Hangwire

Ok damnit. Changed my rotors and pads today and Mr. Front left caliper/rotor is getting hot as hell and smoking. Though everything felt right and not sticky at all I decided to stop driving and check anyways. Sure enough it was smoking. Front right is absolutely fine.

Brakes feel fine and dont feel like they are sticking but obviously something is wrong. I installed Brembo stock replacements and Hawk HPS's. I have a 2003 GT and I honestly even after searching could never find out if the pistons had to be turned as they were compressed.

After the info that I found I determined they didnt need to be turned for two reasons. 1) theres no slots in the pistons for this brake caliper kit to fit on. 2)From what I found the only the reason some pistons need to be turned is because they are for self adjusting parking brake pistons. Those are on our rears so I just compressed the front piston with the tool without turning.

I can provide video if requested.

What are the only things that can cause this excessive heat and smoking? Based on what info I get here i'll either take it all apart tomorrow and put it back together or just go into the shop on Monday morning to get it looked at.

Z28KLR

Go back and make sure the caliper pins are well lubricated, also might be a piston not retracting (rebuild caliper?). And you're right, the front pistons just get compressed back in, it's the rears that get turned/threaded back in. Just for sh*ts and giggles, pull the front wheels off and I'm sure you will be able to feel a noticeable (maybe not dramatic, but still noticeable) difference in drag between the two sides when you spin the hubs by hand.

Hangwire

I was JUST thinking about that inbetween periods of my hockey game. I searched alot on here and couldn't find threads with this problem however I remember seeings tons of these threads in the past.

The only thing I can remember different is that I put the lubricant directly on the piston instead of the back of the pad on the front left, I also REALLY torqued the caliper assembly downto the hub on the front left because I learned a good way to get leverage. Based on the fact that it took all of my strength to pop it loose I doubt its a problem. Its obviously got high temp loctite on it from the factory.

SnakeConvert98

Change the rubber hose!!!! Was the piston really hard to push in, Change the rubber hose!!!! If it hasn't already fried the new caliper, you will be amazed. You didn't by chance use carb cleaner to clean the rotor did ya? Trust me, that will make it smoke like a bitch,(i grabbed the wrong can once,and only once)

RedHousePainter

Always rinse calipers and rotors with brake cleaner, and wear gloves when working with brakes.

Oil from your hands can be problematic on the stopping surfaces.

Hangwire

Funny enough I did accidentally use carb cleaner but I did it on both rotors. Like you I had my brake and carb cleaner side by side and both were that blue generic brand. Only the front left is smoking and its HOT all around. That means rim, caliper and everything. I'm going to be taking it apart here shortly and i'm gonna look to see if I did anything wrong. Kind hard to screw up a brake change.

Hangwire

Took everything apart it all looked fine. Pads were in correctly nothing seemed wrong....cleaned the rotor with brake cleaner, compressed the pistons back in. Put everything back together and its still overheating. I guess its off to the stealership in the morning so they can cook up a reason I need to replace my whole front suspension to fix the problem. FML

When I spun the tire the one that is overheating had a little more restriction than the front right. After I re-compressed the pistons and put it all back together it spun totally free(as I expected it to). Once I pumped the brakes about 5 times it was pretty much back to where it was before. I know the pads are supposed to touch but just how free should the wheel spin? I have video of the wheel spinning before and after pumping the brakes.

SnakeConvert98

As i said before ,, change the rubber brake hose,, when they get old the inside liner swells and distorts,, you push the pedel the fluid flows through into the caliper pushing the pistons out, but, when you let off it will not allow the fluid to return! Change the rubber brake hose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

blueberry

The pistons are probably sticking. By chance, did you notice how the old brake pads looked? Was the left side worn out more than the right side?

WhiteFoxGT

The caliper is sticking. Its pretty common on these cars. Replace the side thats sticking