Brakes stick when stopped

[DenaliAK]

My disclaimer: I know jack about brakes or how they work, so bear with me here.

When I come to a stop my brakes seem fine. When I release the brakes, instead of gradually loosening up, nothing happens at first and then they kind of pop off the rotor, like they are lightly locking up. Only seems to happens when I come to a complete stop, though. It feels to me like something is just getting stiff in the mechanism, like something needs some lube, but I honestly don't know enough about brakes to even really guess. It feels like it's happening on just the right front but it's very difficult to tell.

I'm totally broke after spending $3000 getting a bunch of other crap fixed, so I need a cheap solution, or if it's not a major problem I'll just put up with it for while.

Any thoughts?

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

sounds like you have a sticking caliper...only way to resolve that is to replace it

 

[DenaliAK]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting good news. Truck has been a money pit for the last few months, why stop now....lol.

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

aren't all used cars/trucks....I've got $15k into my 1995 Acura Legend that is worth about $4k book AT MOST...but you know what....everything has been replaced and I could never replace the car for $15k if I tried (comparably speaking)

 

[DenaliAK]

True enough. This one did really well for us maintenance-wise until the last 6 months or so. The only thing I had to replace up until then was the rear suspension and brake pads. Suddenly everything is going to crap....lol. Same thing happened with my '05 Legacy GT. I loved that car, and a small car with 300hp AWD is a blast to drive in snow, but I was having a lot of little mechanical issues that were expensive to fix, especially once it was out of warranty.

 

[CEN2MENTAL95]

True enough. This one did really well for us maintenance-wise until the last 6 months or so. The only thing I had to replace up until then was the rear suspension and brake pads. Suddenly everything is going to crap....lol. Same thing happened with my '05 Legacy GT. I loved that car, and a small car with 300hp AWD is a blast to drive in snow, but I was having a lot of little mechanical issues that were expensive to fix, especially once it was out of warranty.

funny because my neighbor has an 05 leggy GT with over 200k that hasn't cost him a penny beyond the STi shortblock swap that he performed because previous owner overboosted the stock 2.5

 

[DenaliAK]

funny because my neighbor has an 05 leggy GT with over 200k that hasn't cost him a penny beyond the STi shortblock swap that he performed because previous owner overboosted the stock 2.5

Yeah, I know lots of guys that had no issues with their cars. From what I understand, there were basically two iterations of the '05's: The early run, which had a faulty ECU from the get-go that caused all sorts of issues, and the second run where they corrected that and had few issues. I got the first run. Had all kinds of turbo issues because the computer was screwing up repeatedly. Eventually had to replace the intercooler which also had a faulty part, some screen that was supposed to be a rough filter that ended up causing a clog. All sorts of stupid things. Just the computer took about 4 trips to the dealer to get fixed because at first Subaru denied knowledge of any problems. I probably ran 20,000 miles on bad timing and boost.

Anyway. We're WAY off-topic now, but I guess it's my thread so it doesn't matter....lol.

 

[jatkinson123]

I agree completely. But the brakes have been good so far.

 

[ATL]

my truck does this same thing, i cant narrow it down enough tho. a sticking caliper has crossed my mind, i even have rebuild kits for my rears. but im not sure its the brakes. ive been thinking its bad shocks. once u start rolling, i thought the pop was from the suspension settling. if you pay attention, the harder you brake coming up to the stop, the worse the pop is. if u start stopping way early and come to a soft stop, it wont do it. but it could be tons of things. play in the rearend, play in the u joints, brakes, shocks, i even had one "mechanic" friend tell me it sounds like bad/frame body bushings.

 

[DenaliAK]

my truck does this same thing, i cant narrow it down enough tho. a sticking caliper has crossed my mind, i even have rebuild kits for my rears. but im not sure its the brakes. ive been thinking its bad shocks. once u start rolling, i thought the pop was from the suspension settling. if you pay attention, the harder you brake coming up to the stop, the worse the pop is. if u start stopping way early and come to a soft stop, it wont do it. but it could be tons of things. play in the rearend, play in the u joints, brakes, shocks, i even had one "mechanic" friend tell me it sounds like bad/frame body bushings.

You described it perfectly. The harder you stop, the worse the "pop" is. And it is frustratingly difficult to pinpoint where it's coming from. It doesn't bother me hugely, but I worry about the long-term issues not fixing whatever it is will cause.....

 

[Vinniety]

you might want to try bleeding the brakes with new fluid first just to see if that helps. Maybe dirt in the line is causing it. Not trying to scare you but be careful. It might one day not want to pop and stay stuck then that will lead to more damage and more money to repair.
Just did a quick search and advance auto parts has real good discount codes for brakes. I did a quick search for caliper on 2004 yukon denali (not sure if that is the year of your truck) and a caliper was 56 dollars. If you get two fronts with new pads and use the codes you will save alot. just passing the info along.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Sounds like it might do you some good Scott to take that front wheel off and see what condition the pads are in as well as taking the caliper off and making sure stuff is lubed up enough!! Stuff needs to slide and adjust, and if the grease is no longer, it's not gonna do that well!! Also check for even pad wear, especially side to side!!

Remember, all this advise is under the assumption that you guys are above freezing now!! lol If not, disregard!! lol

 

[DenaliAK]

Thanks everyone. The pads are about a year old so they shouldn't be the issue. I'll probably just end.up taking it in somewhere when I have some money again. Might get a diagnosis and then order my own parts.

Chris, yeah....it's above freezing now. Days are long. doesn't get dark until 11pm or something now. It is chilly this morning, though. 34 degrees when I woke up which is way below average for this.time of year.

 

[afpj]

If I'm interpreting correctly, the noise occurs after you come to a full stop, and then go again. I recall in other threads you doing alot to your ride in repairs, but did you do the u joints? Clunking noise starting from a stop could be that, and it's less of a sound if it wasn't a full stop. Just putting it out there cause it's "relatively" easy to check u joints for play etc., at least from what I did. THen again, I might have just been lucky. Good luck.

 

[BubZX]

my truck does this same thing, i cant narrow it down enough tho. a sticking caliper has crossed my mind, i even have rebuild kits for my rears. but im not sure its the brakes. ive been thinking its bad shocks. once u start rolling, i thought the pop was from the suspension settling. if you pay attention, the harder you brake coming up to the stop, the worse the pop is. if u start stopping way early and come to a soft stop, it wont do it. but it could be tons of things. play in the rearend, play in the u joints, brakes, shocks, i even had one "mechanic" friend tell me it sounds like bad/frame body bushings.

was having the same issue with my 02 hoe and it was the idler arm making the pop. replaced idler and pitman (best to replace together) and problem solved.if u can get the front off the ground grab ahold of one of the wheels at 9 and 3 and jerk back and forth side to side pretty hard and u should be able to replicate the sound. atleast i could with mine.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Chris, yeah....it's above freezing now. Days are long. doesn't get dark until 11pm or something now. It is chilly this morning, though. 34 degrees when I woke up which is way below average for this.time of year.

I love that about Alaska, especially the summers!! Loved being outside in June and it never getting dark!! Pure awesomeness!!

 

[ATL]

was having the same issue with my 02 hoe and it was the idler arm making the pop. replaced idler and pitman (best to replace together) and problem solved.if u can get the front off the ground grab ahold of one of the wheels at 9 and 3 and jerk back and forth side to side pretty hard and u should be able to replicate the sound. atleast i could with mine.

ive have done pitman and idler in my truck, the sound comes from the rear.

denaliak, out of curiosity, can you tell which side the sound is coming from?

 

[DenaliAK]

ive have done pitman and idler in my truck, the sound comes from the rear.

denaliak, out of curiosity, can you tell which side the sound is coming from?

It seems like the passenger side to me. If I had to guess, passenger front seems the most likely wheel. What about you?

 

[ATL]

aghhhh, mine comes from the drivers rear. maybe it is the calipers sticking... i ordered the rebuild kit a few weeks ago for like $8 of amazon for both rears. im not sure where they are these days, but maybe i shoulld find them and write a how to thread about them. ive rebuilt a few calipers in my time, lol

 

[fire730]

Make your your slide pins aren't hanging up.

Here is a link o another forum that has a very good pic of what I'm talking about.

http://http://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/1495382-cant-get-caliper-back-into-place.html