I have a 2012 Camry with 30,000 miles on it. I have had to do the rear brakes, seized up from rust, but not the fronts so far.
Being bored yesterday while sitting at the computer, I looked at a you tube video about doing the front brakes, just to see if I was in for any surprises. Then I watched two more for good measure. None of them showed cleaning up the caliper slides with a file or grinder, or greasing them,
Am I the only one doing this?
@“oldtimer 11”
I clean up the slides with a brass brush, then I lube them up with brake caliper lube
I suppose if I lived in an area with heavy road salt usage, I might also be using a file or grinder, but that’s not necessary in my neck of the woods
I take them to my bench grinder and clean up the caliper with the wire wheel. I also take the slide pins and do the same. Get those nice and shinny again. Then grease them before I install new pads.
I have always cleaned and lubed the caliper slides and slide pins. As for you-tube videos, they can only be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of the time they are not made by the best or brightest. 
NO, not the only one! Any good brake service includes this!
I like YouTube, too. It helps speed up the process of fixing something I’ve never worked on before. Like an in-tank fuel pump replacement. Cutting a hole in the floor of my Avalanche to replace the pump assembly instead of draining and dropping the 30 gallon tank. Patch panel with foam tape, flop the carpet back and done. Much easier!
Unfortunately in many cases you are, both DIY and professional. As often as not, Youtube is a good place to find how not to do something as opposed to the right way to do it.
As a matter of fact, even in many pro settings this isn’t done. Look at some of the big chain tire shops, like BurningRock. They pay their mechanics a flat rate amount of .8 hours to do a brake job, including turning rotors. If I’m getting less than an hour’s pay to do your brakes, I’m not spending time doing all that other stuff.
There’s a local brake/exhaust/radiator chain that had a sign up, front brakes $39.99. I asked the manager about that, he said that was just for labor. Parts were extra. OK, that’s still too cheap. “Well, we always upsell a caliper clean and lube for $39, resurface rotors for $40, and a bleed for $12.” By the time they were done the “discount chain” price was more than my regular price, and we do all those things as normal course of a brake job.
You tube videos are usually made by private individuals rather than shops. One needs to be wary of them. Very wary.
You’re doing the job right. They’re not. I was tempted to make a joke and suggest you make a You tube video… but never mind. 
I Do That On Other Than GM Brakes.
For Years And Years, GM Has Had The Good Sense To Put Stainless Steel Caliper Slides On All (All Of Mine, Anyhow), Front And Rear Calipers.
They are really necessary on cars where I live.
I just clean then with brake cleaner and grease them along with the pins.
I take some time to thoroughly clean the wheel-to-rotor contact areas (wheels and rotors), rotor-to hub contact area (back of rotor and hub), or hub if I’m replacing rotors.
CSA
GM may use stainless steel pins but the bore they go into is still un-plated cast iron! Get just a small but of water in there and the pin will jam itself in there tighter than heck! That’s why the caliper brackets are easily available in auto parts stores.
I take some time to thoroughly clean the wheel-to-rotor contact areas (wheels and rotors), rotor-to hub contact area (back of rotor and hub), or hub if I’m replacing rotors.
I just got new tires at Discount Tires (Americas Tires) and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had drill mounted brushes and cleaned the wheel-to-rotor contact areas and the posts for the lug nuts. They were very fast, and followed with a quick brush to sweep away particles. I’m pretty happy about it and its better than nothing.
"GM may use stainless steel pins but the bore they go into is still un-plated cast iron!"
Not The Pins! They’ve Got Water Resistant Grease And Waterproof Seals. I’ve never had a problem with those, either.
I’m talking about the caliper slides (rails) that the brake pads slide on, being stainless steel. It’s a thing of beauty.
CSA
A grinder? Dang. I’ve had some pretty buggered up pins before and I’m not shy about firing up my bench grinder but my worst ones only needed a light dressing on the belt sander followed by some crocus cloth.
oldtimer- I had to CUT the OEM front rotors off my '03 Camry a few years back. Posted here about it at the time. The expanding rust pinned them to the hub on the inside of the “hat”. No amount of pounding was getting those off. Surprisingly, my sawzall cut through them like butter and they popped open like popcorn kernels. Here’s hoping you don’t have similar experience down the road…
A grinder? Dang. I've had some pretty buggered up pins before and I'm not shy about firing up my bench grinder but my worst ones only needed a light dressing on the belt sander followed by some crocus cloth.
My bench grinder has a grinding wheel and a wire wheel. I’d NEVER use the grinding wheel…but the wire wheel works great.
“never had a problem with those, either”
Its been an issue on my truck, CSA. The seals dry up and the grease washes out and the corrosion starts. I don’t think I’m alone because of the availability of cheap aftermarket replacements. Glad its never been an issue with you as it has with me.
Agree with you on the stainless slides, though. They can and do still rust under the slides but that can be easily cleaned and greased and the slide covers reinstalled. Beats all to heck the old GM design.
In Minnesota, if you don’t clean/lube the caliper slide pins, you’re just asking for trouble.
Tester
I just clean them off and use the 100% silicone grease on them again. I’ll have to look at the sockets I guess next time if I ever do it again.
CSA, Are they stainless steel slides or just stainless steel inserts. My car has the stainless steel inserts but in our area the stainless steel gets sprayed with a mixture of brake dust and steel from the rotor. This rusty mixture has to be removed from the face of the insert with a rotary wire brush in my vise and then all of the rust that has built up between the slide and insert has to be ground off. Also the rust has to be taken off the hub and around the studs and never-seize applied. Rotating the tires every 5000 miles is not enough to stop you from sledgehammering the wheel otherwise. It still needs a good kick to break them free , even when you do this.
I didn;t mention all of this in my original past because these problems don’t affect 90 % of the country.
The stainless steel pieces are in the brake hardware kit. The hardware kits are cheap, around $8 so I just replace all that stuff. I do not coat it with anything because any lubricant will just attract and hold dust and actually creates more drag on the pads.
I do remove, clean and relube the pins (bushings) with a silicone grease.
YouTube has a lot of utter auto repair garbage which many of the lesser informed consider to be an A-One job. Leaving the smoking hot babe factor out…
Yeah a few things missing but what scares me the most is working around that area without having a jack stand under the car. I wouldn’t trust the jack at all. I wonder what she used for hand cleaner though?