[LJUNIOR91]

After you have driven for a while (15-20 min.) at highway speed, compare the heat of the wheels on opposite sides of the car. If one has a stuck or sticking caliper, it will be noticeably hotter. They should be warm (front warmer than rear), but not too hot. When the caliper on the rear of my sedan froze, the wheel felt like I could fry an egg on it.

Have you had your pads replaced or inspected recently? The pads have a wear indicator on the inboard pad that will scrape against the rotor to signal that replacement is needed. If that is the cause, replace them soon so that you do not have to also replace the rotors. I do not believe that you will be able to check for pad wear without removing the wheel. I remove the wheel, then the lower caliper bolt (re-torque at 36 lbs. ft.) and swing the caliper up so that I have access to the pads.

WHM

 

[LJUNIOR91]

Craigstar333,
Is the problem still with heat? If so, the other thing that you might check is the parking brake shoes. I am assuming that you cleaned them out when you replaced the rotors. Did you also put some lub in the area where they slide on the back plate and where they pivot? The manual shows twelve places per wheel. I used a grease stick.

There is also a major adjustment that can be done at each wheel before the final one is done inside the car at the back of the console.

On my frozen right rear caliper, I had to replace the caliper because I could not get the piston out. On the other rear caliper and both front calipers, I rebuilt them with kits that I bought at NAPA.

WHM

 

[LJUNIOR91]

What kind of problems are you having?

 

[LJUNIOR91]

Since it is not constant contact, the other possibility is that your rotor is slightly warped. There are differing opinions on whether new rotors should be resurfaced before mounting or not.

Once you have the caliper & caliper bracket off, there are only two screws holding the rotor on. However, you might need to have an impact screw driver to get the screws out.

I am not sure of the price in your area, but here on the east coast the machine shop charged me $20 per rotor. They charged me extra because I had them turn both the pad surface and the drum surface.
WHM

 

[LJUNIOR91]

DEE,
The point that I was attempting to make was that new rotors are not always true (with the surface at the same height all the way around). If you were to hold a straight-edge next to the rotor surface, hold it steady and turn the rotor; there would be places that the straight-edge would contact the rotor and places where it would not. That would give the symptoms that you mentioned. It would not have anything to do with how much your pads have worn.

Rotors can come from the manufacturer warped, can get warped from over-heating and can get warped because the wheel lugs are not tightened in the proper sequence. I prefer to tighten my wheel lugs in the specified sequence twice. Once at 40 lbs. ft. and then again at 80 lbs. ft.

I hope that you will be successful in finding the source of your problem. I know that it can be a pain in the behind.

WHM