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2012 2LT Sticking Caliper Slides?

8079 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  MeltingPlastic
Okay guys, so I did the brakes on my Cruze and i noticed that even after changing the rubber on my passenger side caliper slide, it appears to stick. I see no marring or anything on the guide so I'm a bit confused here. Should I just swap out new pins all around since it'll take all of 5 minutes or is it normal for the top pin with the rubber to not slide back out like the other pin?
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Could you explain the issue a bit further? Maybe some pictures?
It should slide out but you don't need to replace them. You need to pull them out and clean and grease them.
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so here's the history:

- 55k miles i have a bad shutter due to warping the rotors (i live in a highly hilly area and I'm a pretty aggressive driver) so i pull the rotors, have them turned, clean out the bracket and pins, regrease and install new pads
- 65k miles, notice that i have excessive wear on the passenger side pad (tons of brake dust on the rim), pull the tire and notice that one pad is shot while the other is pretty good. Check and notice that the one pin is not floating but basically stuck compressed in (the pin with the rubber). I change the pads and rotors out, clean out the pin and housing again feel a bit uncomfortable about the pin when i reinstall it. It just doesn't seem to float like i would expect (press the pin in and it pushes back out).
- 70k miles, pull my winter tires and decide to check on the brakes again, notice that the pin is seized into one position. force the pin out using a hammer and screw driver to brake it free. Still see no damage to the pin so i change the rubber, clean and regrease, and reinstall the pads. I still feel a bit uneasy about how when i push the pin in, it doesnt seem to want to come out.

I'm using the following grease and maybe that's my issue? but i've used it on other vehicles with no problems before.




This is the first time i've ever worked on a car that has this rubber tip on one of the slides so maybe it's not supposed to be as free floating as the other pin? just seemed odd that it really didn't want to budge. I've ordered a new set of pins and hardware and plan to change them out when they arrive but maybe i'm missing something else?
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Just my opinion: first, you probably didn't have warped rotors, but most likely you didn't torque the wheels correctly when you rotated or changed them. Use a star pattern and torque to 100 ftlb or about 3k miles later you will start to feel a shudder when braking which will get worse. Your new rotors will probably do this in about 3k miles if you don't tigthten the wheels correctly. Check out this page:

Raybestos Brake Tech School, Part One: Rotors Don't Warp | Hendon Publishing

I had sticky pins once on another car. I cleaned them, made sure they slid freely and used a good high temp wheel bearing grease and never had the problem again. They also had the rubber sleeve.
I've been working on cars since I was 17/18. Trust me the rotors were warped, it had nothing to do with loose lugs which I always torque to 100ft-lb in a star pattern....
And pulsing was probably a better term to use than shutter
I've been working on cars since I was 17/18. Trust me the rotors were warped, it had nothing to do with loose lugs which I always torque to 100ft-lb in a star pattern....
And pulsing was probably a better term to use than shutter
i suggest reading the article. A lot of people don't believe it, but many engineers say it's not possible to warp rotors with braking. You would need to hear them so hot that the tires caught on fire, and then quelch them with cold water. I recommend having an open mind before just dismissing this because you have worked on cars before.
Could too much caliper grease be in the rubber boot, causing a suction effect? Are you thinking it's the pins, when really it's the upper and lower stainless steel clips that the bottom and the top of the pad ride in.

That product says compatible with caliper pins, but I've seen some products like greases eat away at the rubber boot. I don't think that would cause issues sliding, but it would allow moisture to get in there and cause corrosion. That could cause issues.
carbon2 could be right, to much grease is not good either. I did that one time to much grease caused the caliper not to sit right. I felt it before I was 3 house from me turned around & was like WTF. I rechecked everything & came up w/ to much grease in the drivers front. I make these syringes filled w/ what ever i'm doing. it makes for a very clean job.
It's definitely not the clips that hold the pad in. I'm seeing this issue with the caliper removed. I have purchased new pins and I'll take a video when I change them out hopefully of it showing how it was seized. Either way, for the $10, I don't think it's a bad investment for 20mins worfh of work
Is the rubber tip in the right hole? I'm not sure on ours but most (that I've worked on minus Nissan) put the rubber on the bottom, the idea being it'll act as a buffer for vibration (engineers?)

also i always have 2 greases for brakes one for the shims for the pads and one for the slides, I've always used slide grease similar to the posted pic, and one like yours for the pads themselves. Product Skin care Material property Personal care Cream

Make sure to spray brake cleaner in the holes, and shove a rag in there with a screw driver on it to get it all out, and you realistically only need a light coating on the new ones,

Best of luck
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The problem I have is the first time I did the brakes I wasn't paying attention to the pins when I pulled them and noticed the rubber later on. From pictures people have posted the rubber is on top, if they are on the bottom, I will swap them no problem but have never had 100% confirmation from an exploded view of anything
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