Seized caliper slowing car down when accelerating

[Lolaya]

Hi everyone,

A month ago, I noticed a steering wheel wobble from 45-55mph in my 2005 4Runner and it was a spectrum of how bad it would get. I live in New England with a lot of rust (and my underbody definitely demonstrates it a bit).

Back in 2014, the right front caliper was seizing and was replaced.

2021- all 4 rotors and brake pads were replaced

Last week I pumped the brake after someone cut me off and I seem to have lost my lurching power of the engine. Car was stuck in place like I was parked even though I was in drive and on a flat road. I accelerated and it was moving but not as much as it should.

I have a feeling it is the left caliper needing to be replaced. Would this make sense? Should I also get the brake hoses checked out and replaced?

I have a mechanic but he is 16 miles away. Would it be recommended to drive my car that distance if the caliper is seized up? Any other possible culprits it can be?

Thank you!

 

[AuSeeker]

If you have a seized caliper the rotor will get much hotter than the other rotors, drive it a few miles and then check to see if one is hotter than the others, you can use a spray bottle with water to spray the rotors and see if one evaporates much faster or if it sizzles which is more likely if the caliper is stuck, the hoses if original could be bad and deteriorating on the insides and partially blocking the fluid pressure from releasing, probably not a bad idea to replace them anyway if originals.

Driving to your mechanic should be doable but could also damage your rotor/s if they get too hot, worst case is you have to replace the rotor and caliper, a rotor is cheaper than to towing bill or the extra cost of a mobile mechanic coming to you, you could also stop a few times for a few minutes to let things cool a bit.

 

[rwh963]

and look for excess brake dust.

 

[Seymore Butts]

Before driving anywhere else, remove the wheel and spin the hub before touching the caliper or pads. If it's not spinning freely, you have a seized caliper. Look for uneven pad wear and rotor discoloration from heat damage.

 

[Too Stroked]

You can drive it with a frozen caliper, but I wouldn't recommend it. All you'll do is super heat the caliper, rotor, pads and wheel bearings. This won't do any of them any good. As others have said, you can tell pretty quickly if something is seized up by driving a short distance and seeing if you have higher temperatures at any one corner of the vehicle. You'll also smell it as overheated brake pads smell absolutely awful. Again, I wouldn't recommend driving it any significant distance.

If you want my 2 cents, call your mechanic and ask what he recommends.

 

[MikeinNH67]

As mentioned, heat and the smell of hot brakes on one wheel will tell you. You can also use a laser thermometer to see if one is way hotter than the rest so you don't have to burn yourself. Last time I had one sticking it measured close to 200F degrees while the rest were just over 100F, this was right after using the brakes quite a bit. I've never had one that seized so bad the car didn't want to move but maybe after a sudden hard stop it could happen.

 

[Jensen735]

You can ask the mechanic to lube caliper pistons, it might save you from having to replace the caliper. Any time you change brake discs on the car I ask the mechanic to lube the caliper pistons, which greatly extends calipers' life, they should be doing it every time they change the brake discs anyway, but... As far as driving it for 16 miles is concerned if it's not completely seized then I would drive it. Break hoses have nothing to do with calipers seizing, when was the last time you had a brake fluid change?

 

[Lolaya]

You can ask the mechanic to lube caliper pistons, it might save you from having to replace the caliper. Any time you change brake discs on the car I ask the mechanic to lube the caliper pistons, which greatly extends calipers' life, they should be doing it every time they change the brake discs anyway, but... As far as driving it for 16 miles is concerned if it's not completely seized then I would drive it. Break hoses have nothing to do with calipers seizing, when was the last time you had a brake fluid change?

I got it towed this morning just because I was worried about overheating the brake system. Brake fluid was flushed and replaced 35000 miles ago in 2019. Whats your interval for that?

 

[Too Stroked]

You can ask the mechanic to lube caliper pistons, it might save you from having to replace the caliper. Any time you change brake discs on the car I ask the mechanic to lube the caliper pistons, which greatly extends calipers' life, they should be doing it every time they change the brake discs anyway, but... As far as driving it for 16 miles is concerned if it's not completely seized then I would drive it. Break hoses have nothing to do with calipers seizing, when was the last time you had a brake fluid change?

With all due respect, in all of my 50+ years of working on vehicles, I have never heard of "lubricating the caliper pistons." Generally speaking, when a caliper seizes up, time has taken its toll on the rubber sealing boot(s) on one or more pistons and water has gotten it - causing corrosion which has in turn seized up the piston. Once you have corrosion, all bets are off and you need to rebuild the caliper and replace the piston, seals, etc.

Given the difficulty of removing the caliper pistons to "lubricate" them, then put everything back together. I highly doubt and mechanic is actually doing that. Besides, if they did - and they knew what they were doing - they would need to charge you for a caliper rebuild kit, plus the labor to do it. That would make for one very expensive brake job. I think somebody is blowing smoke up your skirt. Oh, and most "lubricants" run the risk of contaminating the brake fluid and / or running off the piston and getting on your brake pads - which would be very bad.

The other (and more common) cause of caliper problems is slider pins seizing up causing the caliper to no longer "float." (Of course, if one has fixed / non-floating calipers, you have no sliders.) These slider pins do need to be cleaned and lubricated with the proper lubricant - if you have them.

In summary, please don't take this the wrong way, but I doubt your mechanic is lubricating your caliper pistons - even if you ask him / her to.

 

[tom4416]

You can ask the mechanic to lube caliper pistons, it might save you from having to replace the caliper. Any time you change brake discs on the car I ask the mechanic to lube the caliper pistons, which greatly extends calipers' life, they should be doing it every time they change the brake discs anyway, but... As far as driving it for 16 miles is concerned if it's not completely seized then I would drive it. Break hoses have nothing to do with calipers seizing, when was the last time you had a brake fluid change?

I think it's the caliper pins that your mechanic is lubricating as that is a fairly common practice and a fairly common point of failure, especially in northern climates where chemicals on the winter roads create lots of corrosion. As to lubricating the actual caliper pistons, I don't believe it can be done or should be done.

 

[rwh963]

new caliper time. i've had some seized ones, always ended up replacing. if both sides the same age, do them both. my independent put on cardone calipers, ended up with three warranty replacements. i'd stick to OE,. which is wha i did when my original seized in the rear at about 200k. went with a complete OE set up: toyota reman calipers, new brackets, rotors, pads, seals.

 

[Piggity]

Make sure you get new core calipers on the front. Don't get a reman, or you're going to be doing the same thing in another 1-2yrs. I just checked on RockAuto and the Raybestos new calipers are $165-180 + tax/shipping depending on the size of your front brake rotors.

 

[mojaverunner9]

Make sure you get new core calipers on the front. Don't get a reman, or you're going to be doing the same thing in another 1-2yrs. I just checked on RockAuto and the Raybestos new calipers are $165-180 + tax/shipping depending on the size of your front brake rotors.

I generally really like RockAuto parts, but I have had issues with them before. Have you used these calipers before? I replaced my calipers on a Volkswagen with some RockAuto parts and they ended up being junk. Maybe that was just a Volkswagen thing though, those cars are a pain to repair.

If the price difference isn't too big I'd consider going OEM.

 

[Too Stroked]

Make sure you get new core calipers on the front. Don't get a reman, or you're going to be doing the same thing in another 1-2yrs. I just checked on RockAuto and the Raybestos new calipers are $165-180 + tax/shipping depending on the size of your front brake rotors.

Careful. Just because a caliper (or other part) is new doesn't mean it's the same quality as new OEM. Same goes for remanufactured. Personally, I'll take OEM parts over aftermarket any day of the week. OEM standards, parts and processes are far better than aftermarket. I'll also take OEM remanufactured over aftermarket remanufactured for the same reasons.

 

[Piggity]

I generally really like RockAuto parts, but I have had issues with them before. Have you used these calipers before? I replaced my calipers on a Volkswagen with some RockAuto parts and they ended up being junk. Maybe that was just a Volkswagen thing though, those cars are a pain to repair.

If the price difference isn't too big I'd consider going OEM.

I'm using the new core Raybestos calipers on the rear of my Tundra. I went thru enough failed bs remans on my 4Runner to know not to do that again. I haven't priced brand new ones from OEM Toyota but I can imagine they're not cheap. I only have a couple thousand km on the calipers so I can't comment on the quality yet.

 

[Piggity]

Careful. Just because a caliper (or other part) is new doesn't mean it's the same quality as new OEM. Same goes for remanufactured. Personally, I'll take OEM parts over aftermarket any day of the week. OEM standards, parts and processes are far better than aftermarket. I'll also take OEM remanufactured over aftermarket remanufactured for the same reasons.

True. I just didn't want to deal with anymore possible failures in the future. I've come to terms with having to do brake flushes on all my vehicles every year now too.....welcome to the rust belt.

 

[4runner206]

Personally I went with oem calipers, I had them ceramic powder coated in black and the caliper pistons Impregnated with dry-film lubricant from Performance Coatings. I’m hoping to find a more long term solution than caliper replacement every two years, that along with my stoptech front calipers hopefully the days of seized calipers are over for me.

 

[danedude1]

Make sure you get new core calipers on the front. Don't get a reman, or you're going to be doing the same thing in another 1-2yrs. I just checked on RockAuto and the Raybestos new calipers are $165-180 + tax/shipping depending on the size of your front brake rotors.

That's....dirt cheap. I had the opposite mindset. I'm going to be doing new calipers every year or two, so I might as well get Napa remanned with free replacements... lol