Dragging Right Rear Brake Caliper - Rebuild Time?
 

I just finished the brakes on all 4 corners earlier today. After I got the brakes bled I went out to bed-in the brakes and at some point during the bed-in process I noticed the right rear was dragging. I don't believe it was dragging until I started the bed-in stops. I adjusted the caliper all the way in for both rears before install, and only the right rear seems to be having an issue. I have new rotors, pads, and fluid.

I will probably try to take it off, turn it in again and see if it's still dragging. Besides that, is there anything worth checking or should I just start looking into either rebuilding the caliper or buying a reman? If I did rebuild the caliper, assuming the caliper was frozen would rebuilding it definitely fix the issue or can they be too far gone? I'm assuming it could be corroded to a point where it's just scrap?

Check for full parking brake cable release, then go for a reman. the cores aren`t normally worth rebuilding.

BLEED IT AGAIN, (if you didn't bleed it after you changed the pads, you should not be doing your own brakes)! If it still drags, disassemble and check that all the parts are clean of burs and operate as should. If it still drags, then rebuild/buy a rebuilt unit. The biggest source of dragging/locked brakes after a pad/rotor change is the LACK OF BLEEDING THEM! In which some cases causes the brakes to heat so excessively they get trashed.

Mike................

I hit the brakes with a compressed air powered vacuum bleeder for quite awhile, but I will probably try again, and obviously I will have to if I take the caliper off. I actually left the bleeder on each corner long enough to do a full system fluid flush since I changed over to DOT 4 fluid. I replaced the lines and the front calipers, so if I hadn't bled the brakes I would never have been able to build line pressure let alone stop.

I took the rear caliper off and everything looked ok. I re-installed the caliper after adjusting it in fully again and took the car for another drive. The rear brakes (I found out it was actually both rear brakes) are making a light rubbing/whirling noise still, which increases with speed.

I had a mechanic friend ride along in the car to see what he thinks. His thinking is that it's just the pads riding along the rotors. I've never had a car make noise before like this but he said it seems fine. The wheels do move fairly freely and the rear brakes are definitely not applying anywhere near full force when the pedal is released.

Although he says he thinks it's ok, I may try installing a second spring in both sides on the rear to see if that helps keep the pads off the rotors better (I only had one spring on each set of pads, which is how they were originally set up).

I'm running HP+ pads with some brake planet rotors, and he suggested that maybe it's making noise just because it is a harder compound pad.

Has anyone had this type of thing occur for them?

Yeah it is normal for the pads to constantly ride against the rotors, but not so much that you actually feel drag. Try coasting out of gear to determine if you think they are dragging. Also, after a quick drive stop the car and take a sniff around your rear brakes, if they are dragging you will smell the heated pads. I had the same problem with both rear brakes and it was the parking brake mechanism for me. A temporary fix that worked for me was to use a stiffer spring on the parking brake lever (at the brake) to make sure it moves back to the released position.

I don't feel it dragging, in fact I think the car rolls easier than it did before I did the brakes. I assumed it was dragging because of the noise.

I thought about the parking brake mechanism and I'm not sure if that's ok or not. As far as I could tell everything looked fine. Nothing looks to be binding up on the brakes. I will check again though when I have more time to look at it.

So has anyone else had brakes that ride close enough to the rotor to create a noise even when everything was operating properly? I'm not saying mine are working properly mind you, just wondered if anyone else has had this happen.

It would seem the rear brakes are working fine. I've bled them again (both sides) and they still make the same noise. I decided to drive the car and see if the rotors got warm. Even with the brakes making noise the entire time at speeds from 35-60 for about 15-20 minutes the rotors were barely warm. I was able to rest my hand on both sides indefinitely.

I've been told that cross-drilled rear brakes with aggressive pads in calipers that also have the ebrake cable on them can create some weird noises, so I guess I'll just chalk it up to that. Besides the noise everything seems to be working normally.

ive done a good amount of brake jobs, seeing how that is how i make a living, as far as ss brakes full conversion on resto mods, slotted and drilled on per. oriented vehicles, dragster brakes ad ofcourse regular brakes and a light noise on new pads is no big deal. they should brake in and a couple of "aggressive" stops usually takes car of this. agreeing with what others told you as long as you ebrake is no hanging up (releases fully that you can see on the caliper itself) and your not dragging anymore then have fun:icon_tup:

when I changed my rotors and pads I also put a spring kit in, at the time I got it from Mazdatrix, might be something you may want to do as well if you do not know the age of them.