Rear brakes are wearing out every couple of thousand miles. What am I missing

who knows what king of grease he used then and now? If he used mineral based grease, it swelled the dumpers and boots and hence stuck pin. this is best done DIY with the official grease:

 

So, are you buying new caliper?

 

I'm curious enough to wonder why Toyota didn't spec silicone for the application, but I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to answer the question....

-Chap

 

What are other brands specifications for pin grease? I remember I used silicone (dielectric) grease in Saturn (based from recommendations from BITOG), and it worked very well. The cars I had before Toyotas didn't seem to have any need of pin greasing.

 

I'm using Sil-Glyde Brake Lubricant. I've had the front brakes open recently, 3 years since the last time, and the pins (with Sil-Glyde) looked fine. Planning on doing a revisit to the rear brakes this fall, again about 3 years hence. Might do it sooner, what with this talk about the rubber bits on rear pins. The rear brakes are behaving fine, fwiw.

I wonder if Toyota is using that Toyota rubber grease on the pins, at the factory?? In @friendly_jacek front pin pic in post #80: the pin on the right with the new rubber grease looks distinctly pink, while the old lube on left pin looks just yellow/cream colour:



And the front pin picture I posted in #72, that is the factory lube, again, not pink:



Not to say there's anything wrong with the Toyota Rubber grease; I believe it's what dealerships are using?

 

I had that doubt too, but I regreased the pins since, and that pink color goes away in 40000 miles.

 

Just for the record, I don't think we've got 40,000 miles, in total. The car's at 67,000~ kilometers now, I'm a little obsessive/compulsive: do the brakes tri-yearly, regardless of mileage.

We used to put the miles on quicker, but we've both retired in the last few years.

 

@Mendel Leisk : I am concerned because I took the rear pads off yesterday and put them back without knowing the alignment issue.

When I removed the caliper off the brake pads, it was pretty tight. I would expect it would be difficult to misalign and slide the piston spoke right on top of the pin when putting them back. In other words, it would be not easy to mess it up without pushing the piston hard. Correct?

How do I know if my rear brakes are aligned correctly?

 

Did you turn the piston at all? If not, you should be fine.

 

I didn't even know the piston is turnable. But I did see a lot of debris in the spoke recess, and cleaned it.

 

"I didn't even know the piston is turnable."
Turning the rear piston (ie, clockwise) is how you retract it, if need be (ie, to make room for new, thicker pads). You just MUST then leave the piston in an X orientation for correct alignment. The front pistons are pushed (not rotated) as in most disc brake calipers.

ALL of these details are enumerated in the excellent NutzAboutBolts video(s), pinned at the beginning of the forum. Advise you review them...

 

Thx.