2004 Blazer 4 door 4x4 LS

After any drive longer than a couple minutes the right front wheel is piping hot, and I can smell hot brake pad material (I know the smell from seating in new pads...). All the other wheels are cool to the touch. I verified this with my inferred thermometer; after parking for about 5 minutes, the other three wheels were between 120-130 degrees, the front right was 260-270...

The truck does not pull to either side, while just driving it straight or when breaking, which I find odd...

Thoughts?

 

To me it sounds like the caliper is starting to stick. Have you tried to see how it moves by hand?

I personally have had more problems with calipers then brake lines, but I'm not ruling it out.

 

Stuck caliper is what happened to me. Right rear. Couldn't really tell there was an issue by steering action; the sluggishness was the giveaway. Got a NAPA loaded caliper to replace it, probably should have checked the rotor but I didn't and 2,000 miles later I'm okay.

 

Not long after I posted that I figured I'd go ahead and tare into it.





You guys were right on the money. One of the pistons in the caliper was locked up solid... Notice how I was able to push one in but not the other...





Called the local parts store and I'm picking up both left and right calipers tomorrow as well as the left and right hoses. Might as well knock it all out at once.

Must have caught it early enough because it doesn't look like the pads wore all crazy like and the rotor looks fine. Only visually obvious difference between left and right was some extra pad material build up in the slots of my drilled and slotted rotors lol





Guess I can't be too mad, these things lasted 14 years on the truck. Bet the new/remans I'll be installing won't last that long... Wish I had the time to order in some braided hoses, but I really just want the truck back up and running at this point... Debating on weather I want to bother painting the new calipers red too just to speed up the process lol

 

I imagine that you didn't do a pad replacement right before the trouble but it is also recommended to replace calipers at the same time you do new pads each time a brake job is done.
Regretfully the days of lasting parts is long gone, but I guess if the parts last the life of the vehicle they don't make money

 

Where did you get your pads/rotors? Are they the rust resistant?

 

The pads are about a year or so old, ceramic pads bought with the drilled and slotted rotors. I've changed the pads before on the truck, and then installed these at a later time, and the calipers have yet to give me any issues, I couldn't see replacing calipers ever time you change pads :/ If the pads were in bad shape, I would definitely go ahead and change them at this time, but they still have plenty of life left in them and look great. Doesn't look like they glazed over or anything from the heat, and the rotors appear unharmed, so I'm going to reuse them with the new calipers.

eBay, believe it or not. I ordered a complete kit of front and rear drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads. Got the fronts installed, moved to the rears, and found that they sent me 2wd rotors... pads are the same, but I couldn't use the rotors... sooooo, the rear is still stock style rotors and basic pads, although I have the ceramic rear pads in the garage if I ever go to rebuilt my rear brakes and order the correct rear rotors... I need to replace the dust shields and I plan on doing it at that time.

As far as them being rust resistant, I don't remember anything in the listing advertising such, I live south of the rust belt so I can't really comment too much on how they'll hold up to winter roads and such. So far I've been very pleased with them though.

 

I don't replace parts just because it's recommended either.
Back in the day the pistons were made out of steel and they could rust and pit causing seal leak and sometimes binding but usually took years to have any trouble out of them.
Newer style went to ceramic or aluminum pistons - ceramic is prone to cracks while collapsing them and aluminum can crack but usually wear and grove causing seal leak.
All in all IMO the steel were the best choice for wear and longevity

 

Pretty sure these are steel pistons, but I didn't put a magnet to them either. I know that when I looked them up online and called one of the local parts stores they showed a steel or phenolic piston option, not sure if that's to compare to and match what would have been stock or if it's just different options available (good/better/best scenario), the price difference was only about $10-$15 between the two.

Had any of them had a couple rebuild kits on hand I would have just went that route... Get a little honer, clean them up, be just like new. But apparently that's a dying practice...

 

I picked these up back at the beginning of the year off of Amazon, same idea, except they are apparently rust resistant. So far the only black that has come off, are where the pads touch. The rest is holding up. No rust build up anywhere, I'm really liking how they are holding up.