Brakes

I recently had the right front caliper of my '96 Country apparently seize and overheat while driving on the Interstate. I pulled over for 15 minutes to let it cool, and was able to get to the next exit, and drive back roads home. The entire braking system was replaced in October, from the master cylinder to the wheels, rotors and drums included. There was maybe 6000 miles on everything. The caliper, when the pedal was pushed, would not retract, and there was what looked like a little rust around the rubber. Oh well, a bad rebuild. And a rotor a shade bluer than its mate. Is this normal, and is the rotor any good? It didn't feel warped, but is it more brittle? Also, the store gave me the one piece rotors, and the set I may have ruined was composite. I don't even know what belongs on the car, but the new pads don't fall into the divots on the brake pad guides, so I suspect that the rotors should be of the two- piece variety. Sorry about being long winded, but doing brakes again in six months really sucks!

My experience was been that once the rotor itself has gotten a shade of blue, the new pads won't seat right to it. They'll still stop, but it won't grab as well as it should. I've never seen a rotor overheat and not warp though, keep that in mind.

Not a whole lot to the braking system. Likely the front right caliper hose collapsed. I would replace both rotors and pads, in addition to the hose and bleed that wheel out. Be sure to use antisieze or whatever you choose on the brake caliper slides and in the caliper body.

If you elect to not replace the caliper, make sure the rubber seal around the piston is in decent shape.

The calipers, rotors , and pads have been replaced. This time I tried Bendix rebuilt calipers, instead of no-name jobs. Ironically, I used my '92 for work and rounding up the parts on Friday, and the same thing happened, although I caught it before it got too hot. Just replaced the calipers, and it seems happy. No more no-name bargains!