Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

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Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

August 08, 2006, 08:15:41 PM

I was coming home from work today, and right as I was leaving town my passenger side front caliper started to hang up and I'm not even sure why. I noticed a burning brake smell but didn't think it was me, and the caliper didn't hang up bad enough for me to notice until I hit the brakes pretty good halfway home (35 mile trip) and noticed that the car didn't even want to roll. So I drove the rest of the way home using the brakes as little as possible since it would mostly release after a few miles of driving.

So how much damage can I expect. I figure the pads are probably pretty well gone now, and the rotor is probably screwed up. I'm wondering what hung up. I have 73mm front calipers on my car with stainless caliper sleeves, which I've had on the car for almost a year and haven't had one problem with yet. Guess I'll have to take it apart and look tomorrow...

Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

Reply #1 – August 09, 2006, 12:25:48 AM

Does it have the stainless or phenolic pistons it the calipers? I've had the phenolic ones lock up, but not the stainless.

Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

Reply #2 – August 09, 2006, 12:44:35 PM

They're phenolics...

Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

Reply #3 – August 09, 2006, 06:35:49 PM

That's the problem then. They don't age well. I had the same thing happen to me twice, on two different cars. I only used stainless-pistoned calipers after that. Now I just use SN-95 stuff anyway, so it's a moot point these days.

Dammit! Had caliper hang up on way home from work today

Reply #4 – August 09, 2006, 09:39:59 PM

I had bought these calipers awhile back, and got one replaced because it was siezed up...turns out the one that was hanging up on me was the older one, so guess I'll replace it too. Good thing those are cheap.

I did take everything apart and take it for a drive and everything seems ok now. I dunno what was siezed because when I took the wheel off today, the rotor would spin freely.