Ok so I can't get a good pic right now but I'll try my best to explain. I pushed and pulled on the caliper on the driver (affected) side and also the passenger. The passenger side had a lot more play. The caliper would move back and forward with the play on the rotor. (Picture I'm facing the rotor and pushing and pulling to and from my body). On any disc brakes I've ever changed, the bolts had to be fed through a rubber accordion-like section before catching threads. These calipers don't work quite like that. The little rubber pieces were attached to a little cylinder type piece that is built in to the caliper. Are these the 'sliders' you mention? If so, on the driver side they are practically stuck. Hitting them with a hammer barely achieved any movement. I'll post a pic tomorrow to better explain what I'm trying to say.

Thanks
Wes

 

after a little more research i see how this works now. i've never done brakes where you just rotate the calipers up to change the pads, i've always removed both slider pins. so on this vehicle apparently the top slider pin is frozen and i need to remove the bottom (hex) pin and then convince the top one to slide out so i can either replace it or at least grease it up. then i will put it all back together and see if that eliminates at least some of the noise.

 

Yes, those cylindrical sleeves are the sliders. On my '98 protege they have grooves at their ends and on the upper sliders small rubber boots sit in these grooves. On the lower slider a long rubber boot runs through the hole in the caliper and the slider sit in that rubber boot. Use a little penetrating oil and tap the sliders in and out so they move easier. Remove them completely and remove all rubber boots (2 small one's and one long one.) Use a wire brush and sand paper to get the sliders really clean and smooth. Make sure the holes in caliper are free from rust. In my case moisture managed to get behind the rubber boot and promoted rust on the caliper. That caused pressure on the rubber and made the slider stick.
A professional mechanic would replace the caliper to save time. A do it yourself mechanic would rather spend elbow grease than money. I wound sand paper around a wooden dowel and sanded the rust out. I coated the inside of the hole with grease before putting the rubber boot back in.

On reassembly: The rubber boots may have been stretched so much that they cannot be properly seated. Good thing you may be able to buy the rubber pieces separately. Do an online search.
Use Permatex hi temp grease to lube the rubbers and sliders.

 

update. i greased up the sliders, put everything back together, and put her in drive. that god awful grinding noise from the videos is gone. i believe it was coming from the caliper. now i thought i still heard a slight popping as the axle turned, but wasn't really sure. i did notice however that when i left it in reverse i was getting a grinding noise that i could hear better inside that car than out. not really sure of where it is coming from but i would venture to say transaxle. next i put the tires back on and drove around the neighborhood trying to recreate the original pop. i only heard it once and it wasn't for long. i'm going to just drive around for a couple days and see how it does. it come and go depending on temperature, who knows.

 

Good approach. I bet you are a little over-sensitized right now anyway.

 

i haven't driven the car since the initial test run but when i do, i'll post back...