hello--found the answer to the prev post regarding a noise I was hearing when I turned the while slightly left or right , while driving around 30mph. I just had my first brake job on 03 camry xle-with 99,000 miles. (I do all hwy driving)
they did a 4 wheel brake, with rotors----and they told me the calipers were frozen, and that could be the reason why I was hearing that noise. It no longer does that

 

congrats. sicky calliper pistons are a common occurance with vehicles reaching or past the 100K mark.

 

how would you check for sticking pistons?

 

i go to school in socal and i had the delightful experience of having a slightly sticky passenger front calliper.

what is pretty obvious is brake dust, that one particular wheel will havea considerable amount of brake dust than other wheels, and it will also be hotter than the others.

there maybe rotor discoloration that is more severe on that rotor than all others.

Typically when you roll to a stop using Neutral you dont experience much resistance in the form of braking, but with a sticky calliper piston you will feel a slight - moderate brake force; depending on how stuck the piston is. In my case it was only slight, and if i pump the brakes it typically takes it out.

I drove it home 400 miles and wore down about 1/8 of the pad, had a burning hot wheel, somewhat crispy rotor, and a completely blackened wheel (all my other wheels were still clean).

I was lucky in that i didnt experience calliper sieze which is the piston stuck after you've pressed the pedal kind of hard. in that case, you're not really going to get anywhere.

I got home and replaced the pads and had a difficult time taking off the calliper and recessing the piston, but since my case wasnt so severe it seems to be okay. however once my brake pads wear down to that certain point ~ 50%, the problem may come back. But i've had it checked by a mechanic and he says so far so good.

 

thanks.