164 Rear Brake Caliper

Hi
Just a quick query - how does the handbrake work on the brake piston - is there a cunning trick to retract the piston when fitting new pads??

You need to "screw" the piston back into the calliper. Inside the piston there's a screw thread and ratchet mechanism that mechanically pushes the piston out every time the handbrake is pulled on but doesn't go fully back when it is released. This takes up the wear in the pads. The best way (unless you have a proper calliper wind-back tool) that I've found is to put a G clamp on the piston to apply a small amount of pressure back into the housing and then at the same time, twist the top of the piston with something like a pair of water pump pliers in such a way as to "screw" it bacj into it's housing. You'll need to keep tightening up the G clamp as it moves back, but obviously, if you do it up too tight, it will be hard to turn the piston.

Thanks Avocet
- I thought that might be the case as I remember years ago struggling with a Sud to retract the piston against the handbrake system - also I wondered why the 164 piston has a couple of recesses on its outer "face".

GermanSwedishFrench do the tool for about £15, and it works on Alfas as well as VWs as the brakes are also ATE. A tool makes the job so much easier I do not know why I struggled on with bodged solutions for so long.

HTH

Thanks folks - problem sorted and I found that the tool for tightening the angle grinder wheel - with a bit of filing, works perfectly!!