Alright, so the guy who last owned my car lived off a dirt road and the rotors are trashed from I guess maybe rocks or overuse. My car was sounding awful when I slowed down, and even making a slight grinding noise when I didn't apply the brakes.
So I replaced the pads in the back yesterday. Everything seems to be running fine, no braking noise whatsoever and no noise when I'm not braking and my car seems to be gliding fine in neutral, but my back left brakes/rim are scorching hot and smelling. I'm assuming my caliper is seized up.
I didn't use the special tool to compress the piston on the other side, but I did on the left one so it should have nothing to do with that. I was going to order a new set of rotors today but now it seems I have this to deal with first.


So can anyone give me some tips on fixing this problem? Maybe a list of things to check/lubricate/loot at? Thank you stangers!

 

Ummm well if you didn't use the tool or something to compress the brake piston on the rear then you wouldn't have been able to get the caliper onto the rotor with the pad in the first place. Do you think it is possible your axle could be bent on that rear side? Possibly a pinched brake line or something of that nature? I would take it all apart and put it back together as far as rear brake assembly goes on that side.

 

I used needle nose pliers for the first side, and after that headache I just went and rented the tool. My axle seems okay I don't know how to be sure though.

I lubricated the little push rods on the caliper clamps with some high temp brake lube so that shouldn't be the problem but I can always re-check. How would I go about checking the piston? It was hard to compress (I did have the fluid cap off) but I suppose it should be hard to compress right?

 

My guess is you didn't line up the notches in the caliper piston in the "straight up" position. Most calipers that need to be turned as well as pushed in need to be positioned because the brake pad has a "nub" that fits into the "notch" in the caliper piston.

If the notch isn't positioned straight up, and the nub on the pad isn't in that notch, it will cause the brakes to "seize" and give the problems you are describing...



These "nubs"





Fit into these notches...

 

I had thought about this after I got done swapping the pads, I didn't think it would make them seize but yes that might be the problem then! I'll go jack er' up and take a look now. Thank you!

 

You're welcome! Hope it fixes your problem.

 

And if that's not it, check the parking brake cable on that side. It might be too tight...

 

Well I fixed the notches and everything seems to be working smoothly now. I took it around the block and did some heavy braking and there is no heat or smell whatsoever it seems. I'll post again if I encounter any problems driving it to class tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

 

I assume the notches were not lined up properly then? I would think this would make it difficult to slide the caliper back on over the pads.

 

I had a similar problem with my GMC pickup truck a couple of years ago.
I had replaced all the rotors and pads and the rear would bind from time to time and heat up.
At first I though it was the parking brake, but it turned out that the brake pistons were hanging up and dragging the pads on the rotors. Things got blazing hot at times!
Finally, I bought some re-manufactured calipers from Napa and the problem never returned.