Rear Brake Sliders

Pedro_Diaz

I have an 02 SRi Astra with rear Lucas brake callipers. I recently changed the pads and rotors and have a couple of questions:

One of the pins has a rubber bushing towards the end of the pin. On one side of the car the "rubber pin" was used as the top pin while on the other side it was the bottom...talk about hedging your bets:rolleyes: The only reference I could find to where the pin should go was from the online Vauxhall service manual which mentions it with regards to replacing it with a plain metal pin if the rear brakes are noisy. In the manual it says it is the top pin. Does anyone know if this is in fact the correct position or if it even matters?
I found the "rubber pin" a little stiff to move in and out of its hole despite being well lubricated with specific synthetic calliper lube. It wasn't as stiff with the original lube which seemed a bit thinner than the calliper lube I used. It is as stiff in both the upper or lower holes and is the same on both sides of the car. The metal pin slides easy. I'm a little worried I may have damaged the rubber when I was cleaning off the old lube as I finished with a quick spray of brake cleaner. I'm hoping it's just the new lube being more tacky and it won't cause the pin to stick as I was still able to slide the pin using moderate finger strength.

Cheers

evocarlos

hey
from what i remember of doing my rear brakes pads some time ago
the rubber bit was on the top pin both sides and was firm to remove due to the rubber being bigger than the pin its self
also note normally its not necessary to remove the pins to change the pads and discs just the caliper from the carrier and then the carrier from the hub
but adding a blob of grease to the pins wont hurt as long as its not copper slip it makes the rubbers swell

i have recently changed my rear calipers to Lucas mk5 and they have 2 metal pins with out rubbers
(there alot noisier than the old set that had the rubber pip)

Pedro_Diaz

Thanks evocarlos...huge relief to hear that the rubber pin is supposed to be a little stiff. Will need to swap the pins around as I think I put them around the other way. I wasn't planning on messing with the pins, but when I was removing the caliper I accidentally pulled back the boots and introduced some dirt. Probably for the best given the age of the car. Thanks again for your speedy answer :-)

evocarlos

Pedro Diaz said:
Thanks evocarlos...huge relief to hear that the rubber pin is supposed to be a little stiff. Will need to swap the pins around as I think I put them around the other way. I wasn't planning on messing with the pins, but when I was removing the caliper I accidentally pulled back the boots and introduced some dirt. Probably for the best given the age of the car. Thanks again for your speedy answer 🙂

no problem 🙂
im not sure it matters where there placed top or bottom maybe some one can confirm for certain

bit more food for thought 🙂
http://vauxhall.workshop-manuals.com/astra-g/index.php?id=1219

Pedro_Diaz

That's the bit of the manual I saw too. There's lots of debate on other car forums regarding where it should go and it doesn't seem to make much difference either way. The only cogent explanation on why it should go on the top is it makes it easier to change the pads when you have to withdraw the pin to swing the caliper out of the way. Not an issue with these calipers as they have a separate bolt. Might flip them anyway as I can see it bugging me and it won't be a big job given it will still be nice and clean.

evocarlos

in that web link it says top for the rubber pins 🙂
the other option is now you have it clean is to pop to your local vx and get the metal pins and swap them out

Pedro_Diaz

I'll stick with the rubber ones for the moment as I didn't have any rear noise with them. I'm also in Australia so going to the local VX is a bit far :-D Holden which sells the Astra down here is notoriously over priced and poorly stocked too.

evocarlos

Pedro Diaz said:
I'll stick with the rubber ones for the moment as I didn't have any rear noise with them. I'm also in Australia so going to the local VX is a bit far :-D Holden which sells the Astra down here is notoriously over priced and poorly stocked too.

ahh right well yes that would be an issue vx is a long long way a way lol
as you say the rubber ones will be fine now with the new grease
did you paint the calipers ? i like them in red 🙂

Pedro_Diaz

Unfortunately don't have much time to do stuff like that. Yours look very pretty though and love the look of your coupé...wish they released that model in Australia.

evocarlos

Pedro Diaz said:
Unfortunately don't have much time to do stuff like that. Yours look very pretty though and love the look of your coupé...wish they released that model in Australia.

thanks 🙂
shame they did not do it down there, there's always the Holden Astra (TS) convertible but then we never saw the HSV Maloo R8 ute 🙂

Pedro_Diaz

Well so much for keeping the rubber pins...went to swap them around and the rubber ones are nice and stuck. I'm guessing the synthetic calliper grease I bought is just too tacky and the rubber has stuck to the inside of the hole. The pins spin but I can't for the life of me get them to budge. Will try spraying some silicone spray lubricant in the hole and hope that it may free them up. Now to source some metal pins from my local stealership :-(

evocarlos

if you get stuck let me know and i,ll send you some over
may take a while but if you cant find any in a beakers yard its another option

Pedro_Diaz

Thanks for the offer mate, your a champ. Not to worry though, eBay has them for $28 delivered. There is a local self-serve wreckers that I frequent where I can get both rear brakes for the same price. I think I'll go down that path in case I damage the mounting bracket trying to remove the stuck pin. Should be able to sell the callipers to recoup the costs.

Pedro_Diaz

I managed to unstick the pins by gently heating the bracket with a small blow torch and pulling on them with vice-grips. The rubber bushings looked OK, but even with thinner rubber grease they were still quite stiff. I picked up a set of pins (metal only) from the local wrecker and have installed them. Much happier with how they slide and I don't seem to have any noise issues although time will tell.

evocarlos

cool glad you got it sorted 🙂