Passenger front brakes seem to be grabbing significantly more when not engaged

[ndollimount]

Hey all,
I'm currently waiting for a reply from the dealership since my BRZ is still under warranty but I was wondering if anyone know what would cause this and/or what should be done about it?

Video clip showing the spin of the driver wheel vs the passenger wheel on jack stands:

Thanks in advance!

[soundman98]

are you experiencing a problem of some sort related to this?

[ndollimount]

Originally Posted by soundman98

are you experiencing a problem of some sort related to this?

Maybe....

Relatively recently, I hit a really bad patch of pavement that hit VERY hard. About a week later, I noticed there was a bit of a repetitive road noise that sounded like from the front passenger wheel. Eventually it started to get worse and I can feel it a bit in the pedals. I took it to the dealer twice; once to get checked out where they ended on it being a poorly worn tire and it will "fix itself once the tires are replaced" and a second time to get an alignment in hopes that would help (it didn't).

So this was the next check was to clean my brake pads up. While doing that, we noticed the gripping from that wheel. Cleaning the brakes got rid of the squealing while slowing but it doesn't seem to have helped the with the noise/wub wub feel.

Honestly, when we had the wheel off, I couldn't see any odd wear that the dealer chalked it up to be. I also don't know if the brakes gripping like that could cause that or if it's just coincidence.

[soundman98]

maybe not right, but considering the warranty, i'd leave it to the dealer to determine.

next step, i would pull the wheel/caliper, and then check if it spins freely to determine if it's a caliper or wheel bearing, but the dealer should be able to do that as well

[Ultramaroon]

Use something reasonable to wedge in there and pusth the pads away just a bit from both sides of the calipers on both wheels. It doesn't take much. Spin the wheels again by hand until you are satisfied that the bearings run dead silent.

Then pump the pads into the rotors again and compare. Do they do the same thing, or has the drag changed a bit. The seals are designed to grab the pots and give a little when the pots are pushed out. That way, when you let go of the pedal, the seals pull the pots back away from the rotors just a smidge.

As the pads wear, the seals let go of the pots in little tiny steps. Sometimes they end up at different depths relative to each other, like thousandths of an inch. As long as the back plates of the pads remain parallel to the rotors, they are ok

I'd actually be more concerned with the one that spins freely because I suspect uneven pad wear. Not sure though.

[ndollimount]

Thanks! I'll give this a go in the next couple days.

Like the dumb that I am, I should have clarified that the video was taken after we cleaned the brakes up and before pumping the brakes. Once we checked the next day, the spin on the driver side did grab in what I would suspect is a normal amount of time, though the passenger side was still significantly grabbier.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Use something reasonable to wedge in there and pusth the pads away just a bit from both sides of the calipers on both wheels. It doesn't take much. Spin the wheels again by hand until you are satisfied that the bearings run dead silent.

Then pump the pads into the rotors again and compare. Do they do the same thing, or has the drag changed a bit. The seals are designed to grab the pots and give a little when the pots are pushed out. That way, when you let go of the pedal, the seals pull the pots back away from the rotors just a smidge.

As the pads wear, the seals let go of the pots in little tiny steps. Sometimes they end up at different depths relative to each other, like thousandths of an inch. As long as the back plates of the pads remain parallel to the rotors, they are ok

I'd actually be more concerned with the one that spins freely because I suspect uneven pad wear. Not sure though.

[Ultramaroon]