A few days ago my 08 starting vibrating at higher speeds. After pulling over I noticed smoke coming from the front passenger brake and the rotor was glowing red. I replaced the front pads/rotors and I noticed that the pad's on the passenger side where worn substantially more than the driver side. After replacement, I still get a burning smell intermittently, which I notice more on longer trips. I have also been getting the feeling that the car slows down quicker upon release of the gas with no brakes applied and that the car pulls slightly to the passenger side. How can I tell if its the caliper sticking or some other problem such as an internal brake line failure? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

The caliper failing is a very common problem. By the sounds of it I would say thats your problem. Been there a few times. Happened on my friends while driving down the highway.

 

x2, on the caliper. Probably better to replace it rather than rebuild it. Usually the auto parts store gives you a core credit for the old calipers....

 

I've had to replace both of my front calipers. The piston would stop retracting once the brake was released causing a steady brake pressure at all times. When they fail it pretty simple to narrow down to the caliper, wheel hot, pull to either side when brakes applied, burning smell or smoke, etc. if I remember correctly autozone was about $75 for remanufactured and the dealership was only like 5 or so bucks more. Only took about 30 mins to swap out if that..

 

Thanx, I just ordered a new passenger side caliper for $60 from autozone, hopefully that will do it.

 

I'm sure that will fix it, I have been on the new calipers for about 18 months without any issues and I run 38's on that tiny single piston caliper.... Just too much $$$$$ for an upgrade.