Break Pad Pin Retainer Questions

Special thanks to Rennlist member TRT41 (David) who offered to help with my Pagid pads last night and ended up elbow deep in the project while "watching" me. We lost about 100lbs of water weight working in his garage because of the tropical rain outside. My pins did not slide in and out easily and this complicated the project. We involved the three most important fluids including a little WD40, sprayed a little brake cleaner on the calipers and drank a little fluid from Shiner, Texas. Dave finally resorted to a little steel wool to remove any foreign material that has accumulated over the ten years. We agreed I would look toward replacement pins that might be a little finer and straighter and that brings me to this question. After checking several sources why are the front pin sets a little over $30 (a reasonable price) and the rears are over $60? The only difference we could tell in the pins was that the fronts were about 1/4" longer? Checked a couple of the popular online sources. Does this make since? I can't give enough props to David for leading this project last night! Super Special Thanks!

if you got it at the stealer.... well, that may be the answer. congrats on the brake job.

Quotes source post: 7882606

Could be the front/rear pins have different metalurgical characteristics? Or have different surface treatment to deal with the dirty environment of the rear brakes? I don't see how the diff. between $30 and $60 is that big of a deal given you've gotten 10 years out of the OEM pins. While you might find a cheaper pin you may not get as good a life out of the cheaper pins. And the pins may be more expensive when bought separately. I've not done the brakes yet on my Turbo but I've done the brakes several times on my Boxster and have bought the pins and other brake hardware that is supposed to be renewed at brake job time in a kit. I can't recall the price of the kit but each kit -- one for each "axle" -- came with not only new pins but all the other hardware, save the pads and wear sensors -- needed to for a good brake job. Sincerely, Macster.

Yes, Macster, they come with two round pins, cotter key and the presuure clip (for two wheels). With a few bucks in materials, machining and milling, freight and markup I can get to $30+. It's the variation in price jumping to $60+ for seamingly identical parts (the rears) that makes me wonder what's up? I'm certainly not throwing a fit on the $ after TRT41 saved me $250 in labor by teaching me how to do it.

Are you getting these from Sunset? I think I remember paying about $20 for front and rear both...but it's been a little while. In the future I suggest the cleaning (steel wool) and caliper grease. WD40 is not a great lubricant, you want some grease that's going to stay put at high temperatures.

I had to drive my pins out with a punch then clean them on a wire wheel when I changed brake pads. I've suggested to Fred (who sells the flex clip spreader tool) to make stainless pins for us... I'm sure we'd all gladly pay a few dozen bucks for good pins.

Take some steel wool to the pins and gently clean them smooth. also check the holes in the calipers for corrosion. wrap some more steel wool on a dowel or screwdriver and use that to clean the insides of the holes, that should make everything work just fine.

Orient, do you use any solvent or lube or just dry steel wool?

in my case, just dry steel wool. however if the caliper has corrosion, then a lubricant/solvent such as WD-40 may be in order. I am a big advocate of keeping the calipers free of brake dust buildup, and that is why I have switched from the OEM pads to EBC Red Stuff Ceramic pads.

Quotes source post: 7883210

The pins are the sacrifical items in the brake hardware assembly. I can't understand why people insist on reusing such inexpensive items and putting much more expensive items at risk of accelerated wear/tear. A new pin comes with a fresh and proper surface coating/treatment to resist corrosion though this has a limited life. By the time the brake pads are due to be replaced the pin's anti-corrosion (and this probably has some dry lubricating properties as well) is depleted/worn away and to minimize wear/tear to the hole into which the pin fits a new pin should be fitted. I'd much rather pay $60 or $30 for a new set of pins every pad change than to have to replace the calipers cause reusing a nasty old pin, tarted up with some steel wool (which removes any bit of any anti-friction/anti-corrosion surface treatment that may have been present) is just accelerating the wear/tear of the brake caliper. Furthermore, WD-40 has no place around the brakes. And lastly, applying any grease in that area is ill-advised cause of the risk of the grease flowing down onto the pads/rotors. The brakes come from the factory in the proper condition. When the pads/rotors require replacement all one need due to put these back into the same proper condition is to renew those parts that require renewing. And the retaining pins and other hardware are some of those parts. Polishing pins, applying godawful WD-40 or some grease to these in hopes of alleviating symptoms that arise from their reuse is just band-aiding the real source of the problem. The pins need to be replaced. The hole into which the pin fits wants to be clean though without using any abrasive to remove any very likely abrasive dirt. Sincerely, Macster.

What do calipers cost if they are ruined by old pins if that even ever happens? The complete set of pins at $110 ($30+ for front, 60+ for rear and shipping) that would be required for each pad change would start adding up pretty quick. I quit servicing my '04 Yukon (other than oil changes) after 100k miles because it would be cheaper to just run it and buy a new engine when it blows up then spend $500 on service every 15k miles. (That math won't work on Porsche engines!!!) I have 193k on the Yuke today and saved a couple a thousand on service. I'm just saying that while it maight be prudent to put new pins in each time it might not pay out financially.

The cost of making Stainless Steel pins and the having the putting them thru the passivation process will cost more then the OEM replacement pins. Sometimes it makes more sense to just spend the money and get the OEM part.