Good day, AF, and I mean that in the most sincere terms possible :)

Here's the situation:

I go to back out of the driveway today. Disengaged the E-brake, and started to roll back. POP, GRIND. WTF? I stopped, and thought to myself for a second, and then decided I'd better roll for a minute, and see what was going on.

I noted that rolling was a very loose term. More like Pushing. There was a definite lack of free movement. I went about a block up the street, and the roar continued, so I turned around and went back to my driveway.

What do I see? Smoke. Stinky, foul white smoke. Not a lot of it, but it was definitely there, as if a gremlin were in the wheel, puffing on a marlboro, saying "Gotcha, sucka."

At a friend's urging, I backed out again, with the same popping, roar-like sound present. I started forward, slammed on the e-brake, and back off. The sound was still there, so I pulled back in and parked.

At this point, I see there's a spot on the rotor that frankly looked pitted. I know that it's getting near time to put pads on (for the record, they're currently ceramics), but it didn't seem like they were worn off to me. I haven't had any squeak from the indicators or anything. The smoke is definitely still there.

The final straw before getting a ride to work: I noticed that there were a pair of black lines on the street, representing each of the times that I had tried to make it roll. I'm guessing that the tire was just dragging to a degree.

So, I'm told that the likely culprit is the caliper. What say you?

If you think it IS the caliper, two questions:

1. Where's a good place to get a super duper ultra cheap replacement? this is my daily driver, and I'm broke broke broke.

2. Do you know of any good online guides to doing it? Being that I'm broke x 3, I need to try and do this myself to save pennies!

Your assistance, as always, is greatly appreciated.

Your Pal,

Mr. Cynical

a brand new one from autozone is 39.99 pasanger side part # c433 and driver side part # 3432 and advance has the cardone rebuilt brands for 26.99 driver side part number is 184638 and the pasanger side is 184639. so which ever store is closer to you.

check to see if you have any pads left. if they are worn off that could do it. does it smoke fast or only after driving it for a while. because if the rotor gets hot and the caliper leakes fluid on it sure it will smoke.

check to see if you have any pads left. if they are worn off that could do it. does it smoke fast or only after driving it for a while. because if the rotor gets hot and the caliper leakes fluid on it sure it will smoke.

Looks to me like there's a fair amount of pad there. It smokes after maybe a block. Smells like popcorn! At least, that's what I thought after smelling popcorn at work today hours later.

I'm not liking caliper replacement idea just yet.

Pull the rear brakes apart and see if your parking brake is disengaging. I'd be willing to bet that its not.

I'm not liking caliper replacement idea just yet.

Pull the rear brakes apart and see if your parking brake is disengaging. I'd be willing to bet that its not.

The $25,000 question is: How do I tell? :) Never messed with brakes, but I'm confident that I can take apart and put back together!

Perfect, take them apart, pull them rear rotors off and make sure the parking brake mechanism's arent rusted solid. PB Blaster is your friend, and make sure to anti-sieze anything that moves.

I'll do just that! It'll be the weekend before I can yank it to pieces, we'll see what's going on!

I might even take pictures, in case it happens to anyone else :)

Sounds good!

At this point, I'm going to come right out and say it's not the calipers or e-brake. It still could be, but I think I have bigger fish to fry. Thusly:

Once I got it lifted up in the air, I went to check things out.

Know what I saw? The coil spring, snapped in half. Part of it is rubbing against the tire itself. I had found a small piece of black stuff on the ground, but dismissed it as being just a piece of plastic. Sure seems that it was. The plastic that cases the spring.

I bought 2 coil springs from Napa for the front end. Within 4 months, the first one went out when I got in the car. I heard a loud bang. Of course, then I had to take the whole strut out AGAIN and have it realigned! Then 6 months after that, the other side did the same thing! More work and another alignment. :swear: They were under warranty, so I just traded them out. I'm just hoping it happened to be a bad set.

Frankly, I'm a bit scared to remove the tire right now, I don't want the thing to spring off and remove my finger/hand/arm/head/upper body.

So, parked it is, till I can figure out what to do with this one.

You will be fine. Jack on the pinch weld, Loosen the lug nuts, finish jacking up, and remove the tire.

From here you can remove the stabilizer bar link, two large bolts holding the spring assembly to the spindle, and then go inside the trunk and remove the (three?) bolts that secure the top of the strut assempy to the body. At this point you should be able to slip the strut/spring assembly right out.

Then you can either buy some new parts (I recommend a new set of springs, mounts, and depending on the milage struts for both sides) and put it all back together.

A spring compressor is needed which can be rented at a place like autozone or advance.

i had the same problem once only i had a blow out and lost control of the car. i think the best thig to do would be to change the entire struts with the monroe quick struts. therefore you dont have to take the strut apart it can be dangerous compressing a broken spring. you just loosen the 3 bolts under the carpet above each tire well( if your doing both sides recomended if you want a decent ride) in the trunk and then the 2 bolts that atach it to the knuckle and then diconect the sway bar link from the strut and out it comes. just when you jack up the broken side stand to the side if you can because who knows if it is dislodged. changing the whole strut with a complete strut is what i would recomend because your getting a entire new assembly.
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rear strut passanger side part number 171662r 185.99
rear strut driver side 171662L same price ( advanced auto ) some places might be cheaper

Mike has a nice rear strut R&R here....

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=953195

Realize it will be a little more involved if you decide to just replace the springs alone.

Gonna give it a go today!

Quick question first: Should I put both sides on jackstands, or can I get away with just the side I'm working on?

You can just put a jackstand under the side you're working on and leave the other tire on the ground. If you have both sides in the air, put jack stands under both sides for safety.

Well, here's what we got:

Car jacked up, tire removed, the spring is indeed free floating. After examining the tire, it's clear that the spring was rubbing up against it, and heating up to start smoking. Double sure after seeing the burned-in spring mark on the inside of the tire!

I got pics, and will upload the damage as soon as I find the cable to do it with!

All I can say today is THANK YOU!

From the time I started jacking up the tire to the time I was off and down the street to test drive: 45 minutes!

The guide that mikepieronek put together was incredibly helpful. It's amazing what you can learn to do from you folks.

Again, thank you! This puts me in a MUCH better place, and frankly, my fiancee as well! (no more having to get up and take me to work!)

Cheers!

And yes, pics to come after I find the damn cable!

Good to hear, nice job!

Glad to hear you got her fixed, and thank you for the feedback. It's not only nice to hear we helped, but it can also help someone in the future reading this thread that has the same issue.