Quick question or two.

I noticed my break pads were looking low on my 924S in the rear, the
fronts were tossed on by the PO just before I bought the car.

So I ordered a set and figured I'd put them on myself. Didn't look too
difficult in the service manual.

Springs--No Problem

Retention Pins-- Big problem.

I only got one of the 4 retention pins out after hitting them with PB Penetrator
and tapping on them as recommended in the service manual. Repeated
process letting the PB soak for an hour followed by 20 minutes of tapping,
then beating, followed by lots of colorful metaphores.

So, is there a trick to getting these Retention Pins out?
Can I purchase just the retention pins if I have to cut these off?

Also, break pad related, while I was under the car I noticed the rear pads
were almost gone on the outer (wheel side) pad, but only about half worn
on the car side pad. Is this a sign of something bad, or just normal wear
for these types of breaks?

Any and all help is greatly apprecaited!

 

I think uneven wear can be a problem with single piston, sliding type BRAKE calipers. you may want to make sure they are well-lubed while you are in there.

jason

 

My rear pins were godawful to get out- I wholesale replaced the calipers / rotors/ pads at the same time and it took a center punch and a torch to finally get my pins out of the old rear calipers.

If you want to go this route- I have the old rear calipers off of my 924S as spares if you are interested.

DONT "mushroom" the pin ends- you'll have to drive them out from the inside of the caliper body while in a vice.. (Ask me how I know ) I ended up cutting the pins off on the inside of the calipers with a dremel..

I used Padgid "S" for the rears, and they grip like a shark on a bloody arm, but will squeal occasionally - mainly if cold. I recommend them highly- I noticed the difference in stopping while cutting them in! Since then- it's no sweat to stop

 

Hey Chris, I think I've mushroomed mine, and I think I'm going to have to cut them. It's either that or
I take the car to a local shop and hope they don't insist on replacing the whole calipers.

I might take you up on those spares, I'm really not sure if I'll need them. I'm hoping I might be
able to just get those retention pins, cut the ones I have, and the rest is cake.

I'm open to any other suggestions.

 

I had to cut all 6 of 8 retaining pins on my 924s.

The technique was to cut them in the middle, as Chris said, then grab them on the inside with a pair of vice grips. Turn them and apply PB blaster until you can get them to turn. Once you get them working back and forth, you can probably tap them out.

The pins can be ordered from many sources.

If you have uneven pad wear, then the "floating frame" is likely seized and needs to be disassembled, relubricated, and re-assembled. The problem you are going to have is that there is a spring on the front calipers that goes into two holes of the frame. You will probably not be able to remove these. I broke the springs, and had to take the calipers to someone to get the spring pieces removed. They used a special "EMD" (I think that's what it's called) process to remove it. Those springs are probably special order dealer parts.

If you have everything apart, you may as well sandblast the frames and repaint them, and rebuild the pistons as well.

Good luck!

 

Wow, a full rebuild is probably beyond my skills at this time, but cutting the pins and replaceing them
is perfectly possible.

I have to say though, after all the PB and beating and pouding, I think the floating frame is moving
better...because now my breaks seem more responsive then before I did all this. I desperatly need
to get pads on the back, but I think the rear calipers will be OK for now. I hope. LOL

 

You can buy just the pins. Cut out the old pins like Chris did. I'm sure he can give you a lot info from his experience.

They're stuck for the same reason that the pads wore unevenly. Be sure to apply a thin coat of anit-sieze grease or brake grease on the pins and sliding surfaces of the caliper when you re-assemble.

 

Yep- if you want them PM me- I have my old set of rear calipers ready to ship. (They were going to be dissassembled for powder coat or paint- not as of yet tho..) currently taking up space in my parts closet.

For your own rework- if you wish-- The following was all done in a bench vise.

Remove the calipers, cut off the pins flush with the inside and outside of the caliper body. I was able to work the outside of the pins through the face of the caliper body after using a vice grip to grab the pin and twist it enough to loosen it. This left the newly mushroomed inside stub end to deal with..

Use a 4mm hardened center punch and drive the chunk of pin through the caliper body after applying a little heat from a torch. The drop forged caliper body will expand and while still hot, drive the pin through. If the head end is stuck you can use the same method. I removed the pistons as not to distort the aluminum while heating.

This is a PITA. I came close several times wanting to just chuck them in the trash- all told I spent about 6 hours fiddling around getting out 1 stubborn pin- the rest were a total of another 5 hours or so.

 

Wow, I thought the 3 hours I spent today was rough! Thanks for the clarification. If I can buy those
retention pins somewhere (any suggestions), I'll see if I can cut and replace the pins. If that don't
work, then I think I need to rebuild another set of calipers...

 

Sorry to hear you are having some troubles with this job. I recently did my pads and rotors and the pins came out pretty easily, if i remember i just used a flat pointed tap that was small enough to punch them all the way thru with a hammer. They came out pretty easily, then i put some anti-sieze on them and put them back in.

Good Luck!
Erich

 

Dealer item- 5 or so bucks for a set of pins/ Maybe another source is cheaper.

Let me know and I'll ship my calipers out to you. I may be in Lombard in a few (maybe 4) weeks tho --

 

You don't want anything for them Chris?

E-mail me about them, LonelyRaven@hotmail.com

Erich (cool name by the way, I spell mine differently), I wish it was that simple.
If it was, I'd be a much happier man right now. LOL