Was told by local toyota dealer that I needed new rear pads. Dropped off car today to have that done and rep just called saying the the rear caliper pin was stuck and they couldn't free it. Something about a floating caliper. Anyway, said I cant drive the car. Does this sound right or plausible to anyone? Also, I have a lexus extended warranty, would that probably cover it?

 

Yes it sounds right, extended warranty should cover the caliper.

 

i'm having the same problem right now. i changed my pads about 6 weeks ago and one of them has already eaten through almost 4mm of padding. i can still drive the car but at this rate i'll be doing a brake change every 4 months

 

Not out of the ordinary. Had the same problem on a Buick recently. If you're under warranty, it's a freebie. Otherwi$e,.. It's a necessary repair - can't avoid it.

 

In you're case, it sounds like the brake pad is stuck on the rotors and when you are driving it is scrapping off the pad. Which I don't know how that happens, but seized caliper pins just doesn't let the caliper move.

 

interesting...i thought my caliper was seized because the bolt was allowing the caliper to move away then the brake isn't depressed. i know when fluid goes into the caliper it squeezes the piston to put pressure on the inner pad and simultaneously pushes the caliper towards the inside of the car to put pressure on the outer pad. so in my case the bolt was causing the caliper to be constantly pushed in while the piston was the only thing moving. i hope i'm making sense.

 

K there is 2 bolts, one upper one lower. The piston is on the right side of the caliper. So basically the piston pushesh the brake pad against the rotor and the left one gets pushed on to the rotor also. Here is a video from youtube to show you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol-wDa6kAgQ . But basically if the sliding pins are frozen, its hard for the left pad to move. Hope that explains in

 

oh yeah i know how the caliper works, i thought you were saying that a seized caliper doesn't get the pads to grab at all. i just want to fix this problem so i can stop worrying about what's wrong with my baby

 

interesting I never thought about this, but recently I can hear the spinning of my wheels like if something was rubbing on the front tires, i thought it was cause of the new tires or the rims then I read this thread it might be my calipers are stuck, rubbing against the rotors im gonna have to check this out