Hey friends!

I've been trying to remove the brake caliper guide pins on my '15 R, but I can't seem to find the correct size hex (Allen) key. I tried several metric and SAE sizes but none seem to fit - anyone know the size? I looked at the workshop manual and all it says is to remove with a diagram, but no size information. It seems like the YouTube videos I've found just take the entire caliper and bracket off as one piece instead of taking the caliper off of the bracket and to remove the pins. I've attached the image in the workshop manual (page 2698).

Thanks in advance!
Moose

 

9 mm hex.
For both the 380 mm and 355 mm front brakes.
9 mm is not a common size, most sets of metric hex drivers don't have a 9 mm, but you can easily find them on Fleabay, I got one from Fleabay many moons ago.
I have changed front pads and rotors a few times now on both my old XFR (exact same 380 mm front brakes as those on the F-Type) and F-Type and despite some saying that it is easier to take the whole assembly off - i.e. - unbolt the calliper brackets from the hubs but not the slide pins - I have always found the opposite to be true, I could not get the pads out without removing the slide pins and the whole job was much easier by just removing the slide pins and leaving the bracket bolts alone.
And yes the Workshop Manual is fairly useless when it comes to the brakes as it does not differentiate at all between the 380 mm and 355 mm fronts or 376 mm and 325 mm rears.
From memory the rear slide pins are 7 mm hex, again both 376 mm and 325 mm.

 

Thanks ozXFR! I'll go pickup a 9mm today and hope I don't have any problems removing them.

This has all come up because I'm getting what feels like warped rotors despite not having warped rotors. I replaced the rotors and pads and started getting wheel shake. I had the new rotors turned and it got even worse, so I'm thinking one of the guide pins is sticky or stuck. Do you know if there are other wear items that you'd want to replace if/when replacing the guide pins?

 

Thanks alot for the heads up. I'll be changing my "dusty pads" in the next few weeks. I just checked and sure enough, I don't have a 9mm either. If it's one thing I hate, and that Is, stopping in the middle of a project to run to a store.

 

Quote "From memory the rear slide pins are 7 mm hex, again both 376 mm and 325 mm" I've just done my 325mm rear pads. Rear carrier bolts are same as front M12, 15mm hex head. Caliper (slide pin) bolts are M8 dual drive, either 13mm hex head or T45.

 

That's basically a ritual of any job I try to do

 

No real wear items other than the pads although piston seals can deteriorate over a very long time but haven't heard of any F-Type ever needing new brake piston seals or a piston/caliper refurb kit. One thing you should consider is lightly greasing the guide pins before you re-install them (after cleaning them of course!). There is a lot of debate over greasing the slide pins, some say it is a good idea and others say you should not do this as it attracts dirt and dust (eg brake dust) which just makes the pins sticky, but I have always lightly greased the pins (with high-temp ceramic brake grease) and never had a sticky pin yet. Maybe because there is no snow or road salt on the roads I drive on? Also, when you remove the pins you should also remove the plastic/rubber sleeves they fit in and clean them out, and also clean the bores they sit in as those holes can swell with "rust jacking" and cause sticky caliper pins. Rust jacking on the rears coz iron calipers but aluminium oxidisation on the fronts coz alu calipers. This tends to happen only where the roads are often snowy and lots of road salt is used so maybe it applies to you maybe not.
Also apply some brake grease to the outsides of the pads (where the brake pistons touch) and to the caliper brackets where the edges of the pads slot in.
Lastly, one very common cause of brake judder (commonly but erroneously referred to as "warped discs") is not bedding the pads and rotors/discs properly after fitting new rotors/discs and pads. Plenty of advice on the interwebz about how to bed new discs and pads, maybe you should try that before tearing into the brake calipers?
I have always followed the "8 or 10 hard brake applications in quick succession, get the discs and pads good and hot" method over four of five disc/pad replacements now and I have never had brake judder, but nowadays with the latest discs and pads some recommend a series of gentle/gradual brake applications instead. But it sounds to me as though you have the classic "pad material deposition" problem in which case the gentle method won't work while the hard braking method might just work to clean up the discs and pads and bed them in.

 

No kidding. Even after several Amazon deliveries it seems.

And yes, it seems I have 50 pounds of loose hex keys and sets SAE and metric, no 9mm!