Seized Brake Caliper Symptoms – Everything You Need To Know
August 8, 2021So, you have been experiencing some weird squeaking noises on one of your calipers and you inspected a big pile of brake dust on the wheel? You probably have seized brake caliper symptoms. These symptoms are a dead giveaway of a seized or stuck brake caliper. Brake dust on the wheel, wear of the pads, excessive heat. That tells you everything, but don’t worry we are going to cover the seized brake caliper symptoms in great detail in this article.
- What Is A Brake Caliper?
- How The Brake System Works?
- Seized Brake Caliper Symptoms
- What Causes Brake Calipers To Fail?
- Seized Brake Caliper Repair Cost
- Stuck Brake Caliper Quick Fix
- Conclusion
Brake calipers are one of the most essential parts of your braking system and they allow you to come to a stop in traffic. Without them, we will still be using those old drum brakes that are extremely unreliable and do not make the car stop all the time.
Imagine these modern cars that have so much speed to be driving on a drum brake setup? It’s almost hilarious. The roads would be full of accidents because someone couldn’t come to a stop on time. That’s why some smart people have invented the disk brakes and made our life easier.
In this article, we are going to cover the disk brakes in detail and we are going to learn how the brake caliper and the brake system works. Then we are going to learn all of the possible symptoms of a bad brake caliper like the brake caliper noise, the wear on the pads. All that useful information. Then we are going to cover how you can get a stuck brake caliper quick fix. This will be useful if your calipers are completely seized. And finally, we are going to cover the cost of fixing a seized brake caliper. So, let’s jump into the topic.
What Is A Brake Caliper?
A brake caliper is a device installed on your braking system. The caliper is a clamp-like device that hugs the brake rotor when there is brake input from the driver.
When the driver presses the brake pedal the calipers clamp the rotor and prevent it from spinning in order for the vehicle to come to a stop.
On the brake calipers, there are pistons that open and close when the brakes are applied. When they are open the car is stopping and when they are closing the car continues moving. All this is made possible by a vacuum that is created by the master cylinder. We are going to explain how this works in detail in the next chapter.
Nevertheless, on the calipers, there are also mounded two brake pads. One on each side. These brake pads come in contact with the rotor when the caliper is applying pressure and create friction. This friction between the rotor and the pad makes the car stop.
And when the caliper gets stuck open in one position the car develops seized brake caliper symptoms which we are going to cover a bit later. But now let’s see how the brake system works.
How The Brake System Works?
We learned how the brake caliper works and stops the car but we also need to learn the bigger picture of how the brake system works in order to understand the seized brake caliper symptoms that we are going to discuss later.
The brake system is a pretty simple design. It consists of a master cylinder, brake pedal, brake fluid canister, fuel lines, calipers, and rotors.
The master cylinder is a piece of equipment that creates a vacuum when we apply the brakes. Then this vacuum is moving the brake fluid when it has to, and when we remove the foot from the brake this fluid returns to the master cylinder. All this is made possible by the powerful vacuum that the master cylinder creates.
When you press the brake pedal the fluid travels from the master cylinder to the fuel lines and reaches the caliper and opens up the pistons. Then the pistons as we said are pressing the pad which comes in contact with the rotor. And this action makes the car stop.
The cars use special brake fluid. This fluid is named DOT. This DOT refers to the US Department of Transportation. But this standard is used globally.
There are a couple of types of DOT fluid, some of them are glycol-ether based and some of them are silicone based. If you have a car then it’s probably using DOT 3, DOT 4, DOT 5, or DOT 5.1. All of these are glycol ether solutions except the DOT 5 which is silicone. The silicone DOT 5 cannot be mixed with the other brake fluids. And the DOT 5 is purple in color.
We learned how the brake system works and what type of fluid is using and now let’s take a look at the seized brake caliper symptoms.
Seized Brake Caliper Symptoms
So, what are the symptoms of a bad or seized brake caliper? There are a few of them and we are going to cover these symptoms of a seized brake caliper in great detail. So, let’s begin.
- Brake Dust One The Wheel
- Heat Coming From The Wheel
- Excessive Wear On The Pads
- Excessive Wear On The Rotors
- Seized Brake Caliper Noise
- Bad Fuel Economy
- Poor Acceleration
- Car Unable To Move
- Car Pulls On One Side
- Warped Rotors
1. Brake Dust On The Alloy Wheel
One of the first symptoms of a seized brake caliper is the brake dust that is collected onto the wheel. This brake dust is created because the pad and the rotor are in constant friction and this friction is eating the material. Both the pads and the rotors tend to premature wear when you are having a seized caliper.
Inspect the wheels and observe the amount of brake dust that is collected onto the wheel. If on one side has much more brake dust than the other. That means that the pads and rotors are rubbing and you have excessive pad wear. This needs to be sorted as soon as possible if you don’t want to damage your rotors.
2. Excessive Heat Coming From The Wheel
Another symptom is the heat that is coming from the wheel. If the wheel is so hot when you finish driving that it radiates heat. That means that the rotors have reached a melting point.
This heat can damage everything and your rotors can even catch fire. And you probably want to avoid that from happening.
This heat can burn the pads and warp the rotors. Your whole rotor assembly will be trashed and the repair bill could go over $500 for a new rotor, caliper, and pads. So, if you don’t want to pay the price. Address this buildup of heat and take your car to a mechanic.
3. Excessive Wear On The Pads
Another symptom as we said are the worn brake pads. The pads are in constant friction and they rub against the rotors and develop a tremendous amount of heat on them.
Pads are fairly cheap to replace, but when you are replacing the pads, you will also need to fix the seized caliper. If you don’t fix the caliper your pads will continue to wear.
4. Excessive Wear To The Rotors
Rotor wear is another symptom of seized brake caliper. The rotor is in constant contact with the brake pads. And these brake pads are causing the rotor to wear down and make a lot of brake dust on the wheel.
Rotors unlike brake pads are quite more expensive. Especially if the rotors are large and have a lot of brake surface. These rotors can cost hundreds of dollars. A regular rotor can cost $100.
But you don’t want to wait and your rotors to start to give up. Address the seized caliper problem on time and avoid paying for a new rotor.
5. Seized Brake Caliper Noise
When your caliper is stuck in one position it causes the pad to rub with the rotor. And when you apply the brakes, this friction is causing some high-pitched squeaking sound that is irritating.
This sound also appears when your brake pads are worn and there is no material left on them. So, you have to be careful and know to distinguish a seized caliper and worn-out brake pads and rotors.
Give the caliper a good inspection. If you notice lines and grooves it means the rotor is almost done. Also, inspect the pads. If they have little or no material left on them it means that they need change as soon as possible.
If these parts are worn delaying the replacement will make things work and you will pay more in the end. Fix the problem on time before it becomes bigger.
6. Bad Fuel Economy
Bad fuel economy is another in the line of seized caliper symptoms. This symptom is unique because it’s hard to make a connection between the poor fuel economy and the seized rotor. Bad fuel economy is related also with exhaust leaks.
But let me explain. Bad fuel economy can also appear when you have a seized brake caliper and this is because the car drives slowly and uses more fuel to do the same pulls as it used to before the caliper seizes.
You may never notice it, but if you visit the gas station more often than before you may consider that you have a seized brake caliper. And if you make a close inspection of the caliper, you will see the pad wear and the brake dust that is collected to the wheel from all this driving with a seized caliper.
7. Poor Acceleration
Poor acceleration along with bad fuel economy are the symptoms that hit your pocket and your driving experience when you have a seized caliper on your car. This poor acceleration is owed to the massive friction that is happening inside of the caliper. This friction stops your car basically from moving and when you apply the foot on the gas the car fights with the brake caliper and tries to move. This poor acceleration will ruin your fuel economy as we said and make your driving experience terrible.
8. Car Unable To Move
If your car can hardly move when you apply the throttle it means that your caliper is completely seized up. Many of you can confuse this symptom with a bad emergency brake or worn-out clutch. But that isn’t always the case.
My dad has an older car, he experienced this issue on his own skin. The car was basically unable to move and bogged down. We thought that there is something wrong with the clutch. But when we closely inspected, we noticed the huge amount of heat that is formed on the wheel and this basically bogged down the car and prevented it from moving.
If you are too pushy and you apply the gas in order to accelerate you can damage your engine. Since the car does not like to move you will put a lot of load and pressure on the engine and also on the transmission. These things know to suffer when you are having issues like this.
So, in order to avoid this problem don’t make your car move since it doesn’t want to.
9. Car Pulls On One Side When Braking
Another in the line of seized brake caliper symptoms is the moment when the car pulls on one side when you are applying the brake.
This can often happen if your brake caliper is seized and it doesn’t work properly. When you apply the brakes, the car will pull on that size where is a blockage.
This can be dangerous because in traffic you can be pulled into an accident. You don’t want this and you should repair this issue as soon as possible. Delaying will make things much worse than they really are.
10. Warped Rotors
Warped rotor is another in the seized caliper symptoms. This symptom is developed by a seized caliper. Because the rotor is developing a huge amount of heat and causes the rotor itself to warp and change shape.
This warping will make the surface of the rotor uneven and can cause the car to shake when braking. This is dangerous in my opinion. Don’t drive with warped rotors if you have one in your car.
Warped rotors, unfortunately, cannot be fixed and the only solution for them is replacing them with brand new rotors.
Rotors are pricey, but you don’t have any other option. Go for the cheapest rotors and you will be good.
What Causes Brake Calipers To Fail
This Is a good question. The biggest reasons why calipers fail are age and heat. If there is too much heat and your brakes do not have enough time to cool off it can be damaging for the pistons that are inside of them.
The pistons do not like excessive heat. The heat should be on the pads and rotors. The pistons are just mechanical parts that make all this magic happen.
Seized Brake Caliper Repair Cost
Seized brake calipers can be pricey to fix. Especially if there are also other parts that are affected by the huge amount of heat in the brake assembly.
If you have a seized caliper, you can get a caliper rebuild kit for like $30 to $50 on eBay. These rebuild kits promise that they work but the work should be done by a professional who knows how to make these components work.
In my opinion, getting a new caliper is probably the best option for you. Since you don’t want to refurbish an old caliper. The safest way is to get a new OEM caliper for your vehicle. Calipers can be pricey and can come to a cost of $150 and up. Depending on your make and model.
Also, with the caliper, you will need to replace the pads. Brake pads are fairly cheap and you can find them for $30 to $50.
If the rotor is good, you will not have to replace it. But if the rotor is bad then you will have to get a new rotor. A new rotor will probably set you back $100 or more depending on the type of brakes you have.
Also, the labor plays a big role, since most shops have $50 to $100 per hour labor rates you can expect to be billed a few working hours for this job.
All in all, it may cost you around $500 for all the parts and labor. Note that this is an estimate and prices may vary from place to place. Not every place is cheap.
Stuck Brake Caliper Quick Fix
If you want to do a quick fix, you can try removing the wheel of the caliper and then removing the caliper from the rotor.
Get some pliers and pull the piston with them. For this, you need another set of hands to apply pressure on the brake.
You can try to help the piston to move and unstuck the piston for a while. But this problem will soon appear once again after a while.
Conclusion
In this article, we have covered a lot. We learned what is a brake caliper, how the caliper works, and how the whole brake system is working.
Then we have covered the most common seized caliper symptoms and we learned which are they and how you can fix them.
Lastly, we have covered the costs when it comes to replacing a brake caliper with a new one. Also, we shared a small quick fix that is going to help you unstuck a brake caliper. But this, unfortunately, won’t work in the long run and you have to get a new caliper for your car. You can also check our other articles based on similar issues like a bad O2 sensor problem, and an article about suspension mods that you can perform to your car. Especially if you are in the search for new coilovers. Thanks for reading.
