Another Sticky Caliper

[awnield]

Hi all,

Last night when I left the motorway on my way home the car seemed to be dragging (slowing up quickly) when i dipped the clutch to change gear. My first thought was a flat or soft tyre but the ride seemes fine? My second thought was to this forum and the regular topic of sticky calipers.

When I got home, 5 mins from the morotway I could smell brakes when I got out of the car. Putting my hand close to each wheel to judge the temperature it was clear the rear drivers side was much much hotter than all the other wheels.

I left the car to cool while I got on the net to do a bit more research.

This morning I though I would see what happened. Parked up at the end of my journey and everything seemed fine, no smell and I could even touch the disc (warm but I could touch it never the less.).

Does anybody have any ideas? Do people think a quick clean and lubricate would help or is something more drastic required?

Cheers

[lexdavis]

my mate has an almera gti that suffers from this all he does is take them apart and give them a clean and lube and they are fine after that so give that a go first

[kev dood]

Give em a good strip down and clean. The rears suffer from dirt etc around the pad bit and on mine, they almost corroeded onto the carrier so probably moved very little. I pulled the lot apart and gave them all a good scrape/clean and grease before reassembling and seemed better.

Have not read of any rear calipers seizing but you never know. Its common for the front (especially lower) piston to seize - my NS front does this every now and then. A few winding in with a clamp then pressing out with the pedal and it gets better.

Once weather gets better I am gonna get a new caliper though. Easier and quicker than renewing the seals by stripping the caliper. And its guarenteed to last longer!

[flyeris]

Give em a good strip down and clean. The rears suffer from dirt etc around the pad bit and on mine, they almost corroeded onto the carrier so probably moved very little. I pulled the lot apart and gave them all a good scrape/clean and grease before reassembling and seemed better.

Have not read of any rear calipers seizing but you never know. Its common for the front (especially lower) piston to seize - my NS front does this every now and then. A few winding in with a clamp then pressing out with the pedal and it gets better.

Once weather gets better I am gonna get a new caliper though. Easier and quicker than renewing the seals by stripping the caliper. And its guarenteed to last longer!

Mine front driver's side caliper has also seized on the way home. Probably brakes seem to be a common problem of Lexus IS. I wonder, how do you make these pistons work again? How long do they last? Do you also lube it through the seal or just move it a few times?

[monster]

I had this problem on the front brakes of my IS as well. Took it to the local garage and he charged £15 to sort it out. Problem solved!

[Asi]

common problem on the IS a good clean would do the job like said above

[kev dood]

I pushed both pistons out a little - careful not to do it too far, then used some emery cloth to clean up the outer sides of the piston. Wiped it all, then pushed piston back in with a large G-clamp. Top piston was fine, so wedged a bit of wood infront of that to stop it coming all the way out (as the free'est one will move first).

Then once stuck on back in, pumped it back out again with pedal (again, not all the way, but far enough to start getting worried it was too far!!). Then repeated this around 20 times. Then pushed both pistons in and had someone pump brake pedal and watched how easily they both came out. The seized one moved ok, though not as easy as free one, but worked so they greased everywhere and reassembled.

But - the main problem will be the cause which is effectively corrosion on the bit of the piston you can't see (i.e. internal to the caliper behind the seals). To do it all properly you should remove the seals, take piston out and give the whole lot a good clean getting rid of all the rust etc. Re-grease and reassemble with new seals.

But, the seal kit for the front is around £65+VAT from Lexus, then you add in the time etc, and if you need a new piston thats another £20 or so. So I am thinking, although I would love to do it, its easier and quicker to just buy a new caliper (not from lexus as they are not cheap) but a refurbed on like from Brakes Engineering or something (which are all refurbed OEM lexus calipers) and bung that on.

After all, I would be gutted if a year or so after stripping and resealing calipers, I had a similar issue and then decided to buy a new caliper! So may as well do it first time!

Depending on how my rears are, I might strip them though - not decided yet. Think my car would benefit from new pads all round and discs at the front anyway, so am sure that would make the most benefit.

BTW - after the first really good clean up (where I replaced the sliding pins, seals etc), it lasted about a year before starting to stick again.

[awnield]

Thanks guys..

What I didn't realise when made the original post was that you can't 'dismount' the rear caliper without disconnecting the brake hose. Is this correct?

If so, I'm not sure I feel capable enough to do this myself.... :eerrrmm:

Anyone got any advice.....?

Cheers again