So my right rear caliper is seizing, the temperature of the wheel is extremely higher than the others. Here is the story, about six months ago I changed my rear brake pads. Right after changing them I went for a drive and my left rear wheel was getting a lot hotter than the others. I went back and regreased the slider pins, cleaned off all the rust off of the retaining brackets, and bled the brakes. Took the car for another drive, the left rear was fine but then my right rear started heating up (not too hot but noticeably hotter than the rest). I went back home, regreased the slider pins once again and still no change. I decided to drive the car the way it was, always checking the wheels after a drive, and the temperature difference slowly lessened as time went on. The wheel was only slightly hotter than the others.

Two days ago, the right rear caliper started locking up again and the wheel was too hot to touch. I'm pretty sure it's the piston as I had regreased the slider pins 3 times before, but I may have accidentally tried retracting the piston too much when I changed the pads.

I was going to replace the caliper with a remanufactured one so my questions are as follows:

1. Is it completely necessary to replace both rear calipers?
2. Would I need to change anything else in conjunction with the caliper, i.e., brake lines, rotors, etc.?
3. I looked into centric calipers but couldn't find much info. on them other than they may also be NISSIN calipers, what is the difference (other than saving $50 per caliper) between these and OEM RMD (remanufactured) ones?

I'm on a bit of a budget and buying 2 Honda OEM RMD calipers along with rotors, and pads would be pretty difficult right now.

 

Pads and rotors can be reused if there's a good amount of meat left. Make sure your E-brake cable is properly adjusted. Retracting the piston is unrelated to seized calipers. Check with the wheel off, try to rotated the calipers by hand. Make sure that the hoses are not obstructed in any way.

 

Thanks, I'll go ahead and check that. As for the e-brake, I searched around and found some info. but it seems it's mainly to take out the slack the e-brake may have. In my case, wouldn't it mean that my e-brake is locked on that one side? I'm not really sure how I'd be able to tell if it is locked or not when the e-brake handle is down.

 

The "Brake Light" is activated through the e-brake lever being lifted, doesn't mean that the brakes are active. Make sure there's a little bit of resistance a few clicks in. The light can also be turned on when brake fluid is low, indicating that some pads are worn. The E-brake shouldn't be bias on what side calipers clamp. Just put the car on jackstands, and try to move the wheel. It's normal for pads to have a slight rub with the rotors when the brakes are off.

 

Realize it could be a collapsed brake hose, or as already mentioned, some sort of obstruction in the line.

Here's a good vid that helped me out on my fiancé's car. Had the same problem as yours.

http://youtu.be/gKkX_0rZFks

I'd stay away from reman calipers other than the ones remaned by Honda, but even then I have no personal experience with the Honda reman version. I had a bad experience with a "beck and arnley" brand reman caliper. Basically it was rebuilt, but still seized right out of the box.


I heard mention of a brake upgrade where people were using accord calipers for better stopping performance. You might be able to score a set of those used cheaper than you could buy one for the s2.

 

Well I jacked up the car and checked the e-brake lines, also adjusting the tension, but when the e-brake is disengaged the right rear wheel still requires a lot more force to move it compared to the left. I'm pretty sure now it is just the piston is seized.

 

Guess I didn't see that post because we made them at the same time, wish I had seen it before I put the car down. Thanks for the video though, I'm going to check that out tomorrow. If it's just a blocked line then that would be great.

Yeah, I really would prefer to stay with honda but at $125 a piece, it is pretty expensive. I paid about $90 for a remaned Honda caliper for my front right and it works great so far, it's been about 2yrs. As for the centrics, it looks like they're made by NISSIN who makes our calipers as well (as far as I know). Here is a DIY posted not too long ago where the guy used centric remaned calipers and you can read NISSIN on them:
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/102...verhaul-guide/

I have to order the caliper/parts soon because I need the car to be driveable by the end of next week and waiting on parts to come in is a PITA. I would look into the accord swap, though I think they're only for the fronts, but due to lack of time there will be no upgrade for me now lol

 

Check out this DIY.

I have recently rebuilt both my front calipers. Main piston, seals, ring, and lube.

Cleaning out the secondary pistons is often good enough. However if you're like me and did not include brake caliper maintenance as part of your routine; your main piston may be substantially degraded due to a number of factors.

Removing the calipers is relatively easy. If your car is a DD, the problem you will have during the week is letting it cool down (properly) so you can work on it.

Things to check:

• Ensure the secondary pins are put in their respective slots. Yes. They are different. (see below)
• Ensure you use the proper grease on each part of the brake. (see below)
• Once you get the caliper repaired do an entire flush of your brake fluid. Some prefer doing this beforehand to reduce the amount of crud you get in the new/rebuilt caliper. However this may not be an option for you.

Things I learned:

• If you are in a bind; beat the hell out of your breaks. If you're lucky, this will give free up some of the bind.
  • Do this carefully though. The extra work on your caliper will heat it up quickly.
  • For reference. I have an IR temp reader. One of my rotors was reading 350F.
• Rebuilding an old abused caliper is a pain in the ass. The rust makes it very difficult to properly seat the main piston seal.
• Read through the DIY numerous times and make notes to help save yourself time.
• As others have mentioned, look into re-manufactured calipers. This is especially important for the rears (which are more difficult to rebuild due to the e-brake assembly).
• The more time you spend cleaning them; the better. This may seem like common sense but when you're in a hurry; things happen. If possible, do 1 or 2 a day (on the weekend).

Additional information:

(billman)

• Bleed order: LF-RF-RR-LR
• Pull your calipers, do your rebuilds. Blow your brake hoses out with compressed air. Use a couple drops of clean brake fluid and blow that through the hoses if you like.
• Gravity bleed the car out the steel lines with new fluid without hooking up the hoses and calipers to the lines. Once all four corners run clean, THEN connect your lines to your hoses. This way no dirty fluid ever enters your newly rebuilt calipers.

(spitfire)

• -Pins: silicone grease (Orange)
• -Piston seal, Piston boot: rubber grease (Red)
• -Pin boots: silicone grease (Clear Shin Etsu)
• A long rotary wire brush is ideal for cleaning the crud out of the carriers.
• Don't forget that the carrier pins are NOT the same top and bottom - if you put them in the wrong way around, they are even more prone to sticking.
• On the fronts, it's beveled pin at the bottom of the carrier and on the rears, it's the top. Basically the leading pin in the forward rotational direction is the beveled one..

Caliper P/Ns (remanufactured)

• 45018-S2A-003RM CALIPER SUB-ASSY., R. FR. (RMD)$75.65
• 45019-S2A-003RM CALIPER SUB-ASSY., L. FR. (RMD)$75.65
• 43018-S2A-013RM CALIPER SUB-ASSY., R. RR. (RMD)$121.04
• 43019-S2A-013RM CALIPER SUB-ASSY., L. RR. (RMD)$121.04

As always; good luck,
Matt