I can honesty day on all of the 7 Audi’s I’ve had since 1998 I’ve never changed them. So when my current D2 A8 started grinding in her rear, poor dear, the one rear pad was down to metal my brain just clicked into the old patterns from probably 20 brake pad changes from the past 30 years. When it came time to compress the caliper piston a fair amount of force is needed to push it back into the caliper and one normally used some typer of clamp or if one is more neanderthal in nature a tire iron pushed again the disc does the trick. So after an hour of huffing and puffing I knew something was wrong. Well after giving up I did what any backstreet mechanic does in times like these, onto AL Gore’s inter web and the youtube. It took me quite a while to find the answer as I’m sure the ratio of videos is also in line with the occurrence of the job. But one video revealed the dirty little secret, the bloody thing rotates!, something to do with the parking brake mechanism so pushing it does JACk SHITE and you could actually break it or injure yourself trying!
All one needs is a simple $30 tool that rotates the piston clockwise and I believe if you really are cheap you can use a large pair of long nose pliers but why, just buy the bloody thing and you can use it on the font pistons too, end of story! In my case I am a super super cheap bugger and got it for free from the local parts store (you pay for it and then get a full refund at O’Riles Auto parts) and my pads were only $23 too! See the video below I made if your want to waste 5 mins of your time!
https://youtu.be/-JkF5wP45uw