On occassion after touching the brakes, my brakes will start to drag fairly lightly. Once I come to a complete stop, if I press the brake petal to the floor and hold it for a few seconds, and release, then my brakes release properly.

Does any one have any suggestions as to what I should start looking at?

 

Take your calipers off and pull the caliper slide pins out and inspect them for wear. They may be dried out/cruddy/rusted/worn and need to be replaced. Most of the time they usually just need to be cleaned up, lubed, and re-installed. A lot of people overlook the slide-pins when replacing the pads. Try it and see what happens.

If that doesn't work, flush the brake system out with some fresh fluid. Could be air in the system, but I doubt it.

- Brent

 

Oh I should have mentioned that. Pins are clean and lubed, Pads and Rotors are all under a year, fronts are Baer's (but I had this problem before the Baer's so that's not related), and the lines are bled (I've done it more than once just to be sure).

 

Could be the caliper piston getting hung up and the sideways force caused by the moving rotor could be contributing to it. When the sideways (tangential) force is no longer present (i.e. the car is stopped) and you press the brakes, it might be applying a straight force (axial) against the piston which breaks it loose. A caliper rebuild kit is very cheap. I would recommend getting a honing tool for your drill and rebuilding the caliper. It is easy to do and should cost less than $10 per wheel. Just a theory...

 

What I wonder about is could it be vaccum related? I've got the CC305 in the car, and I don't know how much vaccum I should be pulling... then again vaccum's only used when you press the brakes, it's not used to release, is it?

 

You don't mean you pedal goes to the floor, do you? That could indicate a bad master cylinder.

 

No, the pedal is fine... I think. It's always had a long travel, but it comes back up once the dragging issue starts to happen, if that's what you mean.

 

Still, if other things check out ok, your m/c could be sticking or something. Sometimes a speck of dirt can cause intermittent happenings in the m/c. You might try flushing the system or a new m/c.

 

You know, I was thinking about it on my way to work today... I've NEVER had the problem when the car is cold. Doesn't start up until driving for >~ 7 minutes.

 

What would cause the brakes to make noise after they have heated up????

 

Sometimes that's just the nature of the type of pads you have. I've been able to make it go away sometimes by taking the pads off and sanding the shiny coating off the braking surface of the pads and re-installing them. Try it and see what happens.

- Brent