Front right wheel heating up

[TheBobsHere]

That's steep for calipers and pads. An extra $300 is steep too considering rotors are $30 ea and brake hoses are $35 for both fronts. Anyway, hope it's fine now. When it comes to brakes though...Don't skimp, you take yours and others lives in you're hands.

This is what my neighbor paid 6 months ago when I was out of town and couldn't do the work for her.
Front brake caliper and pads $60 ea
Brake hoses $17 ea
Front rotors $27 ea
Labor $159
Total $367

I don't want to say you got ripped off but.....

[denisond3]

I have a 94 and a 92 Escort LX, and the brake calipers may be different from yours, but on mine the calipers have a pair of sliding pins to let the two halves of the caliper move together as the pads wear. When the calipers get old enough or rusty enough, the slide pins get rusted in their guide-bores, and the two halves of the caliper wont readily move; although stepping on the brake WILL force it to shift. The result is that one pad is not held against the rotor as it should be (which on the passenger side caliper would result in pulling to the left during light braking), while the other pad is pushed against the rotor (lightly) all the time, instead of being able to retract that 'thousandth' of an inch as it normally should. Hence the rotor runs hot.
I have bought a set of new guide pins and new rubber bushings for the guide bores to I can fix this on the 92. It not only wore out one pad prematurely, it also lowered our MPG from 37 on the open road, down to 32 MPG. Actually I bought two sets of the parts, since I have two Escorts with about 200,000 miles on them, and I plan to replace the old caliper parts on the other Escort too. When something wears out on one car, I like to fix it on both - so I can make 'pre-emptive' repairs at my own pace.
Im 64, and bending over to work on the brakes is Not Fun for my back muscles. I do all of my workk under a shade tree in the driveway, & dont own a way to get the cars brakes up to waist height.
Your mechanic did the right thing & the price seems fair. The labor to put new guide pins on the old caliper would have made the job just as expensive as replacing the caliper.

[yahoo1]

Originally Posted by denisond3

I have a 94 and a 92 Escort LX, and the brake calipers may be different from yours, but on mine the calipers have a pair of sliding pins to let the two halves of the caliper move together as the pads wear. When the calipers get old enough or rusty enough, the slide pins get rusted in their guide-bores, and the two halves of the caliper wont readily move; although stepping on the brake WILL force it to shift. The result is that one pad is not held against the rotor as it should be (which on the passenger side caliper would result in pulling to the left during light braking), while the other pad is pushed against the rotor (lightly) all the time, instead of being able to retract that 'thousandth' of an inch as it normally should. Hence the rotor runs hot.
I have bought a set of new guide pins and new rubber bushings for the guide bores to I can fix this on the 92. It not only wore out one pad prematurely, it also lowered our MPG from 37 on the open road, down to 32 MPG. Actually I bought two sets of the parts, since I have two Escorts with about 200,000 miles on them, and I plan to replace the old caliper parts on the other Escort too. When something wears out on one car, I like to fix it on both - so I can make 'pre-emptive' repairs at my own pace.
Im 64, and bending over to work on the brakes is Not Fun for my back muscles. I do all of my workk under a shade tree in the driveway, & dont own a way to get the cars brakes up to waist height.
Your mechanic did the right thing & the price seems fair. The labor to put new guide pins on the old caliper would have made the job just as expensive as replacing the caliper.

Thanks for the last two posts, people!!! $319.68 seems like a lot of money to me, but what is someone to do? By the way, the garage charged me $160 for 2 hours labor, even tho' it only took them about 1 1/2 hours. I've found life to be really tough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a good day!

[jcwit]

Frankly it time to find a new shop!

Just checked pricing: Advance Auto Replacement Calibers with pads $60.00 each
Rock Auto Replacement Calibers with pads $29.00 each--Thats after the core is returned

Thanks for the last two posts, people!!! $319.68 seems like a lot of money to me, but what is someone to do?

Shop, shop, shop, get quotes and compare, use the phone. Frankly this seemed like a ripoff and I doubt hourly rates are that much different from here. Hope this is a lesson learned. Of course its your money!

[Intuit]

Dragging caliper and wheel bearing possibilities have been mentioned. What are the possibilities that an outer-CV joing could cause the overheating ??? Not saying this is or is likely the issue, just throwing that in the mix.

Denisond3, '94 LX, I've always used a high speed drill and sanding attachment to clean off the buildup on the mounting pins for the pads. Of course, it's a good idea to replace them if they're actually corroding and getting thinner. The buildup even narrows the little holes. I've purchased M-Springs before but I found out they were as weak or weaker than the originals.

Regarding the caliper mount issues...
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...9&postcount=13
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...76&postcount=5
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...80&postcount=6
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...68&postcount=8

Before coming up with that solution, I've talked to store personnel about the caliper slide mount issue and they recommended replacement too... but found it an unnecessary expense; especially given the temporary nature of the "fix." A mechanic wanted to use a special lubricant but knew that would be extremely temporary as well. Honing them out and cleaning up the slide-mount cylinders has proven to be THE solution. As far as the lubricant, Kendall Blue High Temperature bearing grease http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/p...&cat=2,3,4,5,9