2002 Camry LE Brake Fade

[s0b3]

So I've been having some problems with the driver side front brake. I took the car in for a tire balance and rotation a few months ago. When I got it back, it had a vibration and I could smell the brake pad burning. At high speeds the steering wheel had a bad shake. Not sure if it's related to the balance/rotation, maybe just a coincidence.

I had the pads and rotors replaced. The problem was still there. The problem is very intermittent. Some days you'll get a vibration and other days you will feel the brakes fading as it takes a long time to stop and when you do, you smell the organic brake pad burning. I think the vibration was caused by the piston in the caliper sticking. It would unstick itself after it cooled. You would smell the organic brake pad burning as well when it was sticking.

Doing a little research, I thought the piston in the caliper might be sticking or maybe the brake line is going bad so I had those replaced Saturday. Took the car for a road trip today and towards the end of the 2.5 hour road trip, I could feel the brakes fading again.

I plan on replacing the pads anyways due to the squeaking. They are Advance Semi Metallic pads. I plan on going back to Autozone Ceramic ones as I've had good luck with them in the past.

Seeing as I've replaced the pads, rotors, calipers and line, what else could be causing the brake fade? Only time will tell if replacing the caliper/line will have stopped the vibration.

Thoughts? What else should I be looking at? Master/Slave cylinder look good, no leaks and the problem is isolated to the driver side brake.

[boonkai]

gosh.. i havethe same problem with my camry 09 as well...dxmn~~!
but it doesnt look so serious yet... i hope i dont need to spend few hundreds bucks for rix it..~~
my friends have the same problem but the vibration on the steering wheel is much stronger than mine and he fixed the problem by replacing the brake pad, it cost him around 400usd~~ = =

[Donald E. George]

The piston in the caliper only moves a very small distance,maybe something like a few thousandth of an inch. I am only guesing, but the only thing retracting the piston when the brake line pressure is released is the piston seal. The deformation of the seal is what retracts the piston.Maybe the floating part of the caliper is hung up on the slide pins which can become corroded when not serviced with caliper grease on a regular basis. I'd take a look there.

[s0b3]

Originally Posted by Donald E. George

The piston in the caliper only moves a very small distance,maybe something like a few thousandth of an inch. I am only guesing, but the only thing retracting the piston when the brake line pressure is released is the piston seal. The deformation of the seal is what retracts the piston.Maybe the floating part of the caliper is hung up on the slide pins which can become corroded when not serviced with caliper grease on a regular basis. I'd take a look there.

before i replaced the calipers and lines, we looked at the pins. i read that sometimes the rubber guides at the tip of the pins can cause it to get stuck so we even removed those.

this is a new rebuilt caliper and line that is doing this.

this is really strange as we've replaced most of the things associated with the brake system. do you think it could be the brake proportioning valve? we ruled that out since the problem was isolated to the driver side.