Newbie here.

I have a 2007 3, 2.0 5sp that I bought a couple months ago. Prior to my purchasing it, the lot put new calipers on the back.

A couple weeks after buying it, I started hearing rattling coming from the back brake area when I'd go over bumps. That has steadily gotten worse in the time since. I have checked the brake pads, they have the anti-rattle clips that appear to be fine (not broken, etc).

When I had wheels off checking the brakes, I noticed that I could move the caliper by hand while it is bolted on, and it appears that the piston is retracting fully with each stroke of the pedal, instead of staying out as it should.

When you first press the brake pedal, it travels quite a bit before catching, then the brakes operate fine, the car stops fine. If you pump the pedal quickly 3-5 times, the point in the pedal stroke where you feel the brakes catch drastically comes up.

I've never seen a caliper where the piston fully retracts, allowing the pad to wobble and rattle around inside the caliper.

Is that normal for these cars? I hear the noise from both sides, so I'm thinking that the problem is at the common point of the master cylinder.

As an aside, a couple weeks ago I noticed that the hand brake had gotten very loose, so I tightened it using the nut on the handle. That made it catch sooner, but if I park on an incline, even something like a sloped driveway, the brake won't hold it still.

Any thoughts on what the problem might be?

 

Sounds like the calipers need rebuilding.

 

Could there be air in the lines?