little background on the car, its a 98 integra LS with 79k miles on the ODO. so far i have replaced two sets of rear rear rotors in two years. i seem to be burning through them a lot faster than i shoud be. i had noticed a few months back the rotors were scraping again, but i could barely hear it. well i hadnt driven the car in well over a month, and the scraping noise was still there but insanely louder. so i was avoiding driving the integra for a few weeks until i could get a chance to look at the brake system. i finally took a look at the rotors are badly warped. i took a pic of the rotor. you can see on the left where the rotors were making contact with the pad, but on the right there isnt any contact at all. you are looking at the rear drivers side rotor


the pads looked ok to me, the didnt really have any uneven wear to them and they still had plenty of pad left. i think i have a bigger problem than just having my rotors warped again. also i have a very dead pedal feel, they are very mushy right now. when i took the car for a drive yesterday, when i took the parking brake down, there was ZERO tension on the handle before it hit the first click. after some driving it tensed right back up again. after driving around for a few miles i could smell the smell of burning brakes, the same kind of smell after a hard auto-x run.

i have a working theory, but i wanted some ideas from here first. my theory is that the piston/caliper assembly is sticking and not retracting all the way back, which is over heating the rotors, which is causing them warp, which is cooking my brake fluid. do they sell rebuild kits for integra calipers? will a simple relube of the assembly fix my problem, or am i going to have to replace my rotors, calipers/piston and possibly brake pads all over again.

TIA

 

i think you are right...that the caliper is sticking
best thing to do is to go to autozone get some remanufactured calipers and give them yours.

or you may try to take apart your caliper, clean off as much rust as possible and lube the slide pins. if they don't stick after that...than you need to change your rotors, pads and do a complete flush of the brake system.

 

It certanly looks like the calipers might be sticking. I think the rear caliper that i bought for my car cost 100 bucks+ core charge. Probably worth fixing.

 

one question...why is there so much rust on that caliper and rotor...?

 

Stop bitching and just paint it.

 

Did anyone mention that if you place your ebrake when you park you are not allowing that spot on the rotor to cool at the same rate as the rest of the rotor which can also cause warpage. Another reason may be if you wash your car after driving water on the hot rotor can cause it to warp. My .02 if it helps.

 

http://www.stoptech.com/whitep...h.htm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr X &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> i have a working theory, but i wanted some ideas from here first. my theory is that the piston/caliper assembly is sticking and not retracting all the way back, which is over heating the rotors, which is causing them warp, which is cooking my brake fluid.
TIA</TD></TR></TABLE>

Give the bad/rusty condition of everything - I think your theory is most correct.

 

well the car is over 5 years old. and the winters are pretty harsh over here. had a really bad one this winter with salt everywhere. so that might be why they are so bad right now. last years winter was pretty bad.

so is there anything i should try before i go out and drop all this money on a rebuild or new caliper assembly, or should i just go and drop the money and do it? again TIA.

 

Make sure you always replace pads when you do rotors as well. Both items wear to each others wear pattern. So let's say you had warped rotors and only replaced them, then the new rotors would wear faster (not drastically, but faster) due to the wear pattern on the pads. That along with any caliper problems you may be having could explain going through rotors quickly.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cracker099 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> http://www.stoptech.com/whitep...h.htm </TD></TR></TABLE>
Good article

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With one qualifier, presuming that the hub and wheel flange are flat and in good condition and that the wheel bolts or hat mounting hardware is in good condition, installed correctly and tightened uniformly and in the correct order to the recommended torque specification</TD></TR></TABLE>

Make sure your torqing those lug nuts correctly... that can also cause warpage.