Since having my suspension rebuilt there has been a new creak from the car, front and back, over bumps and usually under light braking or just after. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours backing up and down the drive with the doors open listening to it and it was from the brake area.

So i removed and re-greased the slider pins but taking care to put them back the correct way around.- one side was fine and the drivers side i'd clearly lost concentration on assembling after the last brake overhaul i did - funnily enough just before it went in to get the suspension work done.

Each caliper has a smooth round slider pin and a slider pin that isn't round but has two flat edges cut into it. These pins MUST be at the bottom of the front caliper and the top of the rear caliper - this stops the pins from binding through heat transfer. If you imagine it on the car, the grooved pin is always at the directional leading edge of the caliper.

Just as an aside, if you clean out the slide pin holes on the carriers, when you regrease, make sure you put the grease IN the hole before you fit the dust boot and then the slide pin!!

 

I'm OK with a spanner and was going to service my brakes this weekend (the handbrake auto-adjust seems to be a bit sticky) and it's tips like this that I just wouldn't know unless someone takes the time to write it down, so thanks !

 

When you undo the caliper carrier bolts, make sure you lock the slider pin with a suitably sized spanner so that as you undo the bolt you don't spin the pin and destroy the rubber boot. If you want the rubber boot out of the carrier, you can squash it carefully with your fingers to get it out. Same as if you want the rubber boot off the slider pin, you need to carefully remove it - if you just yank the pin out .... you'll split the boot.

 

Those boots are sounding a bit vulnerable - I might make sure that I know where to pick them up from in case I do split one - Again thanks for the heads up.

 

HIdden splits in those boots are the primary cause of stuck slider pins as they allow grease out and worse, water in. They are different front and back too.