Hey, all,

Here's what's going on with my car:
My car had been pulling to the right, so I took it in to get an alignment. After the alignment, the car still pulled to the right, and, after I took it back to the shop, they noticed that my right front brake pad was sticking.

I figured my calipers were to blame (the pins on my old ones were pretty corroded-looking and didn't move freely), so I replaced both front calipers and pads. After that, I bled the system.

After all of that, my car still pulls to the right AND my brake pedal feels really weird sometimes. Most of the time when I'm driving, the pedal is really firm (i.e. it feels as if I've bled my brakes correctly), but probably once a day the pedal starts to give way and travel toward the floor. My brakes haven't failed me, but it's a little scary.

My question: Are these two problems related? The pedal sinking to the floor seems like a master cylinder problem, but not sure. The sticking brake pad I have no clue about.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help!

 

That does sounds weird. And it seems that you really do have something going on with the brakes.

Did you have the booster or the master ever replaced? The reason I ask is that the booster pin (The pin that the pedal pushes) could be too far engaged and partially locking your brakes. Not likely but it could happen. You need to look at your calipers while someone presses the brake pedal and you need to see movement. The pads also need to move freely in their spot.

For the pedal sinking to the floor, that is really bad. It could happen if you have a leak or if the MC is on it's way out.

 

Hmm, no, I haven't had either the booster or the master replaced. If it were the booster pin, though, would both front brakes/all of my brakes be dragging? And you mean the pads themselves moving freely?

 

It depends on the way the MC is configured, you may have the left front and right rear lock or maybe all of them lock. I would start by assuming this is not the problem.

regarding the movement, you should see the caliper moving.

You checked the pads that they are free and the ears of the pad is greased so it can slide? Just a bit of grease, nothing touching the rotor.

BTW, do you get noise from that wheel? No noise from the wheel bearing?

 

Did you replace the brake hoses when you replaced the calipers? You should. They can fail internally and prevent the calipers from releasing. Your foot pressure is enough to flow brake fluid out, but there is not enough back pressure to flow fluid back through an internally failed hose. And the pedal going to the floor randomly is the master cylinder, at least was on mine.