Brake guide pins keep sticking – how I solved. Opinions?

[My Nameis]

I have a 98 Honda Civic Ex. I changed my pads and rotors little over a year ago and went as far as changing the rubber boots for the guide pins as well as the rubber piece on the two top pins.

I used silicone paste on the guide pins but noticed the top ones with the rubber piece would be incredibly hard to push in and once in they would slowly spring out about an inch. Bottoms with no rubber moved freely like they should.

I drove around figured they’d work themselves loose but the opposite happened. They’d seize every month and I’d get a pulsating noise at low braking speeds.

Finally I removed the rubber piece but that just introduced a “clunk” noise when braking.

What I decided to do was, cut a 1/8” slit off the rubber pieces so they went from being a complete O shape to a C shape.

This allowed the pins to freely move in the bore and compress the rubber just a hair bit smaller in diameter. It wasn’t binding when moving with my hand and a test drive confirmed it was a good work around.

I’m curious your thoughts about what I did as I couldn’t find any threads anywhere of the “fix” though lots of people seem to have run into this issue and they ended up just removing the rubber and dealing with any noise.

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

JMHO here,
I’m assuming you cut the rubber guide at the end of the caliper pin.
In many cases that rubber is used to reduce the amount of play and help eliminate rattle between the pin itself and the bore it slides into.
Being you ” cut a 1/8” slit off the rubber ”
You now have given the pin the ability to go off center within the pin bore and allow the rubber guide to come off the end of the pin and possibly jam into the end of the pin bore.

To address your issues:
[color=orange][i]I used silicone paste on the guide pins but noticed the top ones with the rubber piece would be incredibly hard to push in and once in they would slowly spring out about an inch. Bottoms with no rubber moved freely like they should.
[/i][/color]
I would venture to guess that you applied too much paste and caused a hydraulic lock condition.
A light coating is all that is required and the pin should completely seat itself with no real effort.
Next thing is in many cases you’ll need to burp the air from the caliper pin boot to allow the pin to fully go in.
I might also suggest you inspect the pin bores and clean them if you see rust build up.

[My Nameis]

I tried everything to get the pin to move easily. From completely cleaning the bore and using as little silicone as possible to even buying another set of the rubbers. It still had resistance and would slowly push itself out.

The cut I made allowed the rubber to compress more and reduce the overall diameter. I don’t think it’ll bind or come off because the bore keeps it compressed around the pin groove.

There also was no play at all as I tested it with my hands. It was just a nice fit and allowed movement.

I guess time will tell how well it works but my brakes feel a lot better and more sensitive than before.

I’m not sure if the rubber guides they sell are just a tad too big for some cars? Maybe next time I’ll try oem and see if it’s any better

[Author]

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