On my teg I was redoing the rear brakes, and I noticed that one of the pin boots is soft and supple, while the other one is rock hard. I'm talkin about the actual in and out motion. Is this how it's supposed to be (to keep the pad at an angle), or is this a faulty caliper... it is like this on both sides, and on both sides it is the top one that is immovable. Thanks.

 

I'm not familiar with what you're talking about. Can you describe this pin boot a little more?

 

Sorry for the poor description... On the rear caliper bracket (as well as the fronts) there are two pin bolts ( I guess that's what they're called)..They seem to be well lubricated and the slide almost like pistons. One of those bolts, which also has a rubber boot around it, was frozen on each of my rear calipers deeming them useless. Man it took like two hours to get that damned bolt out, and it was only after a friend suggested I heat the thing up, that it actually moved. So I screwed up the boot on one of them, then I went down to the acura dealership to get a new boot. In the manual it says to replace everytime you change the breaks, so I said to the guy "I need 8 boots, 4 for the front, and 4 for the rear." I'm expecting to get ripped off... I'm gonna have to pay 2 bucks a piece, it's gonna be like 16 bucks... expensive for what they are, but what the hell... Guy comes back and goes "We only sell them with the other rubber parts of the caliper, it comes as a kit, 30 dollars per wheel." So as I peeled out of the dealership I thought about how to fix the situation... I ended up getting some metal wire, and taking the old boot and strapping it on... seemed to work fine, we'll see how long it lasts. Once I smooth out the issues with the car, I'll post pics online.

 

You dont need to replace them with every brake job. Only when they fail. Just like it says you need an oil change every 3k miles. Unless its got high miles or your in extreme weather conditions, its safe to go over 3k. Just dont let that turn into 10k like my friends sister. But ya, you might want to replace them instead of ghetto-rigging it. You'll regret it in the end. And replace only the ones worn out.

 

you can also try and get one or some from a junk yard, just curious to what part of the country your from, sounds like maybe it was subjected to alot of snow / salt or alot of water / rain ? maybe that's what froze up the bolts

 

Took 11 years for them to go on one of the calipers on my old 91 maxima. And that had close to 100k miles on it.

 

I'm from Boston. The car has 140,000 miles and it was driven very softly by an old man... the brakes hadn't been replaced in over 50,000 miles (according to the guy... who knows)... So when I went in to replace the pads and rotors I found the issue. So after heating with a torch and freeing the pin, I used a gun barrel brush to clean out the inside, I also degreased it, then refilled with grease, brushed down the pin with steel wool and it was looking fairly polished. Yesterday I drove around for ten miles or so on the seized caliper, I didn't know anything was wrong til I got out and the rears were smoking. Now I'm wondering if the caliper is working properly. Today I took it up to sixty (on the highway for about three miles) then I let it coast to a stop without using my brakes... I could touch the rotors, but they were warm...should they be cool? The reason I ask is because I want to know if those 'pin rods' are allowing enough of a reduction in pressure on the brakes when I release. I know the pads are always resting on the rotors, but enough to cause the rotors to warm??? Thanks for your help everyone and sorry for the long post..

 

When the ones on the maxima finally failed they wouldnt allow the calliper to compress completely, resulting in wear on the outside pads and almost no wear on the inside. If you're are getting stuck going back in you could be getting a very very slight rub of the pads and the heat is transfering through that. Also remember, driving at high speeds will generate some heat. Even without braking. Nature of physics.

 

I have a similar problem with the top bolt of the caliper bracket being stuck.....are there any suggestions other than torcing since I dont have a torch.....I have tried to hammer and using penetrating liquid to no avail.