Seized Guide pins - was... "pads/disks for 90"

[Kneale Brownson]

There is a  brake lube paste designed to tolerate the temperatures the 
calipers and carriers reach under heavy use.    I'd expect antisieze to 
flow off at those temperatures.  You can purchase Audi's specific  paste in 
a lifetime-supply tube (that's your lifetime, not the car's), but it'll 
flatten your wallet significantly.  I'd guess any FLAPS would have a 
generic substitute that would be appropriate.

Painting the rear caliper probably wouldn't extend the service life of the 
parking brake mechanism.  The rod attached to the arm for the brake cable 
passes through a seal on its way into the chamber containing the rest of 
the system.  Cleaning dirt out of the area around the opening for that rod 
probably would do more for seal life than anything else.  Actually, if you 
flush the brake fluid periodically to keep the piston/cylinder area of the 
caliper free of corrosion, you shouldn't get any seizing of the piston so 
that it hold the brake pads against the rotor, resulting in 
overheating.  I'm thinking overheating of the assembly is what destroys the 
seals on the parking brake opening.



At 10:30 AM 07/11/2001 -0400, David Conner wrote:


>Speaking of which ...
>Is antiseize paste sometimes used as guide pin lube?
>It would seem like it might be perfect.
>
>I just did brake work on front of the 89 200q.  One of the guide pins was
>totally seized ... the carrier is now junk.  I beat on the guide pin with a
>three pound hammer and it didn't budge.  Paid just under $50 for a new G-60
>carrier.
>
>Other brake caliper replacement observation...
>Last year I replaced rear calipers with rebuilt and was surprised to find
>they were bare metal ... no cad plating or other finish.  Now they are
>rusting badly and I wonder about their long term survival, esp. the parking
>brake mechanism.  I could (should) have painted them but I don't know how
>effective that would be in the area of the E-brake mechanism.
>-------------
>Dave C.