On my way home today my right front brake started to grab real bad and didn't let up. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to pull the wheel off and inspect it, but what should I be looking for? It was smoking pretty bad when I got home, is it toast or can I un-stick it and be good to go? As always any advise helps!

 

I'd start with the simple then move to the complicated. Check the caliper are the pins stuck? Brake hose kinked or damaged? Remove the caliper from the rotor, can you can press the pistons back in? You can use a C clamp, remove reservoir cover...

 

OK, copy that. Thanks.

 

It is fairly common on brakes like these to have the slide pins seize. The rubber boot on the slide pin fails and the grease dries out. Then no slidey. Usually they can be disassembled and cleaned and reassembled with a bit of brake grease, as long as the boots are still good and seal well. Here's a link with pics. Another reason the caliper might fail to release is the inside of the brake hose collapses and acts like a one way valve. You may be able to feel that internal failure with your fingers, but not often. If they look original I'd just replace both front hoses and consider the rear one too. Plus the pistons can seize as mentioned above. If the pistons are phenolic instead of steel they may be toasted from the heat.

If all the components are older or worn, and budget allowed, I'd be tempted to simply replace all those bits (calipers, rotors, pads, hoses) both sides and not worry about brakes for another 40k.

 

Ok, so I'm waiting on some SS brake lines to get here before I rebuild the brakes and I got the slide pins from NAPA and I was wondering if there is a major difference between OEM slide pins and after market? I know that sometimes there is a major difference in the quality of parts and sometimes not. Any thoughts on that or anything else brake related helps. BTW, I have Cryo'd rotors, anybody ever have any trouble getting those re-surfaced? I'm just speculating that they might be harder to surface due to the Cryo treatment.

 

I bought Powerstop brakes new calipers, rotors, pads, 1 year later I had a pin sticking so I bought the NAPA rebuild kit. Pad slides, boots and pins. The NAPA boots were 10x the quality of the Powerstop!

 

OK, Thanks. That's what I was hoping to hear, just thought I'd check.

 

You probly know this but make sure & use the high temp brake grease for the slide pins & not wheel bearing grease. Learned this the hard way myself years ago.

 

OK, not sure I would have thought about using the bearing grease, but thanks for saving me a potential mistake. It is what I have out in the garage, so I could see my self doing that.

 

Just had this 2 days ago. Pistons were seized on the caliper - threw a new one on, bled breaks - all fixed

 

Mine did same thing about 3 months after I did a complete front brake job. Thought I screwed something up but then also figured...They been working great for 3 months?? Let wheel/brakes cool down, Took wheel off, Hit caliper a few times with a hammer. Put wheel back on. Been good ever since! LOL Just like you it was pulling real hard and hot and smokin by time I got home. Never really knew (for sure) what it was but as above, I figured I had a slide pin get stuck. Didn't really do anything to fix it. Guess just the cooling down & a few taps with the hammer allowed it to free up. That's my story.