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I've done three brake jobs on three different Corvettes this past week and I though since I haven't read anything of a warning about this on the forum I thought I'd mention it. Caliper pad pins
Car 1 a 2010 GS. Because this is a close friend I got him to come over right after he bought his car and I removed all of the pins one by one and put anti seize on them. When we did the brakes everything came apart with ease and the new pins provided with his AC Delco pads went back in with anti seize for the next time.
Car 2 a 2007 Z06. This was the first brake job on this car and it wasn't driven in the rain and was well taken care of. It was very difficult to remove the pins. Each pin had to be removed with an impact driver (Snap-On PIT120). We were very lucky to get all the pins out without damaging the calipers. The pins were an Allen 6mm. The new pins supplied by AC Delco are Torx.
Car 3 a 2008 Z06. Daily driver. Couldn't budge the pins at all in the front and got 2 out of the back. We needed to replace all four calipers and I don't think they can be repaired. Can you spell expensive!
Car 1 & 2 got brake jobs because of brake dust issues and pads were not worn out. Car 3 had 64,000 miles on it and needed fronts and the backs were glazed.
This is just an FYI for guys with these cars that if you're going to keep your car for any length of time, lubing the pins up and re-installing them would be a good idea. ZR1's use a different setup but you can still lube the pins to prevent an issue later.
Or you can just never touch the pins and take the caliper off to put the pads in.
That IS an option but what do you do when the little sleeves on the pins seize up with all the crud and corrosion and drag the pads on the rotor. There is a right way and a wrong way to maintain these brakes but which way can be a subjective topic. This post was meant to be an FYI. Not saying what to do.
That IS an option but what do you do when the little sleeves on the pins seize up with all the crud and corrosion and drag the pads on the rotor. There is a right way and a wrong way to maintain these brakes but which way can be a subjective topic. This post was meant to be an FYI. Not saying what to do.
On a tracked car that quickly becomes a problem since you are changing pads so often and the pad material tends to build up quicker on the pins. On a street car that sees a brake job every 6 or 7 years it isn't such a big deal. The person who does the first brake job may not be the car owner by the time the second brake job is due.
One way to get the frozen pins out is to get the calipers hot. My pins were frozen into the calipers and I actually broke off my Torx bit in the head of one of the pins trying to turn it. However, one day I was on track when I heard and felt a loud buzzing from the front of the car in a turn. When I got it back to the garage I found one of the frozen pins had backed out of the caliper and hit the back side of the wheel spokes. Luckily, the wheel wasn't damaged enough to ruin it. Some people haven't been as lucky while others have had the pins on the inside of the caliper fall out followed shortly thereafter by a pad. I am not a fan of the caliper design.
10-24-2014, 03:13 PM
Z06, GS and ZR1 caliper Pad pins
