I have a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus LXI that was purchased used 2 years ago. Since that time my husband has had to replace the back brakes twice and now I need new brakes again.
The second time I had to have the brakes changed my husband rebuilt the whole area including the rotor thinking maybe that was part of the problem.
It is always the left rear brake that starts first.
I do not “ride the brakes” and I don’t wait till the last moment to stop. I start to slow down first and then use the brakes.
My car does have ABS and I wonder if there’s a possible chance that maybe that’s what causes my brakes to wear out so quickly. Could a faulty ABS cause the brakes to go bad or is there something else that my husband is missing?
Thank you for any help you can give me.
How many miles between brake jobs? Do you live in a hilly area? Drive around town or mostly highways? When brake jobs are done, are rotors resurfaced, replaced, or just putting on new pads? Is a pro mechanic doing the brakes, or do it yourselfer? Has anyone replaced or rebuilt the calipers?
Sticky calipers can cause excessive brake pad and rotor wear. Since one wheel is worse than the other that caliper should be checked first, but both could be binding on the pads.
Thank you for your interest in my problem.
First, there’s about 5000 (give or take) miles in between replacements. There isn’t alot of hills here. When I drive back and forth to work (4.8 miles each way) I drive on the freeway.
My husband is the one who does the work on my car. He’s been working on cars all his life and we’ve never had brake problems like this before.
The second time he had to replace the brakes he did the calipers and replaced the rotor.
He also gets the rotors re-surfaced as well.
Thinking about the noise that the brakes make, it would seem to me that the caliper is sticky again because the noise is evident as I am driving even before I use the brakes.
What could cause the caliper to get sticky again haven’t being fixed the last time?
My guess is your husband knows more about this than me. Dirt is the culprit when things stick. Cleaning the rotors and calipers with brake cleaner completely before reassembly may help. Dirt in the brake lines can be flushed out by a complete flushing of the brake fluid. Are there “splash guards” in place to keep road dirt away from the brakes?
I had a Volvo wagon that just ate up rear brakes, about every 6,000. I’m not tough on brakes either. So, this may be a property of the car.
It sounds like your husband has looked at the obvious things already like sticking caliper pins. Here is some food for thought:
I once knew of a situation were the brake hose had internal pieces breaking off and the pieces acted like a check valve. Therefore the pressure to that caliper is not being fulling released once you release the pedal. The wheel should spin freely after applying and releasing the break. This is easy enough to test with the rear wheels jacked off the ground. The break hoses may be worth replacing and doing a complete break line flush.
Good luck!
Check the adjustment on your parking brake. You say it is the back brakes, so I don’t think it has to do with the way you drive. Make sure that your front ones are also working, if they are not working you will be putting all the load on the back ones. Your front brakes account for 60%+ or so of your braking power and do most of the work.
This really sounds like a parking brake issue. I have no idea how the parking brake works on this car, but if it is not releasing completely what you describe could happen. Your husband should just go through the parking brake system and lubricate everything and see if something is binding or catching, or if a spring somewhere is missing.