[MEJY1988]

Last month ago I replaced the brake pads on the front of my wife's '06 Focus. I did the usual, new pads, turn rotors, changed out the brake fluid, and bled the system. Every thing was good for about a week, then the right front brakes started to drag. I then rebuilt the calipers. This time every thing was good for a couple days, before they started acting up. I replaced both flex lines on the front, and a couple days later they started dragging again. I am at a loss as to what else it could be.

To further describe the brakes problem: They seem to be okay when the car has set for awhile, but after driving for about 10 minutes they start acting up. The brake pedal seems touchy at times. You barely apply them and they start braking hard. this does not happen all the time. The right front gets hotter than the left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Smokey1r]

Last month ago I replaced the brake pads on the front of my wife's '06 Focus. I did the usual, new pads, turn rotors, changed out the brake fluid, and bled the system. Every thing was good for about a week, then the right front brakes started to drag. I then rebuilt the calipers. This time every thing was good for a couple days, before they started acting up. I replaced both flex lines on the front, and a couple days later they started dragging again. I am at a loss as to what else it could be.

To further describe the brakes problem: They seem to be okay when the car has set for awhile, but after driving for about 10 minutes they start acting up. The brake pedal seems touchy at times. You barely apply them and they start braking hard. this does not happen all the time. The right front gets hotter than the left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Did you clean the rust off of and grease the anchor plate and the brake pad slides??

As the pads heat up they expand causing them to bind on the anchor plate causing a dragging condition your describing if they are not clean of rust and buildup of debris.

Also inspect your caliper guides, make certain they move freely, are well greased and the rubber boots are not torn?.

Only other thought is the brake pads have too much buildup of paint or coating where they interface with the brake pad slides causing the binding?.

 

[sailor]

Moved to Brakes Suspension & Chassis where you can find older threads on puzzlers as well as get fresh answers.

 

[amc49]

Any caliper sliding pins in there MUST be greased so that caliper can take a positional set and then back off when brake pedal is let off. If dragging on pins then brake will have tendency to drag when caliper does not fully release.

ALL disc brake pads rub some when brake is off. The piston seal distorts to let piston come out a bit and then the seal itself then tries to go back to original shape, that is what retracts the piston, the pad then follows. Only about ten thousandths or so involved there. If caliper drags at all you don't have that amount and then the slight bit more friction overheats the pad to drag brake.

If master cylinder beginning to get a clogged compensation port can do it as well. That allows the drop off in pressure after brake pedal is let off of. Clogged port then holds some amount of residual pressure and after brake begins heating up it begins to drag from thermal expansion of the fluid since it cannot then relieve the pressure.

 

[FocusKnot]

As mentioned, check those sliders. On my first replacement, I found that my slider pins showed no evidence of having been lubed at the factory. They did not move smoothly and even some of the rubber was bonded onto the pins. I cleaned all the rubber off the sliders and then lubed them up good with silicone grease. I bought a can of silicone grease a long time ago: http://www.timberlinemgt.com/acdelcosiliconebrakelubricant.aspx

I use that on spark plug wires, grounding points, and other places too. It is very handy to have around.

Also, be careful torquing the slider pins...just 28 Nm (21 Ft-Lbs) there.

 

[MEJY1988]

I found my problem. When I rebuilt my calipers I must have damaged the dust boot (outer seal) and it popped off. [?|] And as you can imagine the weather and road grime did the rest. I am replacing the caliper.

Thanks all for the great input. [ffrocks]

 

[Smokey1r]

Glad you fixed your issue!!!!!!!!

Thank you for resolving the issue in this thread, hopefully it will help someone in the future with similar circumstances!