So I decided to replace my front and rear pads, and front rotors tonight. Figured it shouldn't take me more than an hour or two... little did i know.

 

The backs came off and went back together perfectly. The fronts came apart just fine, but I am having some trouble with reassembly. The rubber "sleeves" that sit on one of the guide pins, will not stay in place no matter how i try to put things back together. They always ride up too far so i can't compress the caliper.

 

What do these rubber sleeves do? I'm guessing they are just worn out/too loose. Can I get these parts seperate or do i need to get a whole rebuild kit? Lastly, how do you get them on without going crazy??

 

Thanks for the help...

 

Almost forgot.. '02 OBW (Legacy)

The rubber pieces shouldn't be keeping the caliper from going back together. Is the piston compressed all the way?

 

Any chance you could snap a pic?

Attached is a pic of the rubber thingy. I already put the caliper back on.. was planning to go get another rubber sleeve.

 

The rubber piece sits in a cut out area on one of the pins. What was happening was when i putting the bracket back onto the pins, the rubber piece wasn't tight enough and would ride up out of the groove.

looks like a slide boot. make sure that those are greased well. mine froze up and caused some issues. sub does have a kit available.

Finally got things back together when I got home from work. Apparently having some patience is important

 

From what I can tell the rubber was swollen, that's why it kept riding up. I trimmed a sliver of rubber off the end so it fit better in the groove. Then I unbolted the pins from the piston assembly, so they'd be easier to work with, this turned out to be key. Greased everything up, and with moderate forced "tapped" the pin into the bracket with my hand. I'm guessing that because of the swollen rubber too much air was getting trapped in there forcing the boot out.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help, maybe this will help someone in the future. On a side note, what do those boots do?

Wiggling the pin back and forth in the hole while pressing down can help release trapped air.

The boots keep out contamination(dirt,water,brake dust). the pins should be cleaned very well and then a small amount of anti seize for lubrication. and if i remember correctly the boots have different ends. you need to put the correct end in the caliper first. Then slide the pin in. if all is working well the pin should easily slide back and forth through the caliper. if the pin binds or sticks your pads will wear uneven and worst case maybe warp a rotar.