April is when I do all my maintenance and yesterday figured that I would replace the front brake pads. I've done it several times before usually along with the rotors but it hasn't been that long and I was surprised to be hearing the scraping noise a few months ago. Anyway, the caliper bolt dust boots have never been replaced so this time I spent more on a higher quality brake pad set that included the boots - which was not the case in all the previous sets that I had installed. So when I went to take everything apart - the bolts were badly stuck and it was a bear getting them out. But then - I could not figure out how you are supposed to get the boots out. It hadn't occurred to me that this was not only never shown in any video on the job that I have ever seen, but I didn't think it would be a problem - until yesterday when I went to get them out. Are you just supposed to grab them with a pliers and totally destroy them when you pull them out? After getting worried that I would mess things up, I just decided to keep the new ones in the package and just lube the old ones up using my little finger inside along with the actual pins. The stuff I bought specifically for this is a little green PERMATEX caliper bolt lube - which doesn't work very well based on how stuck the bolts were. Then I looked at the old pads - major uneven wear. Like one side was almost new and the other barely anything left - which must be where the noise was coming from.

So my questions are: 1. How are you supposed to get the boots out and the new ones in? and 2. Am I using the wrong stuff for greasing the bolts and the inside of the boots? That's what this stuff is for and seems to act more like glue than grease. I won't be taking the front apart again for at least a year. After I got done, my parking/emergency brake was way too lose so now I have to try and hope I can adjust them otherwise it won't pass the state inspection.

Since little activity anymore on this forum, I also post this on several other forums. But that results in frustration since what you get is a bunch of replies and information which is not specific to the models and parts I'm dealing with. Talk about conflicting information.

I am now pretty sure that all my caliper pin problems are because of this Permatex crap messing up the rubber bushings/sleeves/boots and causing the pins to get stuck.

I've replaced the pads & rotors on my 2 1996 Chevy Cavalier convertibles but I've never done the caliper boots. Following is a YouTube video link that may be slightly helpful. Please let us know how you fixed it. (Since I don't plan on selling my Cav convertibles ever, I imagine I'll be there someday.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLp_sFh7y-A

The boots need to be replaced when they are torn. No amount of grease is going to keep water from getting in if you have a failing boot. When in doubt change them out.