Shudder

I noticed recently, only on the highway, that the brakes on our 2001 Civic were shuddering and I could feel it through the brake pedal.

It felt fine in city driving but at highway speeds, there was definitely something wrong. I needed to fix this before we went on our road trip.
So for the first time. I'm trying to service my brakes without my brother around.

It started off easy enough. I got the caliper and cradle off easily. But the lower slider pin on both brakes were seized. Not sure if you can tell, but the brake pad tapers toward the lower pin. And that's because the lower pin is seized so it won't allow the pad to move away from the rotor. So it is staying against the rotor and constantly rubbing.

Getting the pins out was a pain. So I called on my Maltese mechanic Sam.

He will work for coffee or a smoke. And if it's dinner time, he'll work for coca-cola. Original recipe, not the new one.
I thought that it may be necessary to just get a new cradle, but the guy at partsource said I didn't need one. I just needed to find a way to get that pin out. Either torch the cradle or something.
Eventually with lots of elbow grease, Sam got it out.

I had to order a new boot kit to replace the boot on the slider pin. I actually needed to replace the slider pin bolt, cuz it broke. I think I did that when I was removing the bolt. I had turned it the wrong way and then realized that, But it broke on Sam. So I will blame him. Ha.
Luckily it didn't break in the slider pin. But there is a slider pin bolt kit that I had bought anyways so I have a spare bolt and spare slider pins now.

When I compared the upper slider pin insert and the lower one that was seized. The upper one was so clean. The lower one was rusty. That's what happens when you don't drive it often.

Actually it was easier than I thought. After replacing the caliper on the Subaru, this was a piece of cake. But there always seems to be a catch in everything I try to do.
Just gotta remember Lefty Loosy Righty Tighty.


Click me for pictures of my brakes