99 Solara driver side caliper sticking help

[bronzemaxell]

My 99 solara v6 SE driver side wheel very hard to rotate by hand once i jackup the car and put on jackstands, both front wheels off the ground.
i've experienced excessive vibration on the entire car around 60 to 70mph recently,
i rotated tires from front to rear, same problem, then i put on 4 tires from another vehicle, same vibration, initially i thought my front tires out of balance, but further test revealed i might have a sticking front driver side caliper,

i've rebuilt my passenger side caliper a few months ago with toyota caliper kit, and was too lazy to do the driver side,i've been notice front driver side has some burning smell, and my face feel excessive heat from rotor when i stick my nose near the caliper, rest of other 3 caliper no smell, so i procceeded to rebuild my driver side front caliper, there were a little rust on the piston and caliper, i sanded rust with sandpaper, and put everything back, the driver side front wheel still hard to rotate.
i did some brake system tests,

with engine off, i stepped on brake pedal 3 or 4 times, then the brake pedal felt hard,
if i continue holding the brake pedel, it didn't sink any further,
while holding the brake pedal, i started the engine, and the brake pedal sank down further.
then i stepped on brake pedal 3 or 4 times while engine running, brake pedal felt normal
while engine running, i held the brake pedal and shut off the engine, no change on brake pedal

what would cause my driver front caliper not to retract?

[fenixus]

do a simple test (front axle off ground, FD wheel removed), check how hard it is to spin the FD spindle/rotor/hub by hand first, then open the caliper bleeder valve and check again.

a) if no change then likely the caliper is bad (e.g. internally rusted, dirt blocking piston movement, seized slide pins, etc.). if it was rebuilt recently, then I'd suggest replacing it as a whole piece (with bracket). Cardone or Nastra sell good rebuilt OEM units, but you will likely need to paint them or they will rust quickly (they are lying about anti-rust protection, but you may get one having it if you're lucky though, I weren't).

b) if caliper stops binding after opening the bleeder valve, then the brake line is bad (internally collapsed) and needs replacing. Go OEM on this one, OEM ONLY!

Additionally, you can measure the brake pads thickness (inner vs outer).
If the inner pad is thinner than the outer then the caliper piston is seized.
If the outer pad is thinner than the inner one then the slide pins are seized (both or just one, watch the angle of worn pad and you will know).
Advance Auto parts sells excellent high performance slide pins grease called Permatex Ceramic Extreme, it beats everything I tried.

Lastly if your brake pedal sometimes sinks deeper than normal while braking, then the Master Cylinder cup seals are shot. There is two of them, if one of them starts failing then this is what happens. Replace the MC unit with a NEW OEM ONLY!

based on your description, the brake booster is air tight and operates normally.

hope it helps

EDIT:
one more reason for FD wheel being hard to turn no matter what is a shot wheel bearing. that may cause 50mph+ vibrations and noises (not always). sometimes a 9-3 and 12-6 shake test reveals a failing bearing (loose), but it didn't for me and bearing was long gone when I did that test. My car was actually rolling on hubs (both fronts) for some time

[bronzemaxell]

Originally Posted by fenixus

do a simple test (front axle off ground, FD wheel removed), check how hard it is to spin the FD spindle/rotor/hub by hand first, then open the caliper bleeder valve and check again.

a) if no change then likely the caliper is bad (e.g. internally rusted, dirt blocking piston movement, seized slide pins, etc.). if it was rebuilt recently, then I'd suggest replacing it as a whole piece (with bracket). Cardone or Nastra sell good rebuilt OEM units, but you will likely need to paint them or they will rust quickly (they are lying about anti-rust protection, but you may get one having it if you're lucky though, I weren't).

b) if caliper stops binding after opening the bleeder valve, then the brake line is bad (internally collapsed) and needs replacing. Go OEM on this one, OEM ONLY!

Additionally, you can measure the brake pads thickness (inner vs outer).
If the inner pad is thinner than the outer then the caliper piston is seized.
If the outer pad is thinner than the inner one then the slide pins are seized (both or just one, watch the angle of worn pad and you will know).
Advance Auto parts sells excellent high performance slide pins grease called Permatex Ceramic Extreme, it beats everything I tried.

Lastly if your brake pedal sometimes sinks deeper than normal while braking, then the Master Cylinder cup seals are shot. There is two of them, if one of them starts failing then this is what happens. Replace the MC unit with a NEW OEM ONLY!

based on your description, the brake booster is air tight and operates normally.

hope it helps

EDIT:
one more reason for FD wheel being hard to turn no matter what is a shot wheel bearing. that may cause 50mph+ vibrations and noises (not always). sometimes a 9-3 and 12-6 shake test reveals a failing bearing (loose), but it didn't for me and bearing was long gone when I did that test. My car was actually rolling on hubs (both fronts) for some time

I did a short test drive and the front driver caliper was smoking,
went to junk yard and got a 2001 solara front driver caliper,
now the front driver wheel spins easily.

the car still vibrate at 65+mph, i will replace the rotors with oem brand new rotors to see if that makes any difference, because now after the dragging brake, i feel pulses while braking at 20 to 40mph.

[fenixus]

nice

yeah, smoking caliper is pretty obvious

yeah, your rotor is warped, that's why it pulses while braking. you need to replace both sides at same time for best effects though. same about pads, if they are worn more than 50% just get a new ones for your new rotors.

vibration *could* be coming from a warped rotor intermittently rubbing brake pad(s) in one corner. it could also be a shot bearing (overheated bearing from seized caliper, grease degraded properties and the wheel bearing is going dead).

[bronzemaxell]

Originally Posted by fenixus

nice

yeah, smoking caliper is pretty obvious

yeah, your rotor is warped, that's why it pulses while braking. you need to replace both sides at same time for best effects though. same about pads, if they are worn more than 50% just get a new ones for your new rotors.

vibration *could* be coming from a warped rotor intermittently rubbing brake pad(s) in one corner. it could also be a shot bearing (overheated bearing from seized caliper, grease degraded properties and the wheel bearing is going dead).

I've been working on this solara vibration issue everyday for last two weeks, took off wheels numerous times,

here was what I've done so far
replace rear bearings, (new oem hub and bearings)
replace driver side front bearing with an used oem spindle/knuckle, driver side wheel had little play while test on 3 and 9 oclock, also 1 and 7 o'clock, but once i replaced with an used spindle, and aftermarket ball joint and aftermarket outter tie rod, regret badly, should have gone with OEM after reading fenixus thread about ball joint. but at least now driver front wheel don't have any play.

vibration issue not improve
replace Rear Sway bar, that silenced my rear thumbing/knocking noise, and as long as i keep speed under 60mph, no vibration, but been notice driver side front rotor smell burning.
replaced front sway bar, now front end and steering feel tighter.
today, got a free caliper from junkyard, that took care of the caliper smell issue.
also replaced both front rotors, front old rotors and brake pad was newly installed about 2 or 3 months ago.

i still have an oem used passenger side spindle/knuckle standby,
and both driver and passenger side v6 manual transmission cv axle wait to install.
if vibration doesn't go away, i will run out of things to check/replace.