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This is a bit of a repost. I had some trouble installing the rear pads (Rofren's) on my A4 1.8T with 30,000 miles on the clock. Here's the info:<p>I went through the same thing about 4 weeks ago when I changed my stock pads on my '97 A4 1.8T with Rofren pads on all four corners. The fronts were a piece of cake, but the rears were a real pain to retract. Let me offer a few pointers: <p>If you don't have "rear caliper" tool, buy one. I purchased a Lisle tool at my local Pep Boys for $10..it looks like a small cube and each face has "nubs" in a different pattern to fit different rear calipers. One side has four nubs shaped like houses: <p>/ \<br>| | <br>| |<br>----- <p>I removed two of these nubs with a Dremel Tool (cut-off bit). The tool then fits perfectly on the rear caliper. Using a socket wrench, turn clockwise while pushing in...apply *a lot* of pressure. My right rear went in after quite a few turns and a lot of pushing. My left would not seem to retract after what seemed like 20 minutes of turning and pushing. I finally grabbed my C-clamp (which unfortunately was not big enough to fit over both the Lisle tool and the caliper) and clamped it onto the caliper and cranked down on it a bit. I noticed the caliper retracting some. Took the clamp off and turned the piston with the tool some more. Then swapped back to the C-clamp. After a few back-and-forth sessions with the tool and the c-clamp, I go the piston to retract all the way. <p>Hope this helps. <p>Andy Hedin<br>'97 A4 1.8Tqms, Wett 1.0 Bar Chip, E-codes...<br>

Andy S. - I can't answer your question but I have a question or two for you:<p>Where did you get the Mintex Red Boxes and how much were they?<p>While you still have the box, what is the part number? I am having the hardest time trying to find this info and would greatly appreciate your help. Is your A4 a 99?<p>Thanks.<p>Ed<br>99.5 1.8T waiting...

Call them at 877-4-German. Ask for Mark. I paid $49 for them.<p>Jon<br>'96 A4q

I paid a total of $117 for both front and rears. This included a Quattro Club discount and shipping from NY to LA. As far as the part numbers go, I have no idea. I'm at work and the box is at home. If you can wait for teh number just send me an e-mail and I'll check the numbers this weekend.<p>Andy

What if you just drained the fluid. The caliper sould retract on command. Any thoughts<p>Andy

Not sure if that would really help or not. It's not so much the fluid that was keeping the pistons from retracting. The rear pistons have some sort of ratcheting mechanism (due to the rear parking brake) so you can't just clamp a c-clamp on there and retract it (like the fronts). Draining all the fluid might help, but I didn't want to find out as I didn't have any brake fluid around and they had just been serviced a few months earlier at my 30K service.<p>Keep in mind that if you only have a few thousand miles on your stock pads you won't need to retract the piston as much as I did.<p> Andy Hedin<br>

I'd suggest calling Andrew Moffett at Camra Motorsports. That's where I bought mine. His number is (914)428-5157.<p>The boxes are at home so I can't get you the part numbers myself, sorry.)<p>HTH,<br>Jim

I know have 12k mi on the Mintex. The fronts were a easy to do. The rears well..... The rr was very smooth to install. the lr was a different story. I had 34k mi on my 1.8TQ auto mostly hiway. I had to use a c clamp to overcome a residue ridge that appeared to have formed on the piston. gentile clamping pressure did the trick. I just used the clamp to get things started. Note take off the fluid resivoir cap and put a towel around the opening to catch any excess fluid. Make sure that there are no kinks in the hose. Adheare to the bedding procedure and the stopping performance is much superior to the stock pads. i haven't washed the wheels in weeks.Hope that this helps.