Quote:
Originally Posted by azurite300E
Which piston would be sticking, the one on the side where the pad is almost gone? And, should I order the caliper rebuild kit, just in case? Thanks.
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Yes.
What happens is the dirt boot leaks and rust gets on the pistons. The piston is easily moved easily when you push on the brake pedal b/c the master cylinder has such high pressure reacting on the piston in the caliper, but once you release the pedal, the piston is supposed to relax the pressure on the pad , but there is just residual force doing that and if the piston is gunked up, it sticks . The results is there is always pressure on that pad and it then wears faster than the other side.
Whenever doing pads , it is a good practice to push the piston in/out a few times to self clean them..
But a kit is the correct remedy..you will plainly see the problem when you take the piston out.
A neat tool that I use all the time for brake checking is an Infared thermometer gun. You can take wheel rim readings after a good run and a sticking calpier will show up as a hot rim.. You can also find them just by feeling with you hand. A sticking caliper or restricted brake hose causes undue pad pressure and wheel drag..... the results are heat generation on that wheel/rim/caliper.......restricted hoses are always mis-diagnosed as bad calipers, but a simple open bleeder test will differentiate the two.