Caliper Piston Frozen
08-04-2008, 06:16 PM
#1
Hermitage Holdout
Thread Starter
Caliper Piston Frozen
Hi All,
Interested in hearing from others who have had a caliper piston freeze up on them, especially in the 'pad engaged' position. Just had driver's side front do so on my 8, was on a 600 mile business trip when it happened. Was mostly highway driving, so did not catch the drag right away. Car wasn't pulling to the left or anything either (just too hard to unsettle this car :-).
When I got off the interstate and hit stop & go, I felt the drag. Got out to check and the rotor & caliper were blistering hot. Rotor already showing "bluing" from the heat. I let it cool and then limped to the dealer with massive amounts of water flushed onto the brake to keep it from seizing entirely. Now will need a new caliper assembly, rotor, and pads on both sides up front (to keep them balanced).
What I'm especially interested in knowing is if anyone has gone here from either equipment failure (like me), hard track work, or other - did you find any collateral damage showing up once the brakes themselves were repaired (like bearings, bushings, connectors, etc.)?
I'm an 03 build MT GT Mazdaspeed poster boy with 85K on the clock and $1200 less in his pocket today than yesterday.
Interested in hearing from others who have had a caliper piston freeze up on them, especially in the 'pad engaged' position. Just had driver's side front do so on my 8, was on a 600 mile business trip when it happened. Was mostly highway driving, so did not catch the drag right away. Car wasn't pulling to the left or anything either (just too hard to unsettle this car :-).
When I got off the interstate and hit stop & go, I felt the drag. Got out to check and the rotor & caliper were blistering hot. Rotor already showing "bluing" from the heat. I let it cool and then limped to the dealer with massive amounts of water flushed onto the brake to keep it from seizing entirely. Now will need a new caliper assembly, rotor, and pads on both sides up front (to keep them balanced).
What I'm especially interested in knowing is if anyone has gone here from either equipment failure (like me), hard track work, or other - did you find any collateral damage showing up once the brakes themselves were repaired (like bearings, bushings, connectors, etc.)?
I'm an 03 build MT GT Mazdaspeed poster boy with 85K on the clock and $1200 less in his pocket today than yesterday.
08-13-2008, 11:45 AM
#3
Hermitage Holdout
Thread Starter
Thanks for the reply! Work done on braking system components only and no sign of anything else cropping up as damage stemming from it so far...
10-04-2009, 03:08 PM
#5
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I'm pretty sure this just happenned to me. Except it was the pass side and my car has 74K. Also about 30 track days so the caliper piston boots were already fried.
10-04-2009, 07:49 PM
#6
I've had my caliper seize once... it was the front driver's side.
It got so bad that the inner side had no padding left while the other pads still had a good amount left.
This lead to the pad digging into my rotor (which is how I knew there was an issue).
I got a used rotor from a member here.
But I took the caliper off and realized that it seized because the boot came off the float/slide pin so the caliper was constantly engaging the inner pad.
I removed the float pin, cleaned it real good, and greased it.
I also put a small tip-tie on both ends of the boot so it couldn't come off again.
I've actually seen this on another RX8.
I was helping him do his brakes and checked the float (knowing what happened to me) and his was also seized.
But his was the passenger side and his boot also came off.
It got so bad that the inner side had no padding left while the other pads still had a good amount left.
This lead to the pad digging into my rotor (which is how I knew there was an issue).
I got a used rotor from a member here.
But I took the caliper off and realized that it seized because the boot came off the float/slide pin so the caliper was constantly engaging the inner pad.
I removed the float pin, cleaned it real good, and greased it.
I also put a small tip-tie on both ends of the boot so it couldn't come off again.
I've actually seen this on another RX8.
I was helping him do his brakes and checked the float (knowing what happened to me) and his was also seized.
But his was the passenger side and his boot also came off.
02-23-2011, 01:17 PM
#7
8 is great!
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Just got the car back from the Mechanic. New DBA 4000XS rotors and Hawk HPS pads. 20 miles to work. Car pulled right braking on highway. Front driver caliper smoking. Rotor fried. Should my mechanic have caught this?
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