Caliper guide pins corroded with rust PICS

[auxmike]

Hi all,
Just wanted to share these pics of what the caliper guide pins looked like after 40k miles and 3 years of service. I bought new sets of the pins and 2 new bushings too. Looking pretty bad for something off an '08 :frown:
I've added the part numbers for your shopping pleasure. I think the bolts are like $6 or so each. There was almost a 2 week wait for these guide pins. Don't know if their running low on 'em or if the Tsunami had something to do with it? Who knows.
Brake jobs aren't always just slapping in a new set of pads, you never know what will come up as you take things apart. If the rust gets bad enough on those pins, the calipers WILL seize! :thumbdown:

[CTScott]

Who last did your brakes? They may have wiped the pins clean and not re-coated them with brake grease before installation.

[auxmike]

The last person to do the brakes was the guy at the....factory in Japan! This was the first time the factory installed parts were disturbed. Not very impressive, eh?

[Bluevitz-rs]

Wow those still look like brand new compared to mine. Mine are pitting they're so bad I have to wire wheel them every 4-6 months now. If I every get myself a metal lathe I'll be making my own pins outa stainless and never worry about them again.

[auxmike]

I used this upon reassembling the parts lubing the guide pins with it.
I recommend springing for new pin sets vs. sanding the old ones.

[CTScott]

It looks like they should probably be on the list of things to check routinely. Maybe check and re-lube them when switching from summer to winter wheels.

[Kongo-Otto]

You should check if these pins have to be greased or not.
Here in Europe we have a different brake system so i can not talk for you over there. Our ATE brake system has guide pins too but they are not greased. They are not supposed to be greased.

[R2D2]

Auxmike,

I remove, clean and lube those pins with the exact lube you posted a pic of (it's what I use on the police cruisers at work) every 5k when I rotate the tires.

That lube is great and will help a lot but IMO the only way to guarantee those pins stay free is by removing them and re-lubing semi annually.

This is not just a Toyota phenomenon, my wire's Nissan caliper pins seized in a year with 30k on them! Environment appears to be the major factor.


R2

[MickZEL]

I oiled these studs graphite grease.
Stainless steel is not worth doing it is soft.

[mazilla]

Wonder if polishing these would help keep the corrosion down to a minimum...at least it would make them super slippery. A few minutes on my wheel and they'd be mirror finished.

[bronsin]

Not a problem.

[marcus]

can anyone confirm if theres supppose to have a small play on this guide pins... i just did my brakes and i had to sand and grind the lower guide pins with rubber on both side which was corroded..cleaned and lubricated but no play..top one goes back up abit when pressed but not the guide pins with the rubber although it now slides in and out... not i can spin the rotors with one hand but has a slight drag on the pads..is this normal... thanks

[Exiwolfman]

The last person to do the brakes was the guy at the....factory in Japan! This was the first time the factory installed parts were disturbed. Not very impressive, eh?
You are kidding right...that is the stupid excuse for lack of maintenance on ur part... 08 with low km hmmm car sits rust builds up and honestly I have seen cars with under a yr old with worse it all depends on ur location.


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[bronsin]

Hmm interesting. Lubing the pins isn't something I do on a regular basis. Wifes Camry has 123K on it. Pins not lubed. No problems. 79 MB 240D (gone now) 153k pins never lubed although the pistons in the caliper did seize when the car was like 20 years old. One caliper on the right that is.

Its always been my belief its the pistons that seize in the caliper bores. Then the caliper can lock onto the disc, ruining it and wearing the pads down to bare metal in short order. Not something you want but nothing really you can do about it except check the brakes maybe twice a year when the car gets older.

But this pin seizing thing. The holes for the pin seem too large for seizing to happen. At least not like when happens when a caliper seizes.

Or am I wrong about this and should I be greasing the pins?

[nortonfb]

I was taught to lube them. If nothing else it slows down the rust issue.
On older cars it was sometimes a problem getting them out.
I use Sly-gel it stays and doesn't dry out. On the pins once out, if any corrosion I wire brush them and coat them then back in.

[ex-x-fire]

Yeah, I've seen the pins seize up, a lot of times the pads get frozen in the caliper brackets. Sand blasting them helps, you need to coat the bare metal too.