I'm trying to do a front brake job on a 88 GL sedan, is there a special trick to depressing the calipers or are the junk if they don't compress the conventional way?

must turn the caliper piston in, not push it. there's a $3 tool at any autoparts store, just a little block with nobs on each side. or there's a better tool at harborfreight.com for $40 that was on sale for $20 a few weeks ago. it will turn, hold in place and push the caliper back in easier than the socket tool.

 

if you're desperate you can get it to work with pliers/needle nose but it'll take awhile.

I always just use a good sized pair of channel locks. Having the special tool would be nice though.

last time, i used needlenose pliers. didn't work all that great, but it got the job done.