When Brake Pads And Rotors Are Replaced, Should The Calipers Also Be Checked
Posted in Brake Discs & Pads | Asked on Sep 3, 2010
A garage just replaced the rear brake pads and rotors, when they seized on a long trip, they said that the problem was the calipers and they had no responsibility in checking that even though they had been told that the car was not braking properly. They also replaced the springs, shocks and struts. The fire dept. had to be called to put out the fire when the brakes seized. The tires melted and the fire dept. said that the wheel assembly had melted. Is the garage trying to pull a fast one on a woman?
It was a friend of mine, but she had asked that they repair everything that needed it. She also called and told them she smelled something shortly after the repair and they said not to worry, all was fine. She took a long drive and all was fine. It was when she took a shorter drive, that the fire happened. It is all strange to me, but I feel as though the mechanics should have checked the calipers because the car had almost 90,000 miles on it. They repaired the calipers now and it still isn’t braking correctly. I think she has fooled with the brakes several times now. Thanks everyone for all the comments. It really helps.
Oops, I wasn’t clear. She took a long drive, went to the zoo and took a short hop to a restaurant afterwards when the fire occurred.
There are 5 Answers
Calipers don’t wear, so are replaced only “on condition”: they have cracks or other obvious defects that warrant replacement. It is not obvious why your brake system failed the way that it did.
Hope she is good looking cause she is getting screwed
When you replace rotors and brake linings, you can’t help but check the calipers.
You have to remove the calipers, remove the brake linings, then push the brake caliper pistons all the way in to make room for the new, much thicker brake linings.
If a caliper is leaking, that would be apparent. If a caliper were siezed – it would be impossible to finish the repair unless the caliper were replaced because that caliper would not retract enough to allow room for the new linings (brake pads).
The shop either did not do the brake job OR I think more likely they did. I think it’s more likely that either the parking brake was not adjusted properly, malfunctioned or the Proportioning Valve, which distributes hydraulic fluid to each wheel may not be functioning properly.
I had a van once which had that problem. It was never diagnosed properly by my mother-in-law’s mechanic nor mine. I ended up realising eventually thru process of elimination (replaced everything else, LOL)
Oh, and calipers DO wear. They can sieze or start to leak due to breakdown of seals. Brakes can heat up to 800+ degrees faster than it takes to warm up a cold cup of coffee in the microwave.
Lynn, in all seriousness, when your car starts handling or braking differently I would suggest you pull over to the side of the road rather than continue to drive until your car turns into a fireball. Additionally, you may want to have the calipers replaced if they are defective or leaking grease, surely if your tires melted down then the seals in the calipers were melted as well.
Yep the seals in the calipers will be shot, also the wheel bearings will probably want replacing as well. Lucky your whole car didn’t go up in smoke.