Spanky37

Yesterday I changed out the rear pads and rotors on my '06 tc. Since then, the rear right rotor has been getting abnormally hot, and gives off a really awful burning smell after just minutes of driving.

I sprayed the rotor with brake cleaner before I put it on, to get rid of that cruddy anti-rust grease they put on rotors in the factory. I greased everything I needed to with some high rated grease my buddy had, and even used brake silencer(?) on the back of the pads where the caliper hits when installing. I used pretty decent pads (not racing pads or anything), cost me about $60 for the set of 2. I figure the first couple uses I'd be burning off all the oils and crud on the rotors, but the problem seems to be getting worse. I made the 45 minute commute to my dorm this evening (over 24 hrs after the install, and a solid 50+ miles), and by the time I got there, I was getting a high pitched squeal upon braking heavy/medium (I can brake lightly without any noise). I don't know how long the squeal was there since I had my sub going the whole commute, which in hindsight probably wasn't the smartest. Would have loved to know how long into the trip I started squealing.

My first suspicion was sticky caliper.. which is still possible, though I'm 90% sure its not.. since I was perfectly able to compress the caliper piston to fit it around the meatier pads. Anyone share a similar experience or have any insight? Don't want my rotor catching fire

Sucks, cause I can't take apart the brakes at school. I have no tools hear, so I'm kind of shooting in the dark until I can get home and take it apart to be sure. I'm no mechanic by any means, so I wanted to get some opinions on what to look for, so I'm not starting from nowhere. Thanks in advance

TotalChaos

Did you grease the slider pins? Maybe your caliper is stuck and keeping the pads rubbing on the rotor due to lack of lube.

FlintMica17

The rear caliper slides on tC1 are pretty notorious for seizing....

Spanky37

Yeah, I did grease them. They were sliding well by hand when I put them in, not sure if that counts for anything.

Spanky37

Is that so? That probably explains why I had to file down a few burrs on the rear left sliding pin. The pin and its socket were chewed to shreds... My guess is the kid I bought the tc from probably had a tough time getting the pin out lmfao.

So Flintmica and Chaos, should I take apart the brake and regrease the pin and see how that works? Or is there pretty much nothing I can do about it since I already greased it and am having this problem. I think I'm trying to avoid the inevitable and not need to buy new calipers lol.

Also thanks for the help
First post on this forum, lookin like a solid community so far!

TotalChaos

How many miles on the car? Maybe the piston gasket has lost its ability to retract the piston accordingly and they just need to be rebuilt.

FlintMica17

It's not even worth rebuilding a caliper anymore. I bought new calipers for mine. Cost about $75 for each semi-loaded caliper.

Spanky37

I'm at 126,xxx. Is reworking a caliper something that can be done as easily as a pad/rotor swap? I'm guessing no, since I assume I'd have to take it off the brake line to work on it effectively. But that's me being a novice with calipers. I'm pinching pennies here lol

sciontc_mich

you'd need to machine the sliding pin hole, but then you'd be opening it up even larger, not even worth it. Pinching pennies here could result in a caliper that wouldn't work properly. And stopping is priceless! Yeah the rear calipers have a history of seizing up. And that's only from people who didn't lube up the sliding pins every year. After this long my rear ones were giving up and I had lubed them every year. The piston began to stick and they're done. How many years? since 05-06, so that's about 8 years. See, that's what happens if you take care of them.

Sounds like the last owner just listened to a lazy mechanic and didn't service the brakes every year. either way looks like you're going to need a pair of rear calipers. I would go with the set, even braking that way. I was lucky enough to buy new rear calipers at the dealer getting a deal on them. But since you dont have a lot of money try rockauto.com they have some nice re-manufactured ones. Also, yours being this old, you might want to examine the brake hoses too. Mine were swollen and gone had to replace them.

Oh and you continuing to drive this with that dragging brake caliper, you're going to overheat the rotor which will warp it, and ruin it. Plus you could overheat the bearing as well. Try and get this fixed before it costs you more money.