bulb2005

Took my 1990 Honda Accord LX to tire place to get an alignment done, the service tech told me he could not do the alighment because my brakes were seized.

I am not sure if that is some thing true or not. My brakes do not feel like they are seized.

The only issue I am having with the car at this time is that when i am driving down the freeway the car tends to shake a little bit.

if anyone can help me with figuring out why the car shakes and how to check for brake seizing it would help alot.

MSchu

raise the car off the ground and spin the rims... if they will not spin, you have a caliper that is seized in the closed position. seized in the open position wouldn't keep a tech from doing an alignment(come to think of it, neither would it being seized in the closed position).

as far as shaking at speed is concerned... does it do this shaking at all speeds or just around 50-70mph?

94vtecmn

An even simpler way to know, is if after a few stops, there is an excess amount of heat coming from the caliper area, the wheel itself will probably also be hot, careful not to burn yourself. They heat up and stay hot if they are stuck and dragging the pad on the rotor. Also, the inside pad usually takes quite a beating and will be worn much more than the outter pad. I'm sure they can sieze in the open position, but I have never seen that. It is usually that the piston cannot move back into the cylinder on the caliper that you notice an issue.

DELuth

Wrong forum, dude. 2003 and up

The caliper could be siezed, but it could just be the slide pins causing the brakes to hang. If the brakes are hanging, the shake is probably your poor overheated, warped rotors, especially if the shake is happening when you brake at higher speeds.

Also, binding brakes would make it more difficult to align since you need to be able to roll the car to calibrate the sensors on most modern alignment racks.

No offence meant, but If you are on here asking about how to check if your brakes are siezing, you really don't need to be working on the brakes. Please go pay a professional to fix your brakes ASAP before you end up in a crash or hurt someone. If you don't trust the tech telling you the brakes are messed up, go get a second opinion at another shop.