I just replaced my front brake pads last night and was surprised how sticky the caliper guide pins were. Despite that the wear on the pads was pretty even. My question is has anyone replaced the lower guide pin bushing? I had a heck of a time even after lubing the guide pin and bushing getting that to install and.. when installed, it moves but not easily at all. I have read that the OEM pin is pretty tight. Also I remember that some bushings can swell with certain lubricants... Any guidance would be appreciated.
Yeah I have some packs of brand new ones laying on the floor you can buy them everywhere including your local parts store for the Toyota . Or you can keep cleaning and flushing and spraying and brushing and cleaning or spend 8 bucks .
Did you clean out the rubber bushing? Cleaning the pin alone is not enough. And then use the brake lube. It should be a snug fit and have resistance moving in and out.
Thanks for the replies. I cleaned the pins but need to do a better job of cleaning the caliper mounting bracket cavities. I plan on removing the bracket, removing the pins and taking off the rubber caliper accordian seals and brake cleaning and wiping down inside the mounting bracket. I called Toyota and they sell the bushings for about $3 each, so have a pair of those on the way.
I have not serviced the brakes before. Car is a 2012 and i have had for less than a year. I usually coat those slides with a synthetic black brake grease. There could be better options. Any suggestions?
I use Sil-Glyde Brake Lubricant on the pins, never seen any swelling of the rubber rings, on the pins that have them. There are various other acceptable lubes. There is a Toyota spec'd lube for those, a little hard to find and/or pricey. Someone may be along shortly with more detail on that.
I think Eric O. (South Main Auto) is using this. I've never paused the video to try to check, but there's mention here.
Yes, here's the "more detail", which Mendel does already know: Toyota specifies a grease that is glycol based and thickened with lithium soap. It is red; it comes in tubes that say "rubber grease"; if you want to buy a whole tube the P/N is 08887-01206, and you don't need to buy a tube if you buy a caliper rebuild rubber kit from Toyota because a small packet of the right grease is included in that kit. It is one of three different greases Toyota specifies for different parts of the brakes. There it is, that's the more detail. ☡ What's weird is whenever a different topic—transmission fluid—comes up, we can rely on Mendel to give the information about the manufacturer-spec'd ATF-WS fluid. Those threads also discuss other products people might personally use and like, which is great, but readers do have a right to be informed what the manufacturer's spec is, so they can make their own informed decisions. Mendel does understand that, as so many of those transmission threads clearly show. I wonder if it would be fun for me to post in each new transmission thread "there is a Toyota-spec'd lube for this; someone may be along shortly with more detail on that" and then wait to see if Mendel ends up posting the "more detail" that I left out even though I also knew it. I could have the fun of wasting someone's time! I haven't tried it! Maybe that's why I just don't get how much fun it is.
