GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Long story short....I was very low on brake pad material and decided to do a front brake job. '04 base Vibe, wife's , who is going to be pissed that I can't finish until I get some helpGot new ceramic pads installed and pushed the piston back into the caliper and that's when the trouble started. I've done many, many brake jobs on front rotors and never had this problem... the rubber that surrounds the piston has ballooned out past the piston face. I was very careful to use an old pad and only pushed the piston back in as far as necessary to get it over the new pads.I can't get the rubber seal to go back to its original, collapsed condition now. I know if I just put everything back together, the seal will pinch between the piston and the inboard pad and then I've got a bigger mess on my hands. I tried to open the bleeder valve and see if that reduced pressure enough to get the seal to settle, but no luck.If I have to, I'll remove the banjo bolt and completely separate the caliper from the brake line, but I hate to open up the system. It may be the only way I can relieve the pressure to get the piston/seal assembly all happy again.Anybody know offhand the bleed sequence for the base Vibe? I have a feeling that I'm going to have to do a complete bleed after this fiasco.Thanks,,,,, I'm stuck until I get some help.

Nevermind, fixed!I pushed the brake pedal to get both pistons back out a bit on each side. Started again, slowly pushing piston back into the bore. When the rubber seal started to puff out again, I carefully lifted the seal out of the seat on the piston to relieve some of the air pressure.For some reason, I thought it would be fluid behind that part, but it was only air. As I kept pushing in farther, I would continue to try to relieve the pressure building up behind the seal.It worked, now all is well ! I've never had that happen b4, the seal always collapses back into it's original shape, flush with the piston face.

Wow, i'll do my best here... If the rubber "bellows" has balooned out, it's possible that the seal between the piston and the caliper is shot, forcing fluid into that area... You might try using more than one "pusher" tool to try and get it to re-form it's bellows shape...You might also try and peel back the bellows (slightly) and see if you find fluid behind it... if you do then the first thought is most likely true... Best I got right now, if I think of anything else, i'll post it..

when mine did that i got two butter knives(or dull screwdrivers.)and just kept working it back in .it kept popping out but after 20 mins of cursing it went in . try compressing the cylinder further in with a big c clamp.

Thanks sublime and satur9 for the suggestions.There isn't any fluid behind either side. I was just baffled as to why it kept popping out.As I mentioned above, I just relaxed, took 10 deep breaths, cursed a bit, then started over. As most of you know, when you step on a brake pedal and the calipers are not touching anything, the pistons slowly work their way outward.I did that and carefully and slowly, slowly pushed the piston back into the bore with a c clamp and an old brake pad. Each time the 'bellows' acted like they wanted to balloon out, I just carefully used my finger to lift the rubber away from the piston to let the air bleed out. Worked like a charm, test drive was fine!Thanks again, Genvibe folks are the best!!!!

i just did a brake job also on my car and had this happen too, but only on one side. i tried to bleed the valve a bit, but that didn't help. i wasn't able to get it to sit back completely perfect but it also wasn't completely bulging out, i got it in 1/2 way in as the other was only slightly bugging out. as i slid the caliper back on i was trying to make sure the rubber wouldn't get pinched. while i still had the tire off i pressed on the brake a few times, slowly adding pressure just testing it out. i was putting quite a bit of pressure on the pedal with no poping sounds or anything seeming bad. took it out for a bit of a test drive and i was using excessive force as i was breaking to see if it was pinching on the rotor trying to force it to pop, and it didn't. just to be safe i'm going to get a new caliper and install it. has anybody else had this problem? if a bunch of us are, maybe another recall is in order?

Quote, originally posted by tribalman »i just did a brake job also on my car and had this happen too, but only on one side. i tried to bleed the valve a bit, but that didn't help. i wasn't able to get it to sit back completely perfect but it also wasn't completely bulging out, i got it in 1/2 way in as the other was only slightly bugging out. as i slid the caliper back on i was trying to make sure the rubber wouldn't get pinched. while i still had the tire off i pressed on the brake a few times, slowly adding pressure just testing it out. i was putting quite a bit of pressure on the pedal with no poping sounds or anything seeming bad. took it out for a bit of a test drive and i was using excessive force as i was breaking to see if it was pinching on the rotor trying to force it to pop, and it didn't. just to be safe i'm going to get a new caliper and install it. has anybody else had this problem? if a bunch of us are, maybe another recall is in order?If I were you, i'd take the one (caliper) you have off again and check it out... The bellows is just a dust boot and does ZERO to seal the caliper, You might consider replacing the dust boot alone, but I doubt you'll need a caliper..