Brake Caliper Maintenance

[CREGAN]

Yo. I have had my van for 3 years now and I have found that every winter I seize at least one caliper. I pulled the front wheels off and was going to replace the pads this past spring but I noticed that I still had a lot of pad left so I just greased the slider pins. Now I am starting to get a squealing noise from my front brakes right before a complete stop and when I turn off the fan I can here what feels like grabbing/grinding when you are almost completely stopped.

I am thinking of taking the wheels off again and changing the pads and greasing the poop out of the sliders. I am just wondering if there is anything you can do to the piston to stop it from rusting and seizing up. Can I oil it or spray it with something? It there a grease nipple or something that I am missing?

It is getting to be a yearly occurrence, and a costly one at that, to have to replace a caliper, pads and rotor. Anyone got any tips?

Craig

[thelazygreenfox]

Craig
All the rebuilt calipers are just junk. Keep changing them under the 1 yr warranty till you find one that is good. You did get a warranty on the rebuilt didn't you?
TLGF

[CREGAN]

Craig
All the rebuilt calipers are just junk. Keep changing them under the 1 yr warranty till you find one that is good. You did get a warranty on the rebuilt didn't you?
TLGF

Through NAPA so I am not sure what their policy is. I would really like to just buy one and have it be good quality. Anyone know if on of the usual vendors have good quality calipers?

Anyway- I am hoping I won't need a new caliper just yet, maybe just a little maintenance. Any tips anyone?

Craig

[thelazygreenfox]

Napa gave me a year on all my calipers but they got upset after I returned 4 calipers. With those symptoms I'd guess you'll be replacing a cailper soon. Find your bills and take them back....
TLGF

[Glenn Delwood]

For other members' info can someone paste the caliper part numbers from NAPA or somewhere else? I'm just thinking this will show up in Google/forum search results.
thx.

[macro]

I just had this problem, luckily my mechanic is awesome and instead of new callipers he sent them to his buddy who rebuilt them overnight and they were reinstalled the next morning. He said there was rust in the sliders and the pistons were starting to seize. I'm hoping that having them rebuilt locally will make for a better experience.

Although, this set has taken me through one and a half winters and about 60,000km. I bought them directly from the Mitsubishi dealership.

[Mr. Flibble]

Another thing to check is the short black hose that connects the brake lines to the caliper.

I forget the exact reason or problem, but the hose can cause the calipers to go out.

I wish I could remember why or how at the moment.