Dont make this mistake when you grease you caliper sliding pins | typical mechanic TIP 

I've done brakes both professionally and on my own vehicles for over 30 years and I was taught to wipe off the tips of the pins so it acts as a reservoir for grease once the pads start to wear. I never questioned it, but just did it as habit. Your explanation makes more sense to me. Different reason, but same result.

There seems to be enough clearance between the pin and the bore for excess grease to get out under pressure otherwise the pins would not go into the bore with the bushing, also, the bushings have groves which is probably by design to prevent hydrolocking..

You can put as many grease as you want, the excess will be trown out when you first put the pin into the caliper, there is enough clearance. Actually the most important thing is to clean the pin and the bore from the old grease before puting new one. Especially for older cars where a wrong grease might be used.

just here to confess that after 3 infuriating bracket rebuilds, failures & then replacements due to seized pins giving me major issues - i stumbled upon your video & have been forced to come to terms with the harsh reality that the issue was never the caliper, pins, etc. the issue is me. i’m the issue. & the ungodly & horrifically wrong globs of grease that i swore had to be applied in order for the pins to work. ( ps i am currently mid brake job #3 (go figure) & almost threw the wheels back on … changed my plans & now have all 4 brackets back on the bench lmao ) thanks for the video & saving myself hopefully another brake job . i learned something

Good tip (literally). One thing I always do is move the pin in and out fully while putting it all back together.

I learned this a long time ago and it's a good tip. You should always check the pins and lube them. Also, before starting the brake job you should buy a boot kit and have it on hand in case you need it. Sometimes the boots are cracked or "swollen" and they need to be replaced. If water gets in, that's gonna wash out the grease and cause the caliper to stick.

That's why there's flat spots on the sides of the pins. Also, there's no seals along the pin and it's not an interference fit so there's clearance for grease to escape. Good concern but invalid. Pump it in with your hands a few times to ensure it's bottoming out.

Wow! Actually spilling the beans on the machanic game! Very true. Thank you for your expert advice. I always wondered why this was happening to my vehicles. Less is better.

the truest statement ever from a mechanic... "less is more"!

Yep, used to grease the complete pin! Thanks for this, makes perfect sense!👍

Side issue. My wife's brakes have little rubber booties to protect against brake dust entering the caliper pin channel. But one wasn't installed properly at the factory. By the time I discovered it the brake dust had entered and it had been jammed for a while causing uneven brake wear. It was fixable but very hard to yank out. So make sure if you have rubber bootie protectors that they are reinstalled correctly.

Hey I appreciate ur honesty and expertise on this thank you,!

That is a good tip. I am experienced and the light bulb came on right away. This is the kind of content people need right here. Great vid

Always use the silicone grease as shown. They dont dry out like the standard grease.

You da man! Great pro tip! Got it done right today, all 4 on my wife’s 14 odyssey and all 4 on son’s 06 pilot. Piece of cake, cause of your helpful videos!

Thank you for that tip! It just showed me what the problem is with my back break pad, that i changed 2 years ago!!!!

Good day all the expert mechanics, As a lic.mechanic by trade myself, The brake pins serve few things #1. By allowing the caliper slide Sideways freely without holding Or dragging when braking. #2. The O-ring on the pin is to absorb the pulsation,noise making while braking.some O-ring does has grove which allow excessive lubricant to pass through.ofcourse we don't lube the end pin with tons Of lubricant. right. #3. Some late model Ford build vehicles or trucks has a rubber damper built-in sliding pin on rear brake calipers.It serve the same purposes.

When you grease the pins, you have to push the excess back into the boot when you check the movement of the slide pins before re installation. Boots come from the factory with grease on the tip. Obviously. It moves!! It needs grease

Thank you for this video. Excellent exposition of a little-known but very important issue.

Good tip, RB, thanks! I'll keep it in mind when i do my brakes this year.

I always grease 'm up real good also on the end never ever had a problem

I've always maintained my own vehicles and although I dont use the amount of grease that you did there,I've never had any problems greasing the entire pin. We do drive in alot of snow,slush,ice,and rain too. Just a dab will do ya.

Thanks! Was wondering why after replacing one goes in all the way and the other doesn't. Now I've realised and fixed my mistake, thanks to you.

Very important detail that even most mechanics doesn’t know. Thanks for sharing.

So I always test-slide the pins from full depth to the limit of the boot stretch after installing and wiggle them around a bit to distribute the grease inside. You will feel any unwanted hydraulic pressure that way. But only so much is needed; any excess will have to be squeezed out and wasted.

Excellent tip! That’s something most do it yourselfers wouldn’t realize.

hey man thanks for posting... had problems with brakes and caliper pins and after changing this, my pads wear evenly... big win for me... Thanks!!!

The clearance is a little low between the bore and the pin but there is already grease in the bore when you insert the pin so there will be grease at the end of the pin anyways. Really a mute point to worry about the hydraulic pressure is so high in brakes it will force the grease past the pin to the side. Just do the same to each pin for even braking. biggest thing when doing brakes is make sure you clean things up so parts don't hang up and inspect your boots. Torn boots can alow moisture where you don't want it allowing pins and pistons to rust together and seize preventing movement. If a car sits a lot in Northern states there are places to put grease like where the pad slides on the hardware. This is a choice of the lesser of 2 evils.... it can create binding but also prevent pads from rusting to the hardware. There are coatings or just stainless steel materials used to prevent this though northern technicians know this all to well coatings or stainless doesn't mean it can't rust.... it will. Work to the conditions you deal with to provide the best outcome. Depending on the environment you live in depends on the problems you deal with I have had to replace axles when doing wheel bearings due to the condition of the end of the axle and the axle nut where the threads have rusted away and rust is the only reason it's still together. Snow and salt are not your friend. So biggest thing before starting a job inspect and identify issues. While doing the job clean, use the proper materials for the job and DO NOT CUT CORNERS.

Great video 👨🏽‍🔧 thank you for the lesson 👏🏽

Thanks for the heads up and good looking out brother. Much appreciated.

Great tip. Plus pulling out the pins will be harder because the grease makes a suction vacuum effect.

My experience is that a slightly sticky or seized caliper pin will cause a pad to wear unevenly. Most if not all times it seems to be the lower pin that is close to all the winter road slop.

Thanks for posting this video. I'll keep this tip in mind next time I replace my brake pads.

Great, great tip. That makes total sense…Thank you!

Excess grease is forced out in the designs I have worked with. There is usually excess bore length for the pins so grease on the tip unless it is really thick and not forced out when installing shouldn't be an issue.

Good advice. What I did ( being carefully not to scrape inner bore) is to wrap rag around screw driver and clean inner sides of bore. You will be surprised how much dirt and grime this reveals (using turning corkscrew method.)

You have shown us how to "blueprint" our brake caliper mount! (making sure the assembly is true to/and square) ¡Bravo! y gracias

Great video Sir. Too much of a good thing is not always good. Sometimes less is more. Keep up these great videos. Some of us really appreciate them. Cheers. 👍🇨🇦

In normal use the pins dont go all the way in anyway. This is a totally pointless thing to worry about.

Great vid. The grease you use is top notch. Using the wrong products will cause the rubber boots to swell up and allow moisture inside to cause corrosion.

Thanks for the Tip.I appreciate you.

Thanks for pointing this out, never given this thought before and it will help me with other repairs😊.

Perfect. Right to the point. You didn't take 10 minutes to tell us what you did in 2 and a half.

He is right about too much grease. It seems like it should be able to work passed the pin. But it doesn't it stays down in the end and creates a bit of pressure. If you try pushing the pin in all the way with the finger it will push back out. Almost as if it has a bit of spring pressure. You don't want that. It's not a huge problem. But yeah it may cause uneven pad wear to some degree. Also I live near buffalo NY and things rust worse here than I think anywhere else in the country. Due to temperature changes, humid summers, and wet slushy winter roads. Which they dump enormous amounts of salt on. The bigger issue around here is people not cleaning the pad slide surfaces on the caliper brackets. The rust accumulates and seizes the pads to be stuck in one place. And alot of times people will just hit the old pads out with a hammer and then squeeze or pound the new ones in to that tight surface. You can take files or screw drivers and scrape all that out. But I guy taught me long ago that a quick and easy method is to clamp the bracket in a bench vise and use a cut off wheel. It will fit down into the grooves and you just gently go back and forth until you get to bare metal. Then he would spray paint the grooves and then grease the ears of the pads. I have even had brand new pads that were mishapen from the factory and I have had to file or grind the down a touch to fit and slide nicely.

Hehehe! Good rule of thumb as you never want to over grease!! He is doing the opposite of what he should thought the sliding pins are designed to not only slide back and forth but also to create air compression to aid on springing the calipers to the open position, that combined with the break line vacuum suction is the mechanism used to spring the calipers back open. Not doing it causes premature wear of pads and rotors and it could also cause rotors to overheat leading to reduced braking capacity all the way up to break failure and early rotor deformities. It also causes break pads to wear unevenly which will cause early replacement necessary, that is when you get on the same set one side of the pad is fully gone and the other still has plenty of meat left. This is where the extra PROPER step really matter.

I've been working on my own cars for years and never knew this. Thank you.

Ive seen pins that did not slide and this causes brake issues. Primarily to have the pins sliding is the goal.

Wow I can’t believe I’m doing break for a long time and I never realize that but thank you so much for that tips every day we learn something new 👍👍👍

Good video I over greased my break caliper pins before, been there done that.

I've been doing it wrong for years... I see now. Thank you for this video.

I've actually had this happen before where that small amount of grease at the end of the pin causes the pin to not seat in far enough. So when I went to install the caliper again, it was creating pressure causing the wheel to lock up. I was so confused trying to figure out why the wheel wasn't spinning freely when the caliper was on. Until I realized the caliper was at a slight angle from that top pin pushing out more than the bottom. That small amount of grease at the end of the pin caused an air pocket which didn't let the pin slide in far enough.

I think it depends somewhat on the design of the slides. On my car the pins are flanged and inserted through the calipers through a pair of one-piece rubber through-hole tubes, sealed on both ends plus including a boot on both ends of each. Tightening the pin just clamps the edges of the boots to the caliper and the head of the pin. Too much grease? No problem, it just spits out if it has to.

I made this same mistake and it took 2 sets of front pads to find out. Doh! Great content! Subscribed!

You are right thats exactly what happened with me today and the caliper like compression really bad on the pads

I'm a retired mechanic and have been doing brakes for a very long time. I never had a problem by putting a little grease on the tip of the pin. Do you really think the manufacturer designed the pins to bottom out inside the caliper bore? There is clearance inside the bores for a little grease. 40+ years of experience.

Two things to think about: First, I don't believe the fitment is tight enough to not allow the grease at the tip to be pushed back....unless you were to put an insanely huge amount of grease on the top. Second: grease is actually pretty sticky..... you'd be surprised at how much brake dust, and other debris, will end up getting stuck to it and eventually cause the pin to not slide anymore. I think cleaning the pin is better.

Good advice! I just learned something.

You, are correct, sir. Done the front brakes, on 96 Chrysler intrepid. I done it, the error way. Sometimes, the brake light comes, on ; most times it does not. I put grease, where it DIDN'T NEED TO GO, on those ends. THANKS, SO MUCH for your time, based on hands-on experience. I stronlgy support, ANYONE working with their ' hands '. click click

great tip, all the years of changing brakes, never thought about the grease build up and the travel distance. thanks again

Cool. I do my own brakes most of the time (ridiculously easy on some cars). I'm generally careful to be sure not to leave any 'dry' spots on those pins but don't get carried away otherwise. Great tip to watch the tip does not get greased. Thank you.

Thanks for the video. Very useful.

Great tip buddy . Thanks

So rust free. Must be a dream to do car maintenance without having to worry about things breaking, seizing, making a huge mess.

The only reason for pin movement is for the caliper assembly to center up on the friction surfaces when there is no pressure applied and also upon release. The assembly doesnt bottom out the pins when braking is applied. Also, as the outside pad wears, the pins actually move further out of the bore. The most important thing is to clean all of the old grease out of the pin bores with a small round brush and obviously the pins themselves.

Thanks for making this. Its not that the grease doesn't compress, its that the air at the end of the side hole can't escape so its the air that compresses and pushes back. Its even worse when people use copper slip. A thick gloopy air seal until the heat evaporates the grease and leaves a stick abrasive paste behind.

Brilliant 🤩 thank you for the demo and info 👍🏼 from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I know it is too late for a response being a 1-year-old thread, but for future DIY freaks, here is an insight. I had a confounding problem with my Chevy Cruze Diesel for more than 6 months when the calipers would not release after lifting the foot off the brake pedal once it got to high temperatures. The brake assembly used to be serviced the usual way at the authorized service centre by greasing the slide pins with appropriate grease from many different brands, but to no avail. The mechanic then felt it was the synthetic brake cylinder seal, but that too was not the culprit. I then decided to do a DIY of the problem and found out that the caliper pins were not the problem at all and neither was the piston rubber seal. The actual issue was with the front disc brake alloy pistons of the brake caliper assembly. Do not ask me why but the composition of the piston used in the Cruze Diesel in Bhaarath (India) was suspect as it enlarged minutely over time (it was not the brake cylinder rusting); I sanded it down and then cleaned it thoroughly and put back the assembly, and it has been a smooth ride ever since. Fuel efficiency too has gone up from 9kmpl to 14kmpl as there was severe drag from the brakes. Acceleration too has gone up by leaps and bounds. In my particular case, the piston was the culprit and not the sliding caliper pins, brake cylinder or the brake cylinder synthetic seal.

I kept having rotors become warped because the black rubber bushing ballooned over time. I removed mine completely and new brakes don't have the problems the previous brake kit had.

Thanks for sharing.. I didnt know this

Learned something new today. Thanks

Thanks for the tip, I always wondered why brake pads ware out unevenly on slider calipers.

The real problem is.......don't over-grease. Did you get that? Don't over-grease. DON'T DO IT!

When you pull out the pins, there’s always grease on the end. It’s typically cleaner than the grease on the sides. I call shenanigans on this entire video. Diagonal wear is caused by binding, not have grease on the end of the pin.

Thanks buddy. That is helpful. Australia loves you.

I was thinking the whole time what can this guy teach me about brakes I don’t already know. The grease at the end prevents the caliper from sliding. Nice video👍

This is a great tip. I definitely made that mistake in the past. Thanks

I go one further, I'll grease the pins, install them in the caliper bracket and move them back and forth a bit, pull them out, and spray a bit of aerokroil in the bore. Work the pins in again, it helps to liquefy the grease a little so the grease can't act like a seal not allowing the pin to move freely thru the entire bore. The outer rubber boot keeps it all in after assembly, and rust doesn't stand a chance. The combination of the grease and the aerokroil keeps it loose enough when brake heat warms it up.

Excellent video. Right to the point and very detailed explanation. Thanks

👍 good tip. Thanks!

Quit useing brake grease/ caliper grease when I would not find it , missing or pretty much gone all over all , switched to Antiseize for both calibers on the cars , truck and Piper with outstanding results for darn near 50 years , very happy with the results , great video , well done !. start my neighbor spray gun oil on his trailer hubs " because they were squeaking " , a Darwin winner

Yes but no, there is plenty of slap between the pin and cylinder to force the excess grease out. The pin closest to the road, most prone to water damage, has the extra rubber bushing. But even that rubber bushing has ridges and not 100% tight. I thought you were going to warn against brake cleaner on the guides. The brake cleaner will swell the rubber bushing and make it near impossible to reinsert, in most cases forcing the mechanic to remove it and just add extra grease in its place. That is cheating. Here in Germany we just replace the pins, rotor, and gaskets every time we do a brake job. These parts cost nothing. A new rotor, guide pins, rubber gaskets, brake pads, is tops 200 bucks front and back. The labor cost remains the same. Nice video.

I used copper grease on top pin but found despite the so called high melting point..the grease had dried up after a year compared to the silicon grease I used on the lower pin..the result was uneven brake pad wear on the top of brake pad..also if you put to much grease on ( any grease) you'll find it creates an air lock and pin will not slide in place fully.

Thanks for the tip!

Excellent tip, thanks!

@RB The Mechanic thanks for the important tip on this specific + crucial detail. I'm just wondering for the pins you were using a silicone based grease, in your opinion how important is it to use silicone based vs copper vs aluminum? I currently have the permatex aluminum grease. Thanks for your time.

I use DuPont Molykote grease made specifically for brake caliper pins. Silicone generally doesn’t last long. Thanks. Good tip. Grease does not compress. I didn’t think of that. Very cool.

Thanks for that tip!

thank you. you're a very wise man.

It's that pin that has the rubber seal on the tip - that seal will compress with too much grease in front of it and will not allow grease to escape as some have stated in other comment. You're tip here is so important!! I learned it the hard way on my first couple Mazdas, which had crappy brakes to start with.

Caliper pins are pulled out of the bores when brakes are applied not pushed in.

Thank You! Your videos are very helpful!

Hi RB, I totally agree! Do not use too much. Dave...

Thank you my friend, that is a fantastic tip 👍🏻😎👍🏻

Reading these comments… ACTUALLY IM A MECHANIC BLA BLA🤣🤣

Man i learn something new today !i was wrong on my brake jobs all this time :) thanks a lot for the trick!! awesome!:)salutation from Montreal,Québec👍👍👍👍👍

Also you don't want too much excess so that it doesn't create too much resistance for the master cylinder to push against. You really want that sweet spot where travelling it all the way in and out is possible but it offers resistance on both ends of its travel. The way I get it right everytime is by brushing the silicone grease on the pin freely than after cleaning the guiding hole I insert the pin as far as it goes by hand (it should spring back before going all the way (what causes that is the excess grease) if it doesn't do that you need more grease... Than pull the pin out wipe excess off of its tip if it is a threaded tip or not depending on the vehicle you treat it the same way by whipping the tip off until it is clean of any grease on the tip than stick it in. The job is done. That I have figured out over time is the most fool proof way to get it right everytime and the calipers work at their best when lubed correctly. If you always do it like that your calipers will never seize, also lubricate the pistons directly with a thin layer and lubricate back of pads clips and sliding guides for the pads with a thin layer. Once piston rubber seals loock cracked block fluid line replace them and bleed the system. Do it like that and they will last longer than the car functioning perfectly everytime at peak of its capabilities. Breaks, gearbox, diff, trans, timing, cooling procedure really matters and extend greatly the life of the vehicle. Always check all aspects of the entire system you are working on, mechanical, electrical, hydraulics and I always also consider corrosion factors.

Good for that type of pin. Some pins have three flats that run the length. In that case excess grease will find its way out.

What if the guide pins have several flat sides? Doesn't that allow air and even grease to flow more freely?

Great tip. Thank you and I will use it tomorrow.

Thank you! I think that happened to me. My cars pads are very uneven AND had differing greases between pins. A half arsed job.