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Brake drag please help!

asite57

asite57

New member
alright my front driver side caliper is dragging when my foots off the break, it pulls the car to one side, hurts my fuel economy and makes a noise. the caliper IS NOT seized its just dragging i havent pulled it off yet but im thinking maybe its the slide? im not sure what to do please help
 


its a floating caliper design. The slide pins could be rusted/gummed up preventing it from doing so. It could also be a stuck piston or a brake line deteriorating. Look for bulges in the brake line feeding it. They deteriorate from the inside and may have a flap come loose that acts as a one way valve for teh brake fluid and it will keep the piston from retracting. If its a stuck piston, replace the caliper. Rebuilding is just replacing the seal and dust cover and its a pain.
 
ive fixed a floating caliper slide before so i hope its that, ill lool for the brake line when i get the wheel off thanks for that good tip, it doesnt seem like the piston though ive delt with that on other cars and usually it locks the wheel from moving at all.
 
what i always do is to reinstall the caliper without the rotor on. that way i can move teh caliper by hand back and forth to make sure it moves smooth. if it is gunked up clean it well sand paper if necessary. if you do sand it make sure it is smooth when done and you put grease on it it. it could also be a pad not seated correctly... or the clips holding the pad too can be corroded on or behind the clip keeping the pad from moving when the caliper squeezes. make sure eveything that moves is smooth.
 
If the slides are good and lubed. Then replace the brake line. I'd automatically do both if you are doing one. You can't typically see a deteriorating brake line when they come apart inside. A bulging is typically a "gonna pop" and not the same as the line coming apart inside and acting like a check valve.
 


My brother had a brake line issue on a dirt track car. It bound up so much it made the rotor glow red hot and basically explode. One brake line replacement later, and no more hang up.
 
you guys keep talking about bad brake lines causing this problem is that really this common? i mean break slides seize up all the time ive never heard of a bad line causing this?
 
I never had either until someone else told me to try replacing my brother's line. When the line collapses it keeps pressure on the caliper. If it was just the slide it wouldn't lock the wheel up, it would just slightly drag.
 
Rubber brake line can come apart inside so that it acts like a check valve, on lets pressure into caliper but not out. Not as common as the slider pins but it happens.
 
my wheel IS NOT locked up, it just slightly drags it made a noise at first now its just warping the rotor
 


If you can tell you have to give it more gas than normal, then it is hanging up due to extra pressure on the rotor. I have had slides freeze before, and it really didn't make my wheel drag noticably. It just wore my brakes faster.
 
yeah the car pulls to that side and the wheel was squeaking when the cars in park i can see the pad still touching the rotor on that side it doesnt do this on the other side and the rotor is glazed all over it
 
well im gonna try to fix the slide tomorrow and go from there. i feel like at this point though its definitely warped the rotor and worn/cracked the pad
 
so it was the slide causing the brake drag, lubed up the slide and its better.........but sometimes between going to school and my buddys house to fix the car, my wheel came lose and it snapped a stud so now i have that problem
 


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