caliper slide pin rubbers

[averolla]

HI Im fitting new pads to my corolla .the guide pin bolts were very stuck .......not with corrosion but because of some rubber inserts on the lower pins. Can any one tell me if these are strictly necessary . Im thinking of refitting without them .Thanks

[Catlover]

Photo?

[Gerg]

I think the rubber sleeves that you refer to are designed to reduce the caliper moving excessively.  If the caliper has got excessive movement, it usually results in a 'clunk' that can be heard inside the car.  I've never heard of someone leaving them off.

I've used silicone grease in that part of the brake caliper to good effect over many years, on many different cars, whenever I'm lubing those pins during a service.  The silicone grease is very kind to the rubber (any rubber), and is highly water repellant.  I'm using a general purpose silicone grease from Radio Spares (because I got it for nothing), but silicone grease is probably easily obtained from a local boat chandler etc. Or the usual eBay, Amazon sources etc.

Like this one, that is the first one to come up on a random Amazon search:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-SGPGT90-Silicone-Grease-Tube/dp/B00W6Q3B1G/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Silicone%2BGrease&qid=1633981813&qsid=261-1110736-5946547&sr=8-5&sres=B00W6Q3B1G%2CB086QBNSRT%2CB088361TCJ%2CB000GISJ9A%2CB08VWBXDZ5%2CB0058223PU%2CB07JP4RV7J%2CB00295DBQE%2CB07VZ6746G%2CB01M8MBEV4%2CB01M9GVQ8F%2CB006O7HTDE%2CB0882YFGWR%2CB00S1CB22O%2CB000GIQIKM%2CB01N7VUCZ3%2CB00PDFDPIG%2CB07XZDY64P%2CB008HI0O6W%2CB081B4XK8T&th=1

Notice the third review down on this product has had a problem that might be similar to yours!

But, be careful not to get it in your eyes, as being water repellant it'll sting a lot.  Also, over the long term, silicone lubricant can cause some hard plastics to age and crack - not relevant to brakes at all, obviously, it's just not suitable for lubing everything!

[Catlover]

Herb, that is 80ml, how many callipers would that do. Put another way, how much needed for all 4 sets of slider pins?

[TonyHSD]

Hi, you can remove these and fit the slider pins without. Just add a bit of extras grease at bottom of pins but not crazy much. Eventually can hear a clunk when going from forward to reverse or  the other way around but not of a big deal. Sometimes those rubber bands gets larger and impossible to fit in, I have done few times without and I know there is no problems. Better to keep them but if you can’t not to worry too much. 👍

[Gerg]

7 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Herb, that is 80ml, how many callipers would that do. Put another way, how much needed for all 4 sets of slider pins?

Good question.

It goes a long way.  I'd expect that tube (80ml) to do, er... at least 20 calipers (40 pins)?  Probably more.

[TonyHSD]

4 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Herb, that is 80ml, how many callipers would that do. Put another way, how much needed for all 4 sets of slider pins?

Hi Joe, 

slider pins does not need too much of grease , perhaps 3-5gr per pin, if you you put too much grease in, you are risking the grease to send out the pins and cause pads to stick to the discs and cause excessive wear and heat. It’s a bit tricky how to apply grease on these , best way is to remove the rubber boot, clean well with cloth and something to insert in, then apply small amount of grease on the pins and insert without the boots, rotate few times and take pin out, attach the boot to the calliper, apply a bit more grease to the pin and reinsert the pin with rotation and push, then double check the pin can freely move in and out an stay there where you leave it, if it’s trying to stick out that means you have air locked in and you need to squeeze the boot to take air out or you had applied a bit more grease, try squeeze again to take grease out and rotate and re align the pin. Job done and you will have nice brakes and clean discs like mirror. 👌✅

[averolla]

Many thanks guys, yeah think I will try the pins with out the rubber and will be using silicone grease.I can live with a slight clunk but think the rubbers have swollen to such a degree that they may make the pads drag. cheers all