Since the fronts were already done in this how-to, i decided to do the rears. Im about to leave work and its friday so ill be brief.

You will need:

Needle Nose Pliers
14mm or 9/16 socket
ratchet
(optional) brake grease
Jack
A way to get your tires off.


First thing is first... unbolt your wheel and place it somewhere.
If you forgot this, you will need to place your car in gear and undo the e-brake....so do this on level ground.

Just like the fronts there are two bolts on the top and bottom side of the caliper, remove those like so.....



The dashed line means it is actually be obscured (sorry)

Next, slide the pads out just as you would the fronts. Pretty straight forward.

Now, here is where it is a bit different, Use your pliers and twist the piston caliper in a CLOCKWISE manner until it is flush with the back of the caliper like so....



I used needle nose so i wouldnt scuff up the piston grooves.

Now if you want to be overkill like me pull the codder pins out



and break out your brake grease...



and cover them liberally



If you pulled them both out at the same time, just remember the one with the black plastic tip goes on the bottom. I dont think it makes a difference but might as well go with what was no there.

Next....

TO THE BRAKES

Open up the box and there should be some sort of heat resistant grease for the backs of the pads. If you dont want to use them, just skip this step. Cover the back metal plates that would contact the caliper with them like so.....



The circled brake pad is actually showing the squealer. This squealer goes on the inside of the rotor. Dont ask me if it goes up or down because it wont fit if you dont have it right the first time. The other brake pad that does NOT have the clip is the one that you will see from the outside.....

Now slap them all in, bolt it back up and go to town.

Remember before you test them, press the brake pedal a few times until it tightens up. I dont want people running in to a ditch because they didnt tighten the calipers.


Good luck

 

Just wanted to say, Great write up. Made this how to easy. I probably would still be trying to clamp the caliper back was it not from you.

A note to other folks, the top bolts are a bitch and a half to get back on (or mine were). Just make sure you have the piston all the way flush and get in there and hug that bastard like a gorilla.

 

Are BOTH sides clockwise? I haven't touched the rears on my Cobalt but on other cars I've done with rear discs, you have to turn one side clockwise and the other side counter-clockwise to retract the caliper pistons.

 

I thought the rear parking brake used shoes inside of the drum instead of the actual service (disc) brakes?

Also, what are the torque specs for the 2 bolts? Are you sure you're using the right grease for the sliding pins? Ford uses a synthetic "grease" that is actually just silicone dielectric grease. A petroleum based grease may make the boots swell and crack.

Cotter pins are also the pins that you normally use for the ball joints and tie-rod ends to keep the retaining nut from flying off in the event it is loosened (the things that look like hair barrettes where you bend the 2 legs). The things you pulled out are sliding pins/sleeves for the floating caliper.

 

No, the e-brake cable pulls a lever mounted on the back of the rear calipers, which mesh with the geared rear pistons to apply the parking brake.

The first picture in this thread shows a glimpse of the cable.

 

thanks a million i was stuck on my rears all day yesterday but after seeing this i finished the install

 

I think it was the Chiltons/Haynes that actually said to use pliers to rotate the piston back into the caliper. I may give the tool a try if I can find it locally. It should be a pretty common tool since many rear calipers use this type of piston.

 

one question did you have to bleed brakes after install?

 

It should be available at just about EVERY auto parts store.

 

I picked up a parking brake caliper retractor tool from Harbor freght for $5. It's a little steel hollow cube with prongs on all sides for different caliper types and square socket holes in the centers. You use it with an extension on the wrench. I bought it to help out a friend do some brakes a while ago, and never thought it would come in handy again until I used it today for my balt.


Thanks for the writeup!

 

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/how-changing-rear-brake-pads-2009-ss-tc-coupe-168212/

The SS/TC rear pistons are a bit different.

 

Wow...and here I am sitting with a c clamp compressing my friggen piston. Thats a good tip for next time. THEY TURN

 

nice write up, how do you go about getting the rotors off?

 

There are two more bolts that you have to remove to get the rest of the caliper off. If you look at the first picture, one of them is right above the top circled bolt. The other one is near the bottom circled bolt. Once you remove those two bolts, the bracket that holds the brake pads will fall off. Then, your rotors will come off. You may need to remove a couple of thin metal clips from your lugs if your rotors have never been removed.

 

No. The only time you have to bleed is when you loosen or take off brake lines, like to replace a caliper. Not necessary for changing brake pads.

 

The proper way to push in the piston is to loosen the bleeder screw so that the old fluid gets pushed out of the system and not back into the ABS pump. Since the screw is loosened, a bleed is required. You might as well flush the system in this case.

 

Brake fluid isn't like oil; you don't need to replace it every time you change pads. If it's extremely difficult to get the piston back into the caliper, then yes, loosen the bleeder screw, but you do not need to loosen your bleeder screw/bleed your brakes/flush your system every time you change brake pads/shoes.

 

If you're pushing the piston back into the caliper, the old fluid is going to go back into the ABS pump unless you loosen the bleeder screw. If you're swapping pads and not touching the piston, a fluid change/bleed is unnecessary.

However, I would never push back old fluid.

 

That's a good point about the old fluid. I flushed out the old fluid and I couldn't believe how disgusting and dirty it was at the calipers (after 50,000 miles). Some of the fluid came out green and some of it was brown. DOT3/4 fluid is supposed to be colorless....

 

Yep, I am assuming that a normal pad change occurs at 50k miles. At that time, the fluid should be pretty filthy and has absorbed its share of moisture. From my perspective, since you've loosened the screw to push back the pistons, you might as well flush the entire system while you're at it. I'd go with some quality DOT3 since it is less hygroscopic than DOT4.

I know the guys that take their cars to the road courses are even more particular about their brakes so they follow their own routine.

 

:facepalm: brakes are sooooooo easy a caveman could do it!

That said nice write up

yes righty tighty lefty loosey lol

honestly Pep Boys sells a tool for this it's a cube which goes on the end of your ratchet and just turn it back in. Costs like $4. That's what I use...

 

awesome how to- however, question... is the bolts on the rear the same as the bolts in the front? thanx

 

Thanks for posting this. This spring I'll probably need to do my rear brakes, and I read over the procedure in the Haynes/Chilton's manual. They said to turn the piston with needlenose pliers like you did. Then I heard talk about a special tool. I was confused. Your pictures are way better then Haynes' and Chiltons' I also read in the GM Service manual, and your pictures are WAAAY better then that. I was abit confused about the rear pistons. Not sure how they work, but im clearer on how to replace it. Thanks.

Also to do the disc, (Since some one asked)
You have to take off that caliper bracket. Its going to be a mother Fer because
the bolts are going to be VERY difficult to remove due to their special self locking
nature. I ran into this when doing the brakes on my friend's GMC Acadia, wich DID
use a seperate drum inside the disk parking brake, unlike ours.

 

This writeup was obviously done by a "do it yourselfer" because there are a lot of stupid errors.

The most glaring error is using wheel bearing grease on brake parts and slider pins.

NEVER USE WHEEL BEARING GREASE ON ANY BRAKE PARTS. PERIOD.

First off, petroleum grease is incompatible with rubber brake parts and will RUIN the rubber parts such as the slide pins boots and caliper dust boot. This is why you only use silicone or ceramic based lubricants on brake parts.

Secondly, wheel bearing grease is not rated at a high enough temperature for brakes. So what happens?? The first time you do any successive hard stops, the grease will pour out of the caliper pins like water, and end up all over your brake pads and rotors. Then your car doesn't stop. Once again - if you have no clue what you are doing, do everyone else the courtesy of NOT TOUCHING YOUR CAR. People somehow think its ok to put everyone else's safety on the road in jeopardy by servicing critical parts of the brake system when they have not a CLUE what they are doing. Take it to a professional or enlist the help of an ASE certified professional to help you if you don't know what the hell you are doing, which is the case for the individual that made this writeup.

Third, its not "overkill to grease the slide pins. They should be cleaned with brake cleaner and re-lubricated with high temperature silicone or ceramic brake lube each time the brakes are serviced.

Also, they are not "codder pins". They are brake caliper slide pins. A COTTER pin (correct spelling) is something totally different and does not appear on the brake system anywhere.

And least but not least, don't be a cheap ass and try to use needle nose pliers to rotate the caliper piston back in. All you're going to end up doing is either damaging the piston surface or tearing the piston dust boot. Both of which mean you end up replacing the caliper. Buy the correct tool for $9 or don't bother attempting to do the job at all.

If you have no clue what you are doing, don't bother doing a writeup on it. You do more of a disservice than anything else.

 

ouch.....