a6q rear brake replacement notes/questions

[Marc Swanson]

this weekend I helped my dad replace the rear brake rotors and pads on my
mother's 1998 a6 quattro.  There was one very strange element to the job.. On
one side of the car the rear caliper piston turned right in while on the
other the piston just seemed to not want to go in any further.. and it was
way too far out to fit the new pads in place.  Taking a guess I removed the
caliper from the car figuring that maybe the ABS or some other component in
the brake system was preventing the fluid from expanding into the resevoir
when I was turning the piston (I had already tried opening the bleed valve
and the e-brake arm was all the way back against the stop).  Sure enough..
after putting the caliper on the bench the piston turned right in no problem.
 So what's the deal?  I believe this car has 4 channel abs so maybe the other
side of the car had a clear path to the resevoir while the the last side I
worked on had a locked abs channel?  Just a guess... Anyone care to shed some
light on this?  Is there an easier way to do this than removing the caliper
(not that it was hard.. just curious)?

Thanks

-Marc-
87 4ktq
88 90q