Originally Posted by TurboTravis
Originally Posted by Gebo
The original caliper was fine. Just loosened brake bleeder and used C Clamp to push the piston down. No problem.
Opening the brake bleeder is a normal part of replacing pads and rotors for you? Am I understanding this correctly?
I only recently heard of this practice, but it makes sense. The fluid degrades the most (it seems) in the caliper--even if the stuff in the master cylinder picks up moisture, it's a long ways from the caliper, where it might boil and cause spongy brakes. So the stuff in the caliper is arguably the fluid that needs most changing (although moisture in the line anywhere is problematic, from a corrosion standpoint). By cracking the bleeder the old stuff is pushed out instead of up the line. Push piston in, assemble the works, step on the brake, then refill the cylinder. [If possible now would be a good time to empty the master cylinder and fill with fresh stuff.]
But given how many brake jobs are done sans this step it's hardly the end of the world if it's skipped.
