Hi All,
 

Decided to grease the brake caliper guide pins before starting a brake bleed on a ‘new to me’ 05 OBW earlier today.  Removal of the bottom guide pin on both front wheels was extremely difficult.  This bottom pin is different from the top -- in addition to the main rubber boot, there is an additional small boot that stays snug against the bottom of the pin.  This boot was torn and limiting movement of the pin.

 

I think the boots on the vehicle were aftermarket.  I replaced them with aftermarket because the dealer is too far away and I was running out of time to get the job done.  Once replaced and greased, the pins were moving *much* better.  However, when the brakes eventually need replaced, will also replace the guide pin boots with an OEM kit.   Just wanted to make a
recommendation to get OEM brake caliper  guide pin boots if you ever need to do it.  The aftermarket ones on my car and the ones I bought seem cheaper and likely to tear again.

 

When bleeding the brakes today, I possibly over-tightened the bleeder valves and am now worried about it. Will be closely monitoring brake fluid level, and looking for leaks over the next several days.  Is this common… could there be damage?   Any recommendations?

 

Thanks,

 

Pasta

 

You can see a picture of the boots here:  http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/BHH0/16055/01259.oap?year=2005&make=Subaru&model=Outback&vi=1430734&ck=Search_brake+guide+pin_01259_1430734_2894&keyword=brake+guide+pin&pt=01259&ppt=C0064

 

the small ones were torn, causing reduced motion and difficult removal.  Also, it looked like they were lubricated with anti-sieze instead of brake grease.  Could that have caused the rubber to break down?

X2, get OEM boots and slide pins! Huge difference in quality between original and aftermarket.

 

 

Antiseize works, but is not ideal for this style of slider. The oil in antiseize causes the rubber to expand which creates more resistance between the boot and the hole the pin slides in.

Good chance the old boot was torn during re-assembly, probably because it was already expanded due to previous use of antiseize or some other incorrect lubricant.

Fairtax listed one thing, but the other is if they didn't regrease the caliper pins on the last few brake pad changes it could have easily degraded the boot.  I know  you were having problems with the pin sliding as well which leads me to think the lack of greasing is what destroyed them.