On Thursday, I went to change my rear brake pads. I took one side apart and put the new pads on. Now, I did not have the tool to push the caliper in so I tried banging it in (I know I am dumb)
It would not budge, so I put it back together again. Now, when I drive it sounds like something is scraping on that side. It also vibrates. I took the wheel off, but everything looks fine.
I am going to rent or buy the tool for the caliper today and change the brakes.
Anyone, has any suggestions what it could be?
I suspect that I may have switch the the pads around when I put them back in since both sides are identical. Could that have caused this?
The noise goes away when I turn left, and last night it stopped doing it for a while.

Any idea?
Is the wheel going to fall off?

I'm not sure why the noise goes away when you turn unless you somehow damaged the wheel bearings. To put the rear caliper piston back in you can use a set of sturdy needle nose pliers and rotate it (I think counter clock-wise) this will allow you to get everything on right and hopefully seat itself properly. Past that it could be that your rotors need to be machined or replaced, past that calipers are done.

My guess is this:

your rotor is not balanced and flat. needs machining. With the old pad there wasn't a consistant pressure on it. but now there is,

And I think I should tell you that if you were able to push that thing back with hammer you have most likely screwed it. I have NEVER had that tool in change of more than 6 rear wheels. all you need is a needle nose and some idea about what the heck that thing is. you turn it I beleive clockwise to push it in.

and the sound is because of a stuck wheel I think and new pads.

and what do you mean you switched them around??

weren't they new?
you lost me there

AMin

Amin,
I put the old pads back in beacuse I was unable to push the caliper back in.
Can I use regular pliers to turn it?

Also, I unscrewed the "arm" that holds the e-brake line so I could take caliper off and rotate it.
Are you supposed to do that?

It doesn't matter what you use, as long as you can twist the piston back in. There's two notches in it, so you can get needle nose pliers in there. Mine was really impossile to twist so I had to grip it from the side actually with large pliers, careful not to tear the seal. That caliper is probably seized and it's giving me big headaches still...

To clear up the confusion, you're supposed to turn the piston it CLOCKWISE according to the manual.

As for the ebrake line, you take out the clip from the knob end, pry the lever back and pop the knob out. Then you remove the clip from that arm that holds the brake line housing, and pull the housing out towards the front of the car. Might be a bit hard but you'll get it. But you're not really supposed to take the arm off. See, it's useful to have a shop manual for times like this. Pick one up from CT. I've done like 6 rear brake removals in the past two months so I kinda know it inside out :-)

Also, I hope you didn't jam the piston onto the nipple on the brake pad wrong, like some idiot before me did, that will wear the pads crooked and cause squealing, especially in reverse. The nipple's supposed to fit into one of those notches.

I am a complete idiot!
I forgot to tighten the driver's side wheel nuts and that's what caused the vibration!
When I checked it today two of the were almost completly off.
I tried twisting the piston and no problem! I successfully replaced both sides, THANX GUYS!

There is just one thing, I adjusted the parking brake cable and only one side lockes up when I pull it. The passanger's side cable seems to be longer and it's not locking up.
I am not about to check it today, after changing pads during the storm! I got completly soaked, that's commitment for ya