LLcivic

I rotated my tires on my own for the first time a couple weekends ago and afterwards noticed instantly a dragging sound on my rear right brake when I apply it. It doesn't appear when I apply the brake very lightly, but more than that and I get the noise. This caliper was installed at a shop in July 2016 so there's no reason the caliper should need to be replaced. But I also don't understand what rotating my tires could've done to make this happen. I've been avoiding driving my car as much as I can but today I had no choice but to drive it to work and it for the most part seemed to lack any audible noise of the caliper dragging as it previously did. But I haven't done anything so I have no reason to assume the problem is just all of a sudden better and won't happen again.

I have an appointment as of right now to get a new caliper at a shop on Thursday morning for $300. I've spoken with a couple of friends and they said it's a very simple procedure with the proper tools to take off the caliper, apply the proper lubrication and set it back on and see if that fixes the problem. Unfortunately, I've been unable to get the caliper off.

I've pasted a picture below of the side view of my caliper. In the picture, I've already taken out the bottom screw, and the top one is loose. All tutorials I've read have said that at this point, the caliper should be able to swing up and come off but it does not. It does move a little, but nothing near coming off. I've also tried with both screws out completely. There's a clip in the bottom left that runs under/behind the rotor that appears to be connected to the caliper but I can't make that budge no matter how much effort I give it. (yes the parking break is not being applied when I am trying to take it off).

Given all of this and the picture below, does anybody have any tips as to how I can get this caliper off?

rear right caliper side view.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

You may want to unbolt the whole caliper bracket, instead of trying to remove caliper from the sliding assembly. There should be two larger bolts holding the bracket to the knuckle itself (closer to the center of the hub).

holmesnmanny

you may have a collapsed brake hose....undo the bleeder bolt there about a half a turn and see if the piston releases, brake fluid might shoot out so put a rag over it

LLcivic

Thanks for the responses. Yesterday when I drove home from work (after my initial post), I didn't hear any dragging-style sounds until I pushed hard enough on the brakes. I made one more attempt last night but this was before you guys submitted your posts. I did think about attempting to unscrew some of the other bolts to remove the whole assembly, but it was getting dark and I didn't want to do anything irreparable at that time. I put a very slight amount of lube on the ends of the 2 bolts that I unscrewed initially from the caliper. This morning I'm not hearing any noise but I don't know if that's just coincidence or not.

I'm still not convinced that I need a new caliper but I don't know if not being able to hear any sounds on today's drive if grounds to cancel my appointment tomorrow at the shop.

b16racereg6

iTrader: (2)

This appears to be on the rear unhook the brake hose I think it's a 12 mm, that will allow a lot more move to and it might even free it if all other bolts are removed if not hammer and pry bar are your friends! Don't pay 300$ for this job YouTube and basic hand tools you can replace brakes in the driveway !!! Sounds like you might need brake pads!

LLcivic

Trust me I've been youtubing the heck out of this. I've got a ratchet set I bought up to 14 mm. I've taken the tire off about 4 times in the past week in an attempt to get the caliper off. Every time I've attempted to pry the caliper off, the only way I can get it back into position is whacking at it with a rubber mallet.

Once again, it just doesn't seem coincidence that this started once I rotated the tires. Something must have happened when I was removing the tire and putting the other one on. I do really wish I had some friends in the area that are car buffs. I just don't trust the mechanics in my area.

b16racereg6

iTrader: (2)

I can't see you having a brake issue after rotating the tires ! It's 5 bolts total to remove that rear brake that's including the hose. Then you need to keep hitting it with a hammer to remove it if it won't slide off. make sure the E-brake aka parking brake is also free.

LLcivic

The very first time, I didn't realize the parking brake was engaged but since then it has not been engaged every time. When I really try to pry the caliper, the brake pads also seem to move up the rotor as well. Basically the caliper is dragging it all with it.

b16racereg6

iTrader: (2)

Needs a little more hammer/ pry bar love I'm telling you if everything is unhooked beat it off with a BFH (Big freaking hammer )

holmesnmanny

the only possible way that caliper is not coming off is if there is pressure on the piston or the ebrake is on, but it sounds like you need someone other than me to tell you that

Zebra

Have you used a C-clamp to retract the piston? Once the brake pads are pushed back from the rotor a bit, the caliper should come loose.