After a bit of hard driving, with high revving and hard braking, I pulled into a parking spot. I noticed some smoke coming out and when I opened the door, it was coming from the rear wheel well as opposed to the exhaust. Could this just be oil smoking after redlining the car or could it be the brakes?

 

Compare how hot that wheel is to other wheels. If the wheel is extremely hot (be careful when touching it obviously) then one of your brakes may be siezed / rubbing aganist the caliper. Or it could be that you have a small leak at the brake line. Look under the car and check for any leaking fluids.

 

Did you have the parking brake partially on while driving perhaps?

 

Don't think so, it was down.

 

it's probably the brake seizing, I checked again today, the exhaust had no smoke coming out, nor did the right wheel well. Only the left wheel well was smoking.

 

Don't worry about it, it' just that the car is THAT hot.

But seriously, I vote it being the brakes seizing.

 

Changed the caliper.............still smoking, no more evidence of seized brakes though!

Methinks it's a gasket leak between the y-pipe and the muffler on the left side. Could explain why it smokes from hard driving, but today, it smoked under light driving too! At a stoplight, I just saw smoke coming from my left rear!

 

This can't be good.
Visit a proctologist immediately.

In the meanwhile, lay off the Mexican food.

 

Interesting theory.....

Anyway, drove back today, as I got out of the car, I smelled the burning aroma again. Once again, only my left wheel well was smoking. It couldn't have been exhaust, it didn't smell like it. Now, I have the AWR camber adjuster links installed. Does anyone know if the bushings have been binded enough that they start smoking? I can't really determine where the smoke is coming from, i know it's not the brakes or the exhaust, could it be the bushings? If so, would a new set of poly bushings from ES solve the problem?

 

Do you have negative camber cranked into the wheel? If so, check the inside of the tire for rubbing.

 

not very much negative camber, I set it for -0.5 degrees. I used the AWR Camber Adjusters to reduce my negative camber from before. I'll check for rubbing, but I think that I have more than enough clearance. I'm running stock 205/55/16 size tires.

 

It does smell an awful lot like brake, but i've already changed both calipers. It also does feel like brake engagement when i'm off the pedal. On an uphill, my car is perfectly still. Could the e-brake be seizing up?

 

If the car doesn't roll downhill on a slight incline with the tranny in neutral an no brake applied something is binding. Could be the hand brake linkage. Especially if someone adjusted the linkage when the pads were badly worn and then didn't readjust the linkage when new pads were installed. With the rear wheels off the ground you should be able to turn the wheels by hand with a little resistance from the drive train. If you can't do that the brake pads are pressed against the rotors.

Don't drive the car until you figure this out. If the rear brakes are binding. the excess heat can actually boil and expand the brake fluid and cause the brakes to lock up while driving. Had that happen on a busy commuter route one time. Not something you want to experience.

 

That does make sense, but it's an intermittent problem. If I stab the brakes hard with my foot, everything releases and it's a-okay, except for the fact that when I drive to work, there's always excess heat and smoke coming from the rear wheel well, but not so much if i don't drive hard. It's kinda hard not to hard brake and/or heel-toe with this car =P.

Could the brakes be binding and then un-binding? I can't think of anything that would cause that.

 

Could be that your ebrake cables/linkage are sticky or binding on that one side.

You could disconnect the ebrake cable from the passenger side caliper and see if the smoking persists.
If it does. then you'll have to look deeper- primarily at the rotating parts at that wheel...bearing, CV joint,tire to suspension interface (i.e. rubbing) or brake are the only things I can think of that rotate fast enough to create smoke.

 

hmm....i'll try that and see what happens.

 

update: It definitely is the parking brake or the linkage. It only smokes if I've had the parking brake on when I park the car. I'm forced to park the car in gear only now. I'd like to know your take on something, when the brakes feel seized, and I step on the brake hard, I feel a sudden release or snap from the brake pedal, and then everything seems fine. Is that sudden release or snap an issue?

 

I'd try disassembling the rear caliper and pay special attention to the slider pins.

 

First of all, be very careful when parking on an incline without using the parking brake. Depending on the slope of the incline and the condition of the engine, the car can definitely roll with just the engine compression keeping the drive train from turning.

Second, if you park the car with the parking brake engaged with pads wet, the pads can rust to the rotors in a surprisingly short period of time. So that when you release the parking brake the pads remain frozen to the rotors. This could be what you are referring to above. By pressing on the brake pedal you are applying enough pressure to slightly move the pads and break them free from the rotor.

In any case, if pressing on the brake pedal releases the pads from the rotors, it is either the rust problem or the caliper pistons are not releasing the pressure on the pads. By increasing the pressure on the pads when you press on the pedal you are causing the pistons to first move slightly outward then retract.

 

The thing is, I've replaced both calipers recently......that's why I'm not sure how the second part applies...

Would I have to buy a new e-brake cable if the linkage is sticky?

 

the Ebrake is Nicely tucked up in over the exhaust and everything else located at the back of the car!..I do hope you have Patience.if you think it's Sticking,I would go all out and get the Two cables(left and Right),the Intermediate or Main cable(that goes from the Handle to the Y clamp),and perhaps the Spring that holds the Hold Affair Up to the Chassis...One thing you may have Overlooked though.That is the Springs(the coily things on the Parking Part of the caliper)how do they Look?,can you see if they operate the caliper Ok when you apply the Brakes(get a buddy when doing this)?..anyhow,something to look at.

 

Well, the proposed solution was to get a new e-brake cable and install the whole assembly again....Not sure how good I feel about that (well, make that my wallet)

 

Jeez.
Before I replaced the cables I'd certainly try lubing them and seeing if they are the problem.

 

Any other obvious ideas that I might have overlooked?

 

Yeah.
Pull the caliper and check for free movement of the ebrake lever, that the caliper is free on the slider pins and that the pads are aren't bound.