Doing a once over and some maintenance on the 2020 Corolla I bought recently. Front brake pads and rotors are recent, but the slide pins are tight and sticking. Don't techs working at shops clean and lubricate those pins as part of normal brake service? Now I'll take apart both sides and lube them, as well as the shims and clips as I don't see any lube was used.
Glad I don't rely on shops for basic service.
- Thread starter atikovi
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Yes, but if it is a dark colored grease, it was probably the wrong grease and the dried grease is causing the pins to stick.
If you use Genuine Toyota pads with the detachable shims, grease should only be applied between the pad backing plate and the shim....nowhere else.
The factory toyota pin grease dries and causes the pins to stick often, their lithium based grease is some of the worst for slide pins
Want to say, some years ago I would add a bit of sil-glyde to the pins. Found no difference: the pins would be sticky a year later. Now I just grab the pin, give a wiggle, done. YMMV, but I find pads getting stuck to the caliper cause more issues for me than sticky pins.
Must be a regional issue. The stuff holds up very well out here.
On most asian vehicles the key is getting the factory grease out of the slides. I use a drill bit turned by hand to dig most of the grease out then rinse with parts cleaner and compressed air. Install quality silicone grease (I like AC Delco grease) and they will slide for a long time.
Thanks, will have to try that some time.
I hear what you’re saying and you’re not completely wrong IMO.
With that said, I feel that a tech that does a half-assed job on a customer’s vehicle because they feel like they’re underpaid would probably do the same thing if they’re paid well.
Ethics come into play here, a tech with pride in their work will do the best job they can regardless of their pay. It’s up to them to change their work and/or pay situation. If they don’t like it, move on.
The family mini-van that hauls the kids around doesn’t need half-assed work done to it because the tech is unhappy about his pay,…that’s not the customer’s fault.
Cheers!
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^^This^^I hear what you’re saying and you’re not completely wrong IMO.
With that said, I feel that a tech that does a half-assed job on a customer’s vehicle because they feel like they’re underpaid would probably do the same thing if they’re paid well.
Ethics come into play here, a tech with pride in their work will do the best job they can regardless of their pay. It’s up to them to change their work and/or pay situation. If they don’t like it, move on.
The family mini-van that hauls the kids around doesn’t need half-assed work done to it because the tech is unhpappy about his pay,…that’s not the customer’s fault.
Cheers!
percent!
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Could be the opposite, that the tech has a production rate to meet and the shop's not getting paid more to do the best job possible, so could be sent packing if they took as much care with a customer's vehicle as they would their own.
Periodic caliper pin clean and lube goes a long way.
Again, that’s where ethics come into play. Nobody is going to tell me to do a half-assed job on someone’s vehicle. If that’s what the shop wants, then any tech that has work ethic would part ways with that shop. Any tech that’s happy to oblige in half-assed work for whatever reason will probably be happy to oblige regardless.
I understand what you’re saying, but it doesn’t make it right.
Here in Michigan I've found the Toyota grease (lithium-soap) will dry out and needs to be replaced once a year. I don't find that inconvenient based on seeing that Toyota does NOT recommend silicone.. Had that happen, all the sliding pin bushings swelled up and the caliper began to stick. Imagine that, a grease that Toyota recommended didn't do anything but work for a year. Once a year check/lube the brakes, not that upsetting to me.
3 Toyotas and I never had sticky (swelling) caliper pin bushings while using Silicone grease.
Got the pins out and the bores cleaned up, but the one with the bushing won't go back in. The bushing is loose and I assume swollen and riding up on the pin as I try to install it. Have to wait until tomorrow to pick up new bushings at the Toyota dealer.
Yup that sounds familiar.. I remember using a larger deep socket to drive the new bushings into the caliper.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
Fully agree with your comments. It doesn't better the situation as adults that would enjoy being auto techs, or who currently are, move onto other areas as the pay/ reimbursement for techs is out of alignment with the professional job they are doing, along with the physical and environmental conditions.I hear what you’re saying and you’re not completely wrong IMO.
With that said, I feel that a tech that does a half-assed job on a customer’s vehicle because they feel like they’re underpaid would probably do the same thing if they’re paid well.
Ethics come into play here, a tech with pride in their work will do the best job they can regardless of their pay. It’s up to them to change their work and/or pay situation. If they don’t like it, move on.
The family mini-van that hauls the kids around doesn’t need half-assed work done to it because the tech is unhappy about his pay,…that’s not the customer’s fault.
Cheers!
A router technician/IT professional like can make 2-3x annually what a dealer auto tech can make, with much better working conditions and fully predictable base income. The result of poor overall pay for the risk/ reward of a professional auto technician likely migrates to many of the good techs moving onto other professions. So, who gets hired to fill in those dealer auto tech vacancies?
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I had swelling rubber pin bushings on our Subaru. I threw them out and have been running without pin bushings for 50k miles. Seems to be fine for me but YMMV.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
On our Toyotas I use Sil-Glyde on the pins and the Permatex green stuff on the back of the hardware clips and pad ears. I recently done the original brakes on my mom’s 2017 Camry and had to pry the pens out with a large pry bar because they were so seized in the caliper. I’ve never had an issue with the combination I mentioned on any car.
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