Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:02:15 -0500 From: Sunday_Mechanic <mjsmandersonnospamo.com> Subject: Saab 9-3 brakes...help!
I am helping my father in law with the brakes on his 2003 9-3 Saab 2.0tLinear. I've done brakes on my Honda, Mercury, and Chevy, but never ona Saab, so I was in for a treat! After taking off the tires, we spentthe better part of a day searching out auto parts stores that had theright size of the 'specialty' tools we needed (torx, hex). To makematters worse, my father in law bought the car used with 55k miles, andthe wheels or the brakes had never been taken off or replaced!!! My 12"brake wrench was not up to the task, and we had to spend about $100 intools just for this car just to get the calipers off. (yes we used BPto loosen and brake cleaner) not to mention the auto parts guy misreadthe parts number and sold us the wrong rotors... :mad: We took the RF caliper off and I was able to push the piston back intothe piston housing by hand very easily while bleeding the caliper. After tightening everything back up, and leaving the caliper resting onthe suspension, we left it for the evening to go get more tools, etc. The next day when we went to replace the rotors and put new pads on, Ifound the piston had fully extended itself. I might mention that itwas 30F degrees hotter than the day before. I tried bleeding it again while pressing on the piston, and then with aC clamp trying to push it back in, but with no luck. It seems frozen. The fluid that came out was actually very hot to the touch, even thoughthe car had been sitting on jacks for a week in the garage. So Idetached the caliper from the brake line and tried pushing it in on thefloor after fully draining the caliper, and still couldn't get it backin. The fluid seemed clean with no gunk buildup, so haven't triedbrake cleaner yet. I intend to try blowing it out with compressed airthis weekend, and then resetting it if possible. So... 1) does anyone have any advice or experience with how to fix the pistonwithout buying a rebuilt caliper? :confused: 2) does anyone know where I can get rear rotors, since no auto partsstores in Kansas City stock or sell them? 3) is the piston screw compress instead of just straight compressagainst the pad? 4) How much does a typical rotors and pads for all wheels cost on thiscar? 5) I use Wagner Thermo-quiet pads on all my cars, and have had goodluck with quiet and long wear, but a little dust. Does anyone haveluck with them on Saab? Should I go ceramic instead? I've read many postings here, but haven't yet found anything directlyhelpful to my problem. Thanks for any information you can provide Mike-- Sunday_Mechanic------------------------------------------------------------------------Sunday_Mechanic's Profile: http://cars.mylounge.us/member.php?userid=68966View this thread: http://cars.mylounge.us/showthread.php?t=141635
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