Originally Posted By: yonyon
...If the brakes have been done by someone other than you in the past (even a shop with a decent reputation) you need to be prepared for the bushing on the guide pins (that's the name I like; I hear them called slides a lot) to be swolen. There should be one pin with a rubber bushing at each caliper and one without. Often, the pins will be lubed with an incompatible grease that makes them swell up and the swolen bushing keeps the pin from sliding smoothly..
That's a good point.
I've run into this many times and have gotten away with cleaning the bore, pin and bushing, re-lubing it with Sil Glyde (or silicone grease) and reinstalling, but like you say, it still fairly stiff to move.
I never considered removing the bushing all together. I bet that's better than leaving a heavily swollen one in place.
To the OP, I replaced the front pads and adjusted the rear drums on my Mom's 2008 Vibe some months ago (late 2011). Used Carquest ceramic pads. Piece of cake. I didn't need to replace the factory rotors yet, but removed them to apply never-seize on the hub face, so they'll come off easier when I need them to. Like said, they had the bolt holes in the face to help pop them off.
Rear drums also had the bolt holes for removal and came off easily. I blew out all the [censored], lubed up the star-wheel and snugged up the shoes. Mom's 2008 doesn't even have ABS.
Joel