Yesterday, my truck started pulling to the right while I was driving home. I pulled over, and the right wheelwell was really warm. It wasn't smoking, but hotter than normal. I let it sit for a bit, and drove home (about 10 miles). Today my friend and I pulled off the wheels (LONG story there) and took a look. He noticed that the rotors showed signs of heat damage. The first 2 pics are the outside of the rotor.




The second pics are from the inside of the rotor.




The brake pads are cracked too. Fun fun!!




The left side was even worse. Both brake pads were cracked as well.





This is the left caliper. We think the rubber melted from the heat that probably built up over time.



So...any ideas? I had the rotors and brake pads replaced 11 months and less than 12,000 miles ago. The good thing is that Big 10 has a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty on their parts. I only have to get the truck to them. Of course they will charge labor for removing everything and putting it all back together, or totally try and tell me it's because of something else, and not replace anything. Any chance they will just give me replacement parts so I can put them together myself? Should I put the truck back together and drive it there? I have roadside assistance from Geico so I can have it towed. I am going to look at buying new calipers too. They seem to work correctly though. I pressed the brake pedal, and my friend said the piston pushed out and receded when I let off the pedal. The rubber hoses are stiff and not squishy.

 

yeah thats what my rotors looked like. same symptomns, it was a seized caliper.

 

So one bad caliper can cause both sides to heat up and/or stick?

 

well maybe both of your fronts are bad. are the calipers stock? if so how many miles on your truck

 

I've got 118,000 on it. 2002 model. They are stock I'm sure. I don't remember replacing them. Before we took the calipers apart, we checked the wheel rotation, and they were rotating free. That was when they were cool, haven't been used since last night. There wasn't any drag when we rotated the wheels. Would it be possible to just resurface the disks? Get new pads and calipers?

 

it depends how bad your rotors are, mine were toast and had bad hot spots. i would just go with new ones,.

 

Replace the calipers rotors and pads. I would also flush the ENTIRE brake system starts are the rear passenger and working my way forward. As you flush check for debris in the old fluid. Also check the soft lines for wear and pinch points. if a soft line is pinched it will let the brakes engaged but will not let them back off after you stop pressing the peddle.

 

I had to replace my own calipers at about 125,000 miles. But I did it because one of them had a cracked piston. I just put on all new rotors, pads and a set of reman calipers from Advance and everything is doing fine since then.

If I were you I would call Big 10 before going to the trouble to have the truck towed to them. They may say bring it in and we will fix it but I bet you they blame the stuck calipers and refuse to warranty the pads and rotors due to the damage caused by the stuck caliper piston. If so, it really is not hard to do the job yourself, whether they warranty the parts or you have to buy new parts. Judging from the looks of the rotors, I would just replace them. Those rotors look krispy-krittered to me. Better safe than sorry and a new set of rotors really don't cost that much more than having the old ones turned. And you may have rotor problems again prematurely if you did have them turned. Not too many places areound here turn rotors anymore.

Just my 2 cents here.

Jimmy

 

Jimmy -- I have a 2001 also and am going to replace my rotors and calipers. I have a Haynes manual and am pretty handy with a wrench. Any tip and tricks I should know before starting? Also, did you consider using slotted and drilled rotors?

 

No, there's not really any tricks to it. The Haynes book has it pretty much laid out exactly what you need to do. One thing is on my truck I used a T-45 Torx socket to remove my caliper slide pins instead of a hex head socket. It fits the hex head in the slide pins a lot better and is less likely to strip it out. I greased the slide pins and the slide surfaces on the steering knuckle with green caliper grease. I just bled the fronts and everything was fine after that, but if you have the time and a helper, it's a good idea to go ahead and bleed all 4 brakes.

I didn't really think about using slotted or drilled rotors, I was on a budget and just used the Wearever rotors and Wearever Silver pads from Advance. The pads have held up fine, no more dust than any other pad I have used. Advance is only about a mile from my house.

I just put 4 new rotors and new front and rear pads on my girlfriend's Honda Accord a few weeks ago, I used Duralast rotors and pads from Autozone. I have a rewards card with them and after I bought the parts I got a free $20.00 gift card. The Duralast parts are really good quality and the new pads don't put out much dust either. The Autozone parts were cheaper too, Autozone was about $15.00 less than Advance for all 4 rotors and 2 sets of pads.

Jimmy