Well, after about 20 miles of highway driving I had to pull over because of a bad front-end vibration. The front right wheel was much hotter than the other three, way too hot to touch actually. Wasn't hot enough to smoke, thankfully.

Anyway, I took the wheel off in a parking lot and flipped up the caliper - it would move about 10 degrees of rotation before binding against the brake pad. The inner one, I assume. Almost as if the pad had uneven wear. It seemed okay but I wasn't in a position to examine it closely. The caliper seemed okay except for a torn rubber piston covery thing. I could retract the piston like normal, but on the drive back home I could tell it was doing the same thing, although I kept it slow enough to avoid too much heat buildup.

I plan on purchasing a caliper rebuild kit (actually, one for each corner, the car's old enough to need it) and go through the troubleshooting procedures in the manual.

Other than that is there anything in particular I should watch out for? In other words, has anybody else encountered a similar problem that wasn't addressed by a caliper rebuild and brake fluid flush? (I'm assuming it's not a cylinder or booster issue, since it was only that one corner.)

 

make sure your brake lines are ok stainless ones might be a good idear. also clean the caliper real good and blow it out with compressed air. dont use brake clean it swells the seals, just apply a small amout of brake fluid

 

had the same issue on the civic..changed calipers/pads/rotors and it happened again...solution was"drum roll please" a 99 cent packet of caliper grease to lube the sliding pin for the calipers...the grease had worn away away a little and the caliper was having a hard time sliding back after it was depressed...your issue sounds slightly different but for 99 cents its worth a try lol...goodluck

 

I've had a front and a rear caliper do this to me. I just took them apart, cleaned them up, regreased the slider pins which solved both of them. Oh, and I flushed the brake lines, for temps were pretty hot when they seized up (lots of smoking).

 

Since the piston retracts normally, it sounds like the slider pins are preventing the caliper to retract.

 

My rear is doing the same thing and it sound like I just got married and I'm dragging cans behind

 

When I rebuild the calipers I'll be sure to pay attention to the slider pins.

How exactly do I remove the pistons? Do they just pull out? The manual doesn't say.

 

Blow them out with compressed air. Put a piece of wood where the brake pad goes on the other side of the caliper, apply the compressed air to the inlet where the brake line attaches, and shoot them into the wood. I've actually done this with a bicycle pump many years ago: you need high pressure but not a very large volume of air. (Note: the bleeder must be closed.)

Please use a piece of wood as I asked. If you shoot the piston out into something metal, it may be damaged when it hits. Please wear safety glasses, and hearing protection if you have it.

 

first time i EVER hear it's a good idea to compressed air on brake dust infested part, well, wear a good mask