Rear caliper adjustment procedure!

[Mazda_Powered]

I think we should sticky how to adjust the rear calipers on the BG chassis. I've informed about 3-4ppl recently of this and they weren't familiar with it lol.

So let's stop the confusion!!



Adjusting piston mechanism

#1) raise rear of vehicle (I leave my tires on to set the drag, hasn't failed me in over 8yrs)

#2) remove adjuster screw, which is simply a shallow thread bolt to keep the adjustment mechanism from FALLING OUT. Usually has a copper washer with it.

#3) find proper allen key to fit the piston adjustment mechanism in the adjuster screw bore.

#4) Spin adjuster screw til the caliper/pads are tight down on the rotor...aka won't spin!

#4) Back off adjuster screw 1/2 turn and spin the tire. There should be drag on the rotor/pad, but not enough to suddenly stop the tire from spinning...just a biiiiit of drag lol.

Parking brake adjustment If you're raising your hand brake more or less than 7-8 clicks to engage the parking brake, you need to read this

#1) follow above steps

#2) find the parking brake adjuster by the hand brake...usually you can slip a 10mm deep socket through the handles rubber boot/seal to access the adjustment nut...but if it's your first time, you may just want to pull the rear console off to get a good look at things to figure out how they function.



#3) Tighten or loosen the 10mm parking cable nut and continuously check the amount of clicks it takes to lock up the rear calipers.

#4) Once you're within the recommended "clicks" of the handle, verify the rear caliper function has not been altered from the cable adjustment. If they seem to be tighter or dragging more than before, you may have set the cable tension too high. Go back and loosen the hand brake up and try again.

#5) Re-install the adjuster screw at the back of the calipers and lower vehicle.

Please feel free to add to this if I've missed anything. It's all just from memory right now lol.

[FE3-323]

put in the allen key size & i'll sticky this

[wgnths]

Ha!!! good stuff right here Jack. I had to do this with many help from a fellow member here since i did my rear disc swap. Even to this day i have not been able to adjust them correctly but im sure one day ill get in there and do it right. its straight forward and very easy to read good pictures too!

[lowetgt]

Good stuff Jack! Many didn't know that's even how to turn the piston back.

[Mazda_Powered]

put in the allen key size & i'll sticky this

I'll find out asap. I know which one it is on my ring of keys, but the size is unmarked lol



5/32" or equivalent in mm (around 4mm)

[HONDA KILLER]

thanks good info!

[redheddude222]

Yes, it's 4mm. The calipers on my protege are so picky, I have to do this pretty much every tire rotation.

[Mazda_Powered]

I adjust mine every 10,000km lol

[1st Gen]

The last time I changed my rear brake pads I had to put so much pressure on the little gear that it bent/stripped it. Not sure what to do if they don't cooperate. I'm thinking new calipers next time I change the pads.
There's also a cable adjustment under the car where the cable goes from the main tug to the individual calipers. You can take up any amount of slack there. Not as precise though.

[redheddude222]

Any time I've had a caliper do that, I pop the piston out and clean everything inside there really well. Working the ebrake lever back and forth a few times while the piston is out helps too. Obviously you'll need to have the caliper removed from the car to do this.

Oh, and just grind the splined screw down until you've removed all of the stripped section. That will allow it to mesh back into the splines inside the caliper.

[FE3-323]

i need to get my hands on some rear springs for between the back pads & give mine another adjustment. i've been chasing down odd noises lately & the pads were rattling---- so well overdue for adjustment

[farcryNZ]

Old thread but great info.
Can it be verified that an incorrectly adjusted rear calliper can cause the break pedal to be spongy?

Thank you very much!


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[FE3-323]

not spongy, but not a tight pedal up at the top.

[farcryNZ]

Well it did the trick for me,
I guess I’m not sure what spongy breaks feel like, but i now have a break pedal without free travel. (On my BHA)


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[FE3-323]

hell yeah! always confidence inspiring to have solid brake feel