Brake maintenance - How to avoid seized brakes

Now that it's getting warmer and it's time to change tires for the season, you might as well maintain your brakes to keep them from prematurely seizing. Here's a video on how to do it yourself:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/kCz0AICuBJ8[/youtube]

Good idea. Since you're removing calipers it would also be good to clean and lubricate the other sliding surfaces, and between the pads and shims. I'll be doing this to get rid of my "backup squeal". Thanks

I put anti brake drag springs on mine a few weeks ago and the sliders were fine.

Oilpan4 said:

I put anti brake drag springs on mine a few weeks ago and the sliders were fine.

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I'm sure that how fast the sliders get sticky depends on the climate and the degree to which the friction brakes get used.

Oilpan4 said:

I put anti brake drag springs on mine a few weeks ago and the sliders were fine.

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Good to know. Worth an inspection at least, though.

This is not necessary... The poster's car looks very rusty so maybe he needed to do that.

Those bolts will always be dirty, no matter how new they are. The only time you need to do this is if you are having "seizing" problems already. And even then, you will not notice any "seizing" until the brake pads wear out, and and you will see that the pads have worn unevenly. That is the only symptom of the slide pins.

This is not needed and not dangerous to any car owners. Brakes do not need maintenance, and will last the life of the brake pads.

I would not recommend people taking their cars to a mechanic for this or trying this as a mechanical project. This is almost the same amount of work as changing the brakes completely. You will be charged $$$ for no benefit.

If you already know how to change brakes, then knock yourself out.

Those bolts will always be dirty, no matter how new they are. The only time you need to do this is if you are having "seizing" problems already. And even then, you will not notice any "seizing" until the brake pads wear out, and and you will see that the pads have worn unevenly. That is the only symptom of the slide pins.

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Nope.

LeftieBiker said:

Those bolts will always be dirty, no matter how new they are. The only time you need to do this is if you are having "seizing" problems already. And even then, you will not notice any "seizing" until the brake pads wear out, and and you will see that the pads have worn unevenly. That is the only symptom of the slide pins.

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Nope.

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Are you saying that the grease may not be dirty? Ok, the grease may not be dirty if the brakes have recently been done.

Just because the grease may be dirty does not mean that you have to change it.

I have been doing my brakes for 40 years, and have yet to hear of someone pulling the pins out to re-grease them as maintenance.

Like I said, if you really want to do this procedure and know how to do it.... Go right ahead.

Regular people should not be told that this is a necessary maintenance item.. And people should not think that they have to have this done by a mechanic or try to do it themselves..

Re-greasing the caliper slide pins is done during a brake pad replacement.....

powersurge said:

I have been doing my brakes for 40 years, and have yet to hear of someone pulling the pins out to re-grease them as maintenance.

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I've not done my brakes for years, but for sure, my 2005 Tundra pins would seize up if not lubed every 2-3 years. The Tundra, and the Tacoma, went through several years of extreme rust: it seems all the attaching hardware was pot-metal, and in addition, the frames rusted like crazy. Totally different animals than the Leaf, of course...

I guess the question is, especially for vehicles that might go 8-10 years w/o brake replacement or service, whether or not the friction points in the Leaf brakes are susceptible to corrosion and seizing.

I think it comes down to local climate and road salt. If you live in Texas, you may never see this as an issue, but if you live up north where there is salt on the roads, then your car will suffer from this kind of neglect (salty water will seeps into the slide pin housing where where iron will rust, expand, and lock up the slide pin). The purpose of this is to remove grit, salt and water contamination to avoid rust, and the fresh silicone grease acts as a water repellent barrier. You may skip this maintenance if your climate allows it, but it's up to you.

I've found on my ICE cars that taking a quick look around when doing an oil change or swapping summer/winter tires can catch a lot of small problems before they become big problems. Still, it's dry here in CO so corrosion isn't an issue so I'm guessing the brakes on my 2017 Leaf won't need any attention for a few more years at least. I'll probably change the brake fluid this year or next but otherwise, it's still a virtually zero-maintenance car for me.

Oilpan4 said:

I put anti brake drag springs on mine a few weeks ago and the sliders were fine.

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which springs did you install? i want to inspect my brakes next time i rotate my tires so i may as well do this.

powersurge said:

This is not necessary... The poster's car looks very rusty so maybe he needed to do that.

Those bolts will always be dirty, no matter how new they are. The only time you need to do this is if you are having "seizing" problems already. And even then, you will not notice any "seizing" until the brake pads wear out, and and you will see that the pads have worn unevenly. That is the only symptom of the slide pins.

This is not needed and not dangerous to any car owners. Brakes do not need maintenance, and will last the life of the brake pads.

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The idea is that pads on an EV have a significantly longer life. Still short enough to preclude interim maintenance? Maybe but I do know that mine have developed a squeal when backing up that leads me to believe the grease between pads and shims (or perhaps other sliding surfaces) has dried up.
Not that it's dangerous at this point but probably worth my time to get in there and check things out. And if I'm going to remove calipers I might as well do the lot. I guess I could just go ahead and change pads as well but there's still tons of material left and I haven't had anything to complain about the stock pads other than the recent backup squeal.
I did have brakes get stuck once to the point where the fluid boiled. Not a fun day. Those were crappy old drum brakes but it still haunts me.

Nubo mine has started squealing on reverse too. I'm at 75k miles and I'm fairly sure noone has touched the brakes. Going to take then apart and clean/grease things.

estomax said:

Nubo mine has started squealing on reverse too. I'm at 75k miles and I'm fairly sure noone has touched the brakes. Going to take then apart and clean/grease things.

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Ok, since the Leaf can apparently go up to 100K miles before brake pad replacement, I can see that checking the brake slides may be an item.

However, I do not think that a brief squeak in reverse when pulling out of the driveway justifies taking the calipers off....

Also, yes you may want to pull the caliper slide pins off to re-grease them at 50-75K miles, but that is your choice as a home mechanic.

As a Leaf owners forum here, I do not want to concern Leaf owners that this is a problem they need to worry about as a safety issue with the brakes by NOT doing this.

I do not recommend that general (non-mechanical) Leaf owners run to their mechanics and demand to t heir mechanics that they need to re-grease the calipers. Calipers are not delicate, and can go over 100,000 miles or more with no attention.

What I am saying to everyone (including non-mechanics) that doing the re-greasing will be a benefit, but it is not necessary. I see this similar to waxing your car.... If you want to wax your car every weekend, it is good... But not necessary.

This is a great forum. Lots of useful discussion, and reasonable people willing to listen to each other.

Stay healthy!

I used Raybestos h6016 springs.
I calculated how much power it will save, looks like about 200 to 300 watts at 65mph.
Which works good for me because about 80% of my driving is on the highway.

oilpan, you used these sames ones for front and rear? seems neat, i will order a set and install them when i take the pads off to solve the reverse squeal. thanks!

$8.24 shipped from rockauto. love cheap tinker projects like this

Marko

I think I used the same oneson the front, had to bend and modify them a little to make them fit.

I managed to perform a brake service on the passenger front and rear so far on my 2014 Leaf. I was having bad squealing from a sticking parking brake when I reversed the car. I found this excellent video on rear brake service including the parking brake: https://youtu.be/3REPy7rm4a8