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Trying to change my rear brakes (along with my shocks), and I can't seem to move the caliper. I removed the top bolt, the springs and the two pins. As far as I can tell, the caliper should just pull down, correct? I can turn the rotor a bit, so it's not grabbing there. Even a pry bar won't budge it. Am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Paul.
Can't get the pads out either. I'll try a little harder to pull them out, but the caliper doesn't seem to move at all.
edit;
Managed to get the pads out, but the caliper still will not move. It feels like there is still a bolt holding on, but there should just be that top one, correct? I tapped it with a hammer, and nothing. A pry bar doesn't move it at all. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
edit again;
managed to move an inch or two with a rubber mallet. I should be able to get it out with a lot of back and forth. But why the hell is it so tight. Something got screwed up on that corner of the car. Had a hell of a time getting the shock bolt out as well. My wife ran over something big that blew the shock in the first place, so maybe that's the problem. I don't see anything bent, but may have to take it in for someone more experienced to take a look. I'll order a new bolt for the shock (it's got a mark on it), and a new guide pin, but for now I need to get the car rolling.
Sounds like the seized caliper bolt problem. I just went through the same thing on my 350 (The 250 has the same problem though) when I was doing rotors and pads (see here). It would not float freely without some TLC from some vigorous hammering. New pads would not fit on a new rotor due to the caliper not floating like it should (due to it being seized), nor would new pads fit on the old rotor, had to put it back together with the old rotor and pads until I got a reman'd caliper from Autozone.
Just take off the entire caliper from the hub. Depending on how bad the bolt is seized, you may be able to free it, clean it up and grease it and it might be good as new. I tried this first myself, didn't get me anywhere with a 5lb sledge and a torch (which the torch should of loosened it up from the bore, but no go ). If you can't free it whatsoever, you'll need to pick up a remanufactured caliper from any auto parts store. You will need the bracketed one, and they don't tend to have those in stock, so you'll have to wait a day or two.
Thanks for the ideas Zmon. I was finally able to get the caliper down, but still can't get it out. When I move it back and forth, it seems to move on the hub side, not the caliper (I'm amusing the pin should move freely on the caliper). I'm going to try to give it a few good wacks from the back side to see if that helps. Otherwise I will pull the whole thing from the hub. Hopefully I can get it freed. Any more suggestions are welcome.
The rear calipers seizing on the IS350 is a very common issue. I just had my rear brakes done for the first time around 80,000 miles and of course mine were seized. The dealership charged me to put all new calipers and brake pads on when I was just hoping to do a rear brake pad change. Other's may be able to offer some other suggestions, but from my knowledge you may just need to get new calipers like in many cases with the IS350.
Mines a 250, but I'm sure it's probably the same thing (unless they have different calipers). But I pulled it from the hub and started wacking at it and it managed to get it to move a little bit. A little heat and liquid wrench seemed to help some. If it moves, it should eventually come out. Hopefully I am not doing any damage banging on it, but if I can't get it out, it really doesn't matter, does it. Any ideas would be helpful.
250's have the same problem, caliper is a bit different though but still, same problem. If you can get the bracket to rotate, that's a start, but if it won't pull out from the caliper, then you're still SOL. It shouldn't really hurt it banging on it as long as you're not banging the middle of the caliper or torching the rubber boots if you can free it up. Again, if nothing results from this, it's best to put the caliper and old brakes back on if you can and order a reman'd one (like I said above, they don't usually carry the calipers w/ brackets in the auto store as those are special ordered and usually are there the next day or the day after that. They do stock the caliper w/o the bracket, but that doesn't do anything for you.)
You are trying to remove the caliper from the car? Aren't there two bolts holding it to the knuckle? This pic is from ebay.
You already removed the two bolts at the top of this image? Or just the one bolt with the rubber boot? You shouldn't need to remove any of them just to replace pads.
Getting that bolt holding the bottom of the shock to the lower control arm out can be a pain. The rubber around the bolt from the shock can "weld" itself to the bolt making it near impossible to move. I assume you have the nut off already and that is not the problem? If the nut is off, and you try and twist the bolt does it put up a fight and then kind of snap back to where it was? If so then you might have to pound the hell out of it to get it loose. Since you are replacing the shock anyway, heat might help.
Finally got it. Thanks for all the help. I just kept banging on it until it started to move. I put some heat on it and liquid wrench (didn't mess up the boots), and tapping it with a hammer all over. Eventually it came out a bit. Then bang it in and out until it started to move. Finally came out all the way. Cleaned up the pin with some liquid wrench and 2000 grit sand paper and when greased up it moved in and out fine. Hopefully the drivers side won't give me all the same issues.
Scott, what I was trying to do was separate the two sides of the caliper. The pin (left side of your pic) would not move. At first I couldn't even pull it down. But a hammer does wonders. As for the shock bolt, glad to hear others have problems with that. I had to have a friend help me and pull on it with a pry bar while I hit it with impact wrench. It pretty much unscrewed out of the whole thing. (But it was tight as crap. It was even tight when it was apart. Placing the bolt on one side fit ok, but the other would barely fit).
Yep seized caliper. Very common problem on the 2IS, happened to a lot of members here myself included. You just gotta keep wiggle it back and forth with full strength and use that rubber mallet of yours and beat the crap out of it. You be gentle and that thing stays stuck on there forever.
I just had my brakes done about a month ago and almost every caliper was seized. They rebuilt both my front calipers and the rears I just straight up replaced. They hadn't been done in over 2 years since I bought the car so i thought I might be in for a bit of a bill which I was..
I did my fronts a week or so ago. No real problems there except one of the pads was a little stuck (and it was dirty as crap). But I still have a squeak up there. Going to have to pull that apart again to see if I can figure it out (may make another post about that). Now that I know beating the crap out of it is the way to go, the other side should be a little smoother. It an '08 with only 36k, so I was hoping everything would be easy, but nothing goes as planned, does it.
I don't normally do my own repairs (mostly just oil changes, etc.) but I get along pretty well with my mechanic and when I was having my brakes changed last year, he mentioned to me that some of the IS's calipers "lock" or he said something like that. It's not technically a defect but it does mean a bit more of a struggle for the poor guy trying to change those brake pads. Sounds like that's what's happening with you. Best of luck to you!
08-25-16, 06:40 AM
Rear Brake Pads
). If you can't free it whatsoever, you'll need to pick up a remanufactured caliper from any auto parts store. You will need the bracketed one, and they don't tend to have those in stock, so you'll have to wait a day or two.
