Finally drove my S5 TII to the garage today and left it there to get its inspection and get registered to be road legal. This is the first time it's been driven on the road in about a year, and the brakes were feeling a little mushy. Am sure they need new brake fluid, and also am going to order new pads & rotors. But one thing I noticed was that the brakes were sticking on a little. If I was coming to a set of lights I could get off the gas and put it in neutral and it would come to a stop (as if there was light pressure on the brakes). When I got to the garage I also felt the rotors at the front and they were abnormally warm. Not hot like they'd boil water, but pretty warm.

Think new fluid/rotors/pads would solve this, or maybe a bit of manipulation of the calipers themselves to get them moving right again? Or should I be looking at getting caliper rebuild kits?

 

You can try a lot of things, but I suspect that after all that effort, you will end up with new calipers. If they are sticking, rust has formed in the bores and is hanging up the piston. New brake fluid will probably free them, but they will stick again and begin leaking soon.

 

Thanks for that. Might try taking them apart and seeing if there's any rust in there when I'm doing work on the brakes. I can pick up a set of front calipers if I need to for about $50 so it's not going to bankrupt me too much.

 

Probably the bottom pistons sticking as condensation forms in the bottom of the caliper. They can be rebuilt fairly cheaply, just time consuming. Better check the rears also.