Park Tool PS-1 Disc Brake Pad Spreader

Works perfectly if used as intended. All of the Park Tool products I own are top quality.

I was using the widest flat screwdriver in my toolbox before to depress the pistons into their cylinders, and I can tell you it takes a lot of precision to depress a piston with a force applied to its exact centre, or otherwise the piston refuses to move. Park Tool is known for their bike service tools, and this piston spreader is so much easier to use. It's well worth is price, as spreading pistons is what you have to do every time when replacing thin and worn brake pads with the thick, new ones. You may even afford a luxury of carefully pushing the pistons out to clean their side surface, something I tried to avoid, as a simple screwdriver is a very unwieldy instrument for pushing the pistons back into cylinders. Get it, you'll love changing your brake pads with it! There are quite a few instruction videos on YouTube on the correct use of the tool, including some from Park Tools themselves.Note that the tool is specific to hydraulic brakes; you don't need it if your disk brakes are cable-operated, like, for example, a lower-grade Tiara disk brake and some other types. It's specifically designed for hydraulically operated brake pistons.

The Park Tool PS-1 Disc Brake Pad Spreader probably doesn't do anything a flat screwdriver or putty knife wouldn't do just as well. But the first time I removed my tire I made the mistake of hitting the brake, locking up the disc caliper. Being the gross amateur I am, I darn near damaged the brake trying to get the wheel back on. That could have been an expensive mistake.The nice thing about this tool is that it is designed to resemble a section of brake disc. That means you can adjust the caliper with the tool in place instead of the wheel. So it does a lot more than just pry apart two misbehaving brake pads.Proper brake adjustment is vital if you are going to spend any quality time on a bike, and the local bike shop is an expensive option to visit with any frequency for brake adjustments. Learning to do it yourself with this tool is a great option.

A great tool for resetting the clearance on disc brake pads. You leave the pads installed and easily press on the pads to spread the pistons. I clean the PS-1 with isopropyl alcohol before every use to prevent accidental contamination. Fast and easy adjustments. I can't ask for anything more.

It’s park tools you know the quality! You know it works! You know there is videos online on how to use it and they work! The only think is the price is a bit high but I don’t think this one will ever break!

Haven’t had to use yet but it is another quality tool from Park Tool

We've all be there. Your new brake pads are in and you didn't squeeze the levers but somehow the pads are flush and you can't get them over the rotor without spreading them apart to push the cylinders back in. They have a tool just for that which is shaped like a square wedge, but this was $10 cheaper and shaped like a rotor, so I went for it first. I like the idea and I will use the tool, but the angle of the rotor tip may not be far enough to spread apart a really close pair of brake pads. If that's the case, it's easy enough to sharpen it a little with some sand paper or a whet stone. If you do sharpen this, make sure it's even and that you graduate up through the coarseness until it's mirror smooth or you can rip up your pads.For $10, it's worth it to have one more purpose built tool in my kit to save me the worry that the butter knife might screw up my pads. I used a folding utility knife before I had this and I really was worried about scratching something with the sharp blade. And there's a lesson in that, too. If you sharpen this thing, don't go as sharp as a blade. Just a little bit narrower for very close pads.

I switch wheels a lot and this tool helps me re-set the breaks for every wheel set. This is especially true when using road and gravel wheels on a gravel bike. One has Shimano disks and the other has Sram disks so I always have to open the brakes up each time. For some reason this is also true with my wheel sets that both have Shimano disks - hmm. Luckily I have this tool and spread them every time.