I'm in the process of changing my rear brake pads and upon putting everything back together I noticed that one of my driver side rear caliper pins is seized. The top one moves freely if I push or pull it with my fingers but the bottom requires SIGNIFICANT force (you need to hammer it to even make it move just a fraction of an inch). Upon visual inspection without removing the boot, it appears to be very well lubricated with lots of lube outside of the boot which would believe leaked out. Anyone had a similar problem and fixed it without removing the pin?

 

I would definitely remove the guide pin and boot and inspect them both.

The pins should be lubed once every year, maybe two years on this car if it is only driven in summer. When you lube the pin it is removed and lubed along it's surface, it sounds like it just dried out over time and then they will sieze on you. Definitely see if you can remove it before it gets worse, you can spin it with a 17 mm wrench and then try to pull it out using whatever means necessary. You might be able to clean it and re-lube it and re-use it but it's hard to say until you see it. Perhaps someone mistakenly swapped the upper and lower pins by accident last time it was serviced. The upper and lower pins are not interchangeable, the upper pin is perfectly round/smooth, and the lower pin should be shaped/grooved on the rear calipers. I would check that as well just to be sure.

I service the brake guide pins on all my vehicles once every year on a daily driver, and about every 2 seasons on the s2k.

This is all assuming that you don't have other issues with the caliper itself.

 

Both calipers are functioning perfectly. It's just the previously mentioned pin that is causing the problem. I will definitely take your advice to remove the pin then and inspect it. What kind of grease do you use for the pins? Will the OEM urea grease suffice? Thanks for the help!

 

good to hear the calipers are in good shape, that makes it alot easier. For grease you can use the Honda grease if you have it, but it's too expensive for me to use on the pins, I think it is suitable with rubber parts. I generally use any silicon brake grease, the type you use on brake pads, and I've also used some synthetic brake grease from Crappy tire - I think it's called Too Slick, both are rubber compliant and easy on the boots. Good luck with repair.

 

Thought I'd post the results. I took your advice and removed the pins. Upon removal it turns out that the grease actually solidified on the bottom pin causing it to seize (it must have not been REALLY old grease). I thoroughly washed it using dish detergent and was able to remove a ton of built up solids that was stuck on the bolt. I applied some OEM urea grease that I had sitting around and it's working perfectly fine now! Thanks again for all the help.

 

cool , good work. When you have some free time you should check the other 7 caliper pins as they may be close to being in the same condition, and re-lube them up too. Try to keep the grease on them fresh every 1-2 years max.