How Long Have Your Brakes Lasted?
#61
05-26-2017, 06:02 AM
Re: How Long Have Your Brakes Lasted?
I have had an interesting development regarding my brakes. I figured I would share it here for all.
My TCH recently passed 270,000 miles and it has been a while since I have done my "brake pad and slide pin service". Before we took a long trip last week, as I was rotating the tires, I serviced each set of slide pins and cleaned/re-applied paste to the backs of all the brake pads. My "calibrated eyeball" says that pad life is still over 50% (probably closer to 60%) on the original pads and the rotors still look beautiful. HOWEVER, I found that every single slide pin was stuck or just about seized. The lower pins at every wheel were so stiff, I had to use pliers to work them out of the bore!
What I have surmised is that the lower slide pin has a "wide and grooved" o-ring on the tip of the slide pin. This o-ring has swelled over time and is not allowing proper back and forth movement of the of the caliper in the caliper bracket.
For our trip, I removed the o-rings from the pins so the brakes could function normally. I plan to go to Toyota this week and see if I can get replacement o-rings. But, I'm betting that I'm probably going to have to buy all the pins as the o-ring is probably part of the "assembly" that includes the pins.
My guess is that age and/or the wrong type of lubricant/grease is what has caused the o-rings to swell. FWIW I have always cleaned the pins and bores with "brake kleen" and lubed the pins with SuperLube Synthetic Grease.
My TCH recently passed 270,000 miles and it has been a while since I have done my "brake pad and slide pin service". Before we took a long trip last week, as I was rotating the tires, I serviced each set of slide pins and cleaned/re-applied paste to the backs of all the brake pads. My "calibrated eyeball" says that pad life is still over 50% (probably closer to 60%) on the original pads and the rotors still look beautiful. HOWEVER, I found that every single slide pin was stuck or just about seized. The lower pins at every wheel were so stiff, I had to use pliers to work them out of the bore!
What I have surmised is that the lower slide pin has a "wide and grooved" o-ring on the tip of the slide pin. This o-ring has swelled over time and is not allowing proper back and forth movement of the of the caliper in the caliper bracket.
For our trip, I removed the o-rings from the pins so the brakes could function normally. I plan to go to Toyota this week and see if I can get replacement o-rings. But, I'm betting that I'm probably going to have to buy all the pins as the o-ring is probably part of the "assembly" that includes the pins.
My guess is that age and/or the wrong type of lubricant/grease is what has caused the o-rings to swell. FWIW I have always cleaned the pins and bores with "brake kleen" and lubed the pins with SuperLube Synthetic Grease.
Thread
Topic Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
