rear brake caliper

[dieselfitter251]

Just changed the rear pads. As I was winding the rear left piston back the rubber piston gaiter had stuck to the piston so was twisting on the piston as it turned. I wd40'd it and tried to free it up, I believe is just sits in a collar and rotates, it only acts as a dust shield I believe, in the end it didn't free up on the outside but rotated on the inside. It looks like a badly rolled up sleeve.
Now it's probably not a huge problem but I should probably strip and replace it? It's not holed or anuthing. The other thing is, the adjustment seems to be taking forever to come up. I've no leaks are anything and the pedal feels fine although for new pad and discs the handbrake hasn't gained any grip.

Suggestions?

 

[aragorn]

Yhe pads will need to bed in before the handbrake improves i suspect.

The main hydraulic circuit takes out the play the first time you press the brake pedal.

Either that or the cable itself needs adjusted. I've never adjusted ours and they're a bit marginal, you really have to haul the handle up to hold it on a hill. To check, the handbrake mechanism should be sitting 1mm from the stop on each caliper, if its not then the lever wont be supplying maximum force.

 

[dieselfitter251]

Cheers Aragorn, will take a more detailed look...

 

[willieigs]

i have 99 2.5 tdi quattro did not require to wind the piston ,just used a compression clamp i use for holding kitchen unit to gether this was so easy not like my mr2 as the wind in clock wise

 

[Broken Byzan]

Almost all rear calipers need to be wound and pressed, its part of how the handbrake mechanism retains its adjustment. The outer seal is a dust seal, it does however require removal of the piston to change it as it mounts to the bore of the caliper.

I have in the past packed some grease in to help fight away the water ingress when the seal has split, seems to work ok for me

 

[Broken Byzan]

Almost all rear calipers need to be wound and pressed, its part of how the handbrake mechanism retains its adjustment. The outer seal is a dust seal, it does however require removal of the piston to change it as it mounts to the bore of the caliper.

I have in the past packed some grease in to help fight away the water ingress when the seal has split, seems to work ok for me

 

[dieselfitter251]

Hand brake grip has picked up. Pads were from A1 auto stores, not the best but there's a definite improvement from having new bits on. It took about 2 days for everything to settle, that include about 1 1/2 days of smelly brakes while the the new pads bedded in. No worries now. Cheers for the posts folks.