brake trouble

[whitey_mb]

Today I had the front of my car jacked up to change the transmission fluid. When I let it down, I heard a sort of popping noise from the right rear wheel. I released the handbrake, and again heard a strange noise from the same wheel. I got out of the car, and as it shifted from my moving weight, it made the same noise. I tried to push the car, and suprise suprise, the car would barely budge, and the right rear brake scraped the rotor like crazy.

On closer inspection, the handbrake seems to go alot higher than it did before. However, the other rear wheel seems to be fine. I had the rear pads changed about three months ago. Any ideas as to what the problem might be? Anything I could look for? Thanks.

- Marty

[Dousan_PG]

how are your rear pads doing?
did you install them yourself? sometimes mechanics do them incorrectly.

[C-Kwik]

Jack up the car, take off the wheel and take a look. Then tell us what you find. Either you will know, right away what the problem is, or we will be better able to help you.

[whitey_mb]

I had the pads installed by a mechanic. I don't know how good a job they did, but I've had absolutley no trouble with them until today. I looked everything over and couldn't see anything obviously wrong. I know very little about brakes though, and all I could really tell about the pads is that there's plenty left.

I had my brother engage and disengage the handbrake while I watched the wheels, but I really couldn't tell if anything was wrong. I wish I could tell you guys something useful, but like I said, I know very little about brakes. Is there anything else specific I could check for? Any way to tell if the pads weren't installed correctly or if the problem is something with the caliper? Thanks.

- Marty

[C-Kwik]

Try rotating the wheel and rotor to see if it will duplicate the noise. Try to find where the noise is coming from. Make sure the caliper bolts are there too. I've seen twice where they broke off or came off and the caliper itself looked fine but was off enough to make contact with something.

[whitey_mb]

Looked at the caliper bolts, and they seemed fine. The wheel pretty much wouldn't rotate when I tried, though. The brake was pretty much locked up. Funny thing is, I went to show my dad this morning, and everything was fine! The wheel rotated freely. I drove it around a little, without any problems. When I got back, I engaged the handbrake and then released it, to see what would happen. Now the brake is back like it was, locked up.

- Marty