - only thing is that afterwards I realised that I had wound them the opposite direction to what I thought - clockwise on the right, anti clock on the left - which is concerning me a bit that I might have gone the wrong way and done the calipers in However, seems to work so far, and they went back in really easily - just a light touch on the centre of the T-bar, didn't even really need to get it right on the end and heft on it. Nothing I can do I guess, just wait and see that it continues to take up the adjustment as the pads wear. If not, then ££££ for new calipers probably....