Calliper sticking - what can be done to prevent it?

[phil_cardiff]

On my old 5 I had to replace 2 callipers in 2 years due to them seizing. Was there anything I could have done to prevent it?

[anonymous-user]

I take it you've been lubing them up (ooh-err) with the correct red rubber grease where required?

Other greases can dry up and clog or get sticky, perish the piston rubbers etc - all of which can cause a sticky caliper.

Is it the piston itself that's sticking within the caliper, or the caliper on the slide pin?

[phil_cardiff]

yellowbentines said:

I take it you've been lubing them up (ooh-err) with the correct red rubber grease where required?

Other greases can dry up and clog or get sticky, perish the piston rubbers etc - all of which can cause a sticky caliper.

Is it the piston itself that's sticking within the caliper, or the caliper on the slide pin?

Sorry, should have made myself clear, it was on a 5 that I sold ages ago. I was just wondering what I could have done, or instructed my mechanic to have done.

[anonymous-user]

I had 2 sticky rear calipers and stripped them both. One needed a new piston as the seal had split allowing the piston to corrode and jam (see below!), the other piston looked fine but it got a rub down with some very fine wet & dry.

Thoroughly cleaned the inside of the caliper where the piston sits and also inside the cavity that the slider pin slides into, new rubbers all round, brake fluid inside the caliper before putting piston in and new fluid and red rubber grease to lubricate and seal piston and piston rubber, then red rubber grease on the slider pins which had also got a rub down with very fine wet & dry. Everything that was cleaned was left to thoroughly air-dry re-assembling. A time consuming job but no probs since

Before:


After:

[phil_cardiff]

If you're not too handy with the spanners then it's probably more economical to just replace them when they sieze.