Has anyone every experienced this, where the previous person forgot to add the gel to back of brake pad to prevent heat weld between the cylinder end and the sheet metal on back of pad? Well, now I have.

Anyone ideas on how to separate cylinder from brake pad without damaging cylinders? BOTH pads on both front brakes so far.

 

Don't think the brake pad backing plate has welded to the piston.

What you are probably experiencing is the anti-squeal pad which has an adhesive surface and sticks to the brake pad backing plate also has a sheet metal basket/cage that fits inside the hollow piston and both the pad and piston act at a single assembly.

The "trick" to separate the anti-squeal pad from the brake pad backing plate is to use a sturdy large putty knife and work it between the backing plate and the anti-squeal pad.

If you are careful you can reuse the anti-squeal pad.

 

Thank you for your response. This was clearly my first time changing my own pads. I have watched a few videos and none of them has this type of damper insert (discs instead). Those lucky guys were also able to pull the pads out without removing the entire caliper assembly. Once I did that, everything popped right out and I surmised the rest and grabbed a flat blade...