Recently I have seen a lot of frozen caliper slides while replacing brakes. Some of these calipers were relatively new. 

Usually I can free up rusty frozen calipers with an ATF/acetone mixture, wire brush the pins, clean and lubricate the slides and reassemble the caliper. Sometimes, the slides are so rusty I can’t free them up without breaking them. 

New calipers usually come with a light grease on the slide pins. I have found this grease is insufficient to keep the slides from seizing, especially on cars exposed to road salt. 

When I do a brake job I always remove and lubricate the caliper slide pins with caliper grease, even with new calipers. I also lube the contact points of the pads with caliper grease to prevent them from being seized in the calipers. Sometimes I have to dress the tabs on the brake pads with a file to open the gap enough to provide a slide fit in the caliper. 

It is also important to use never-seize on all the hardware when reassembling the brakes. 


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *