Need advice for brake caliper issue.

[MurderMitten]

Hey all, been a while since I've posted on here but I'm having issues with the calipers on the Saab. I had warped rotors and after examining my old calipers I decided to replace them. I bought new rotors, new pads, new pad retaining clips, new brake hoses and remaned calipers. Now I have a new issue. The calipers are already painted and used and non returnable and new calipers are either unavailable or extremely expensive. The brakes drag just a little bit. Enough to create hot spots on the rotors and vibrate the wheel when driving. It doesn't coast as well and I lost 1-2 MPGs. To my knowledge the caliper pistons just don't go back quite far enough. The master cylinder is good and the brake pedal goes back all the way when you take your foot off. There is no pedal adjustment. Does anyone know of a way to clean the inside of a caliper? I'm thinking maybe theres a little bit of junk in there making it so the caliper can't go all the way back. The calipers were pulled at a junkyard and cleaned up there so I have a feeling whoever was working in the reman center did a half arse job.

[MattStrike]

Step one is to make sure you can get a caliper rebuild kit.

Calipers are fairly simple to rebuild, the piston pulls straight out, things that make them more complicated are parking brake mechanisms. Seals have to go back on in a specific way, so attention to the details are also needed. Practice on a spare/junk caliper first. Otherwise you'd have to face down the pad to take out some thickness to compensate.

[00Beast]

You'll need a brake cylinder honer and yes, ensure that you can get a rebuild kit.

[MattStrike]

If it was a rebuilt unit, it could be that the piston was replaced and the replacement parts isn't an exact fit, but very close from a much more common caliper size that was deemed acceptable to use. I never would have thought that a reman unit would need to be honed though, every reman I've seen includes a new piston.

[96 SSEi]

hi, if you got it from a yard, who knows how long it sat on a shelf in pieces. there may be rust preventing full return of piston- have someone hit the brakes or use the power seats and a stick, pry-bar, to press the peddle while you give it a few whacks with a hammer on the outside of the caliper behind the piston. that may loosen it and reach the return position.

should this help, its a good idea to bleed to get the bits out.