I've been having performance problems for a while and it turns out my braking system is causing these problems (or at least it is problematic enough to cause some of it).

Basically my pads were stuck to the rotors, I took the caliper off, changed the brake hardware as in clips and such and when it came to replacing the pins that go into the bracket one of them was pretty stuck. Wouldnt even turn at first. I let it swim in PB blaster for a while and removed it with a lockjaw. Some pretty nasty stuff came out including rust and stuff, the pin rubber piece was all swollen and ripped apart.

Anyway I cleaned inside the best I could with PB blaster, put the new pin inside and it got stuck. Removed it again with the lockjaw and the rubber piece was torn. I figure the bracket is rusted and messed up inside.

So now I tried to take the bracket off (the two 17mm or 18mm bolts) and the bolts wont come out. Let them swim in PB blaster, WD40 tried to get them off with a bar breaker... no movement whatsoever. Any suggestions?

 

I just did this yesterday to my rear brakes. One slide pin was stuck as ****. Sprayed it multiple times with brake cleaner while forcing it to turn with a socket wrench. When I was able to turn it, I used the size 17mm open wrench and wedged the handle of a screw driver under it and started prying it out. I'm guessing what happened on mine was, when the grease became thick and sticky the slide pin isn't sliding in and out properly when braking until the slide pin got bent('cause only one slide pin was working) and more likely since its a snug fit in the bracket it damaged the bracket inside. When I placed it back in it was still sliding but not as smooth, required a lot of pressure to slide in and out. I'm gonna head to the junkyard to find me a good set of rear brake calipers that I can rebuild and replace mine.

 

Sounds about right. The pin is out, wasnt bent though but had rust on it. Anyway bracket gotta go... as soon as I figure out how to remove those 2 stubborn 17mm bolts (Behind the rotor). Tried all day my back is killing me now lol. I put the car together but the sliding pins I put back have no plastic pieces for now, at least they dont get stuck. Did I mention how dirty it is in there? (probably from all the plastic pieces that got torn inside, rust and grease.)

By plastic pieces I mean this

 

The fronts have those rubber thingies on both slide pins, but the rear only have 1 rubber on each side. I've had a shop torque the hell out of those 17mm bolts on mine and was a pain to remove since its behind the hub. But try interlocking 2 box wrenches like in this pic, so the 2nd wrench can give you leverage. Good luck.

 

Will try that tomorrow and post results.