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I've got a 2006 Honda Civic DX 4 door sedan. I had a work accident a few years ago and injured my spine and was forced to take my car off the road. I'm finally back to work, in okay health and am ready to start driving it again.

I've been buying what I can for parts and tools to get it to start going again. I replaced the battery, completed the rear brakes, now I'm on to the front.

Here is where I'm having a problem. Please keep in mind I am nothing but a "youtube mechanic", so please go easy on me lol. Go slow and try to explain it in terms I can understand lol (I am google dependent for vocabulary as well).

I purchased the front brake rotors and pads on amazon and the calipers at a local shop.

When I went to replace the new pads on the old calipers, the clips were all rusted and they just didn't want to slide in so i decided to purchase new calipers.

NOW they clip in okay, the piston is compressed BUT they will not fit over top of the rotor! The pads are too close together. The new rotor matches the old rotors. They slid on with ease, same patterns, same thickness. The pads seemed to match the old ones as well but they came as a set anyways.

I didn't take an extremely close look at the calipers when I exchanged them as cores at the parts store but they seemed to match up and they did a search based on my VIN. The caliper fit on the mounting bracket, over top of the rotors without the pads installed so I still feel as if the calipers are okay.

My question... are my parts wrong? If so... which one should I replace? Am I missing a step? I can't afford to take it to a shop and don't really have any friends that can help me. Any advice or help would be deeply appreciated.

Yours truly,

The Whiney YouTube Mechanic

Moab
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Casey Berry
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1 Answers1

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You said the issue applies to front brakes, hence incomplete retraction is probably not the issue (rear brakes often need to be screwed in rather than pushed in).

On front calipers, when the pistons are fully retracted, they should often be flush with caliper body. Are yours flush? If not, try to push them in more.

If your pads are of the wrong thickness, they won't fit brand new. This is rare but happened to me once, I don't know if I ordered the wrong part or I was sent the wrong part but I had the exact same issue you are having. If the space inside the caliper/caliper bracket is insufficient to fit the rotor and two pads (never mind where the piston is), then something is too big.

Go to an auto parts store and ask for another set of brake pads. Compare shape and thickness to your brake pads. If pads match, repeat for the rotors.

It is also possible that the parts on your car don't match what the car is supposed to have, i.e. someone installed wrong/different parts. Is the car modified in any other way?

If you are installing brand new calipers, rotors and pads, everything should assemble smoothly and not require force.

D. SM
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