Brake Pin/Pad Lubrication Intervals

[MrkofXcellence]

I was rotating my moms tires (21 Forester) today and realized I had never done anything to her front brakes. There is still plenty of pad remaining (60k miles). I have changed rear pad/rotors already. I figured “it will never get easier than now” so I took the time to lubricate pad ears and caliper pins. One of the caliper pins had a spot of pretty serious discoloration of the metal, makes me glad I did the job today.

Having said that, what are your all’s frequency of lubing caliper pins, etc.? I knew dang well 60k was too long. I can’t explain why I put it off for as long as I did. However, I think a lot of people only do it when changing worn pads. I sure hate to think what this caliper pin would have looked like in 15k more miles.

 

[Urshurak776]

I honestly don't unless I'm changing pads. However, I live in South Carolina. If I lived up North I would definitely do it probably every year.

 

[Patrick0525]

My go to caliper pin lubricant is mission automotive silicone paste. I also use ceramalube on pads and ears. I reside the NE. Did it in 2019 and 2025 when the pads were replaced.

 

[nobb]

It depends on different factors like location, do they salt the roads, caliper design, etc..

I'm in Canada and I used to go for years (5+) without touching the brake hardware on most of my cars, of which they mostly functioned fine with no abnormal wear. Now I try to do it atleast every 2 years.

I also love the fixed Brembo calipers... makes it so easy to service and no pins to seize like on floating units.

 

[2010Civic]

I aim for every 1-2 years. I'll pull the caliper pins, clean off the old grease and add new grease. I don't bother re-greasing the pad ears.

 

[robbobster]

They get greased when installed. I’ve only lived in SoCal and Texas, no salt or corrosion issues.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I do inspections about every 2 years. I disassemble, clean and relube the assembly. Believe it or not, I think our beloved '06 has about 90K on the front brakes. Close to 250K on the car and I would drive it anywhere. Did just have to replace the AC compressor, but it blows ice cold now... Summer's coming!

 

[willbur]

I honestly don't unless I'm changing pads. However, I live in South Carolina. If I lived up North I would definitely do it probably every year.

Live up North-every year? SMO, deep in the NY Rust Belt, does not use any on the ears, just under the clips. It just makes things grittier and mostly washes away

 

[charbaby]

Clean and lube the sliders about every 2, maybe 3 years up here in the North East during a tire rotation. And remove the pads and clean the rust out of the hold down bar slots where the pad ears slide in. It's like doing a brake job without replacing the brakes.

 

[jsean]

I tend to do it once a year in the Fall, when I’m switching over the winter tires. I think 2 years would be fine but with the amount of salt they put down here, I satisfy my OCD by not pushing the annual pin/pads cleanup and lube maintenance too far out.

 

[Donald]

The pad ears is a debatable area to lubricate. I would only use a dry lubricant there. You don't want it to collect road dirt.

What lubricant did the OP use on the pins. These days I moved from Sil-glyde to pure silicone lubricant.

 

[CarbonToast]

When I lived up north annually prior to winter weather I would do oil change, tire rotation, and grease the slide pins.

Annually is more than needed but is easy to remember and the tires were off already.

 

[Tundragod]

My new caliper pins got rusty after 2 years. I try to re-lube them every year but sometimes I feel like, "maybe not today". Minnesota brine and salt the road as if it's a turkey. It's a good thing they do.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

In the fall every year here in the Snow Belt. That salt gets thrown down from mid December to sometimes early April, depending how crazy March is with the temps & precip swinging back and forth. Already dealt with snow in April -(...

 

[Reloader59]

I would grease the slide pins at least every 2-3 years. I have a RAV4 Hybrid, almost 3 years old, 39k miles in North East. I decided the other day to take the brakes apart and re-grease everything and check the boots for cracks. Good thing I did because the slide pins were stuck. Pads still have 9mm remaining. I used ceramalube for the shims and Mission Silicone grease for the slide pins. I may re-grease the pins every year just to be safe.

 

[Tempest1]

Have only greased pins when installing new pads. Not a lot of water on the roads around here...

I recently changed the factory rear brakes on my Mom's 02 Highlander and the pin grease was dried out, with uneven pad wear.

 

[MrkofXcellence]

The pad ears is a debatable area to lubricate. I would only use a dry lubricant there. You don't want it to collect road dirt.

What lubricant did the OP use on the pins. These days I moved from Sil-glyde to pure silicone lubricant.

I used my 20 year old can of ACDelco Silicone Brake Lubricant (comes in can with brush). When I bought it back in 05 to service my 04 Silverado I balked at the price. Little did I know Id be on the same can 20 years later. The stuff seems to work though. Subaru shop manual advised to do the pad ears. Maybe some of stuff will last for a little while in the actual areas of contact/pressure?

 

[wander2039]

For my vehicles and where we live it seems every 2 years, the Escape is pickier when it comes to brakes. I was just telling the wife it's probably time again. She said the Escapes brakes didn't feel right, but she's been driving only the BMW so all of the vehicles seem ancient. When I was 16 I was driving the old farm truck and pedal went to the floor, maybe a bit of trauma but can't handle anything without good brakes.

 

[MrkofXcellence]

It depends on different factors like location, do they salt the roads, caliper design, etc..

I'm in Canada and I used to go for years (5+) without touching the brake hardware on most of my cars, of which they mostly functioned fine with no abnormal wear. Now I try to do it atleast every 2 years.

I also love the fixed Brembo calipers... makes it so easy to service and no pins to seize like on floating units.

My Silverado has those fixed style calipers. I was getting the occasional rotational based noise when first starting in the morning. I took everything apart and lubed the tabs on the pads (where they slide into the assembly) and the noise went away 99%

 

[MrkofXcellence]

The two little pins slide out and the pads slide out. When I lubed the parts of the pad that contact the caliper assembly the noises went away.