I've just replaced the rear disks and pads on my car (1983 900S) and once I
applied a few simple tricks I'd learnt from others, it wasn't too bad. The
first disk took me a few hours but the second one took about an hour. I took
the car for a 20 km drive tonight just to make sure things were ok and I got
the expected smoking if I braked hard on a long straight where I could build
up some speed beforehand.

I was really lucky to get a set of brand new Brembo rear disks at a very low
price. Remember that these are solid disks so the process would be a little
different with the later C900's (from 1987 up?) with vented disks and
handbrakes acting on the rear wheels.

It would not hurt to replace the calipers at the same time as fitting new
disks/pads, but I've re-used the existing calipers for the job I did on my
car. They come up on Ebay regularly and you can buy rebuilt (or sometimes
new) calipers from some of the online Saab parts places. New calipers can be
pricey but when it comes to brakes using quality parts is a Good Thing!
After all it's the brakes which stop the car, and they're far more important
than the engine in terms of your safety.

A pressure bleeder (something like a Gunson Eezibleed which is what I use)
makes the job of bleeding a lot easier. Any work which involves interupting
the hydraulic circuits make a bleed mandatory, but even if you haven't done
any brake work on a car, it's good to do it at least every 2 years. Brake
fluid absorbs water so over time it does degrade.

Changing the rear disks/pads is the second major brake project I've
undertaken - I did a brake master cylinder replacement on my 1985 900i a
while back now and found the Eezibleed very simple to use when it came
around to bleeding the old (and horribly contaminated!) fluid from the brake
lines. The master cylinder replacement is documented at:

http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900/brakemaster.html

for anyone who hasn't seen it before.

Craig.

Not everyone knows SAAB has this rear brake setup that you have to
mechanically back-out the screw which advances the brake pads by the
hand brake action in addition to hydraulically pressing the pads by
foot action.  There is a possibility the your local Midas shop
mis-diagnosed the caliper seize up.  The calipers may have been good.
They just need to be loosened to remove the pads by turning a screw
with an allen wrench after removing a cover bolt on the caliper.

It is not possible to remove the rear brake pads without first
loosening the screw in each rear caliper.  Forcing the pads loose by
mechanical means will destroy the caliper.

Midas may not understand Saab's calipers.

So far so good.  I agree with that decision.

Well, other than the pads being original (sorry, forgot the mileage if
you mentioned it), what makes them and/or you think they'er actually
seized?  An easy test would be to block one of the front wheels, and
then back up each back corner one at a time - spin the wheel, have
someone hit the brakes.  If the wheel stops, they're not seized.  Let's
rule out Midas profittering and/or ignorance first.

Maybe nothing. The rear brakes do 10-15% of the work, total.  Rear pads
can last a very long time without anything at all being wrong.  I've
never heard of one seizing, so being told that two have seized is
suspect to say the least.

Dave Hinz