New brakes but wheel locks up????

[madman]

I just put new rotors, lines and pads on. Bled the entire system and put new brake fluid in, bled all the lines.

I checked to make sure all the hubs turned freely, no problem. When I put the wheels back on they too turned freely except for the front right side. It wouldn't budge.

I took the wheel back off and checked the hub and rotor. Again it turned freely. Put the wheel back on and it wouldn't turn.

I started to back the car out of the driveway to see if I could hear something rubbing or sticking, nothing. I also had someone watch the wheel to make sure it actually rolled and wasn't completely locked up and sliding and it seemed to roll fine. So I decide to take it down the street and run the brake in procedure, see if it would brake lose (may of been a bad idea ). After two 40mph gradual stops I noticed a smell. Stopped got out on the front right side was smoking. So I took it back to the house at about 5-10mph. Made it back home and it was still smoking but just barely.

It was dark out but looks like there was a little discoloration to the rotor. Won't know for sure till I get home today.

Any ideas of why it would freeze up like that only with the wheel on.

 

[gibby]

I just experienced this with one of my other vehicles. turns out my problem was with the caliper. it was not allowing the release of the pad. did the same thing. when you pushed the caliper back in to put on the new pads was it harder than the other ones?? anyway that was my problem I hope this helps.

 

[madman]

When I took that brake line off and caliper off it was easy to push the pistons back in on the right side. I was able to do it by hand.

Now the drivers side wasn't as easy. Only one piston would push in. I had to use something (won't say what, it may frighten people) to get the other piston to push back in.

Funny enough I'm not having any problems with the drivers side now. Go figure.

I was having problems with the brakes dragging before I installed the new ones. Not sure what side was dragging but I think I was being over optimistic that I wouldn't have to rebuild the calipers.

Even still, it just seems odd that it only locks up with the wheel on.

 

[madman]

OK, I got new calipers and installed them. Bled the brake lines again.

THE FRONT RIGHT SIDE STILL LOCKS UP WHEN I PUT THE WHEEL ON!!!!!!!

Can anyone help????

 

[gsx951]

The caliper mounting bracket has holes that the brake pins ride in. Clean these holes out and lightly grease the pins. Look at the pins. On the head they're marked "L" and "G" for lock and guide. The caliper is also marked "L" and "G" so you don't mix things up.
You most likely have dirt/rust/poop in the hole preventing the caliper from moving freely.
This should fix it.

 

[luv2rallye]

Also make sure your rotor is seating properly (squarely and completely) against the hub when putting wheel on (since the wheel holds it).

 

[madman]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Monday when I get time I'll just take everything off on that side and inspect everything and reinstall.

QUESTION: The rotor is definitely blackened (looks burned) from the first night I took it down the street. Does this mean my rotor is shot now? Will it need to be turned down to get rid of the burnt layer?

 

[wret]

Your rotor is probably coated with burnt pad residue. Its pretty hard to burn cast iron. There is a procedure to test the resistance of the caliper against the pad. Its not very technical but a little involved and time consuming. You would also need a spring scale which most people don't have. You should be able to find the procedure in your shop manual.

After you rule out the guide pins as a cause, suspect that the caliper piston is seized. A rebuild or replacement will take care of this.

Edit: Whoops, I missed the part where you said you already replaced calipers. The next place to look is the lines.

 

[Michael Z.]

Take the caliper off the car, and disassemble it. It may be very hard to separate the two caliper pieces if they are rusted together. Buy new guide pins, and grease the guide pins with brake grease. Make sure the brake piston is pushed back fully in the caliper. If it doesn't go back, you definitely need another caliper. If you want something quick and don't want to mess around with the caliper, call your local parts store and order a loaded rebuilt caliper, and bring yours in as a core. Naturally, you'll have to bleed the brakes again.

 

[madman]

Your rotor is probably coated with burnt pad residue. Its pretty hard to burn cast iron.

So the rotor should be ok? Then is the pad ok too, other than just worn more than the others since i burned off some of it?

 

[wret]

So the rotor should be ok? Then is the pad ok too, other than just worn more than the others since i burned off some of it?

"Should be." It's possible that they are FUBARed from the excessive heat but your immediate concern is the stuck caliper.

If you recently changed your lines, why don't you swap one of the old ones back. You can then eliminate the brake line from your suspect list.

 

[luv2rallye]

You can touch up the pads by sanding their face with 150 grit sandpaper. Lay sandpaper on a flat surface and move the pad across it. Then clean both the pad and rotor with a brake cleaner spray (eg. Gunk makes one) and white paper towel.

 

[madman]

OK, so I took everything apart and realized how stupid I am.

When I bought the new ( rebuilt ) calipers they came with new hardware, Slide pins, rubber boots, metal clips. Instead of using the new bolts I used the stock ones. The new ones looked a little different. So as I'm inspecting everything, I notice the bottom slide pin was shorter than the others. Come to find out that part of it had broke off in the caliper bracket. When I had put it all back together it went in fine and didn't seem to be a problem at the time.

So I tried drilling and tapping the bolt out with no luck. I took it to a brake shop and they tried heating it up and had no luck. So again I turned to Mitsu for a new new parts.

Got the new bracket in today. Installed everything using all the new pins and hardware and presto, wheel spins great.

New caliper bracket with overnight fee ..............$75
Rebuilt calipers from parts store .....................$225
Realizing you're a moron on DSMTuners....... Priceless

Then again, it was my first brake job ever.

 

[n0c7]

Some smoke on new brakes on the first little bit should be normal if you have to slam on them as there may be some grease on them and they are still settling. Some guys even go the extreme of taking the car out to the track and burning the shit out of the brakes to break them in.. but I hear thats just asking for problems. I just put new pads and rotors all around on a 95 Intrepid and on the third day I had to slam the brakes, I was getting some funny looks with smoke coming from all 4 wheels