Quote:
Originally Posted by CrowsFeast
I think you're misunderstanding what I was describing. The pin moved freely but was 'bottoming out' on the old grease inside the guide hole. once that grease was removed (pulled out when it stuck top the tip of the pin) the pin was able to go all the way in to the guide hole as well as moving freely.
The pin itself is metal at the end but has a ribbed plastic sleeve for about 1" near the tip. Found a picture of a similar one (no hex portion on ours, just 2 flats)
Piston boots and guide pin boots were good; metal clips for guiding the pads were replaced and greased.
I've done a number of brake jobs on a number of vehicles. That's part of what makes it so frustrating when a simple job like replacing brake rotors and pads becomes a long drawn out pain. 
I think I now prefer the setup I had on my german cars; pins are screwed into the caliper bracket and the caliper glided on the pins as opposed to this setup where the pins are bolted to the calipers and the pins glide on the mounting bracket. No way for air/grease/etc to get stuck inside the glide hole. |
So you like Conti FSIII (Golf) setup, seems like. Their ZN is also good. I like Colette types for other reasons (mainly related performance).
Now I got what you meant, and I never saw a similar failure, with the grease loosing their properties to a point that becomes a impediment for the guide pin to bottom (i would expect the grease to move and create space).
Whenever I have to rotate the tires, I will take a look on those brakes (I think those are Tokico’s, but need to verify). See if they have anything unusual.
Two flats on guide pin is not ideal…