myfirstmaxima

Last night, after a short trip from my house and back, I noticed that my car was de-accelerating much more quickly when I took my foot off the gas while driving. After getting back to my house I saw a lot of smoke coming from my driverside rear tire and knew that my brake pad must be sticking to the rotor. After letting it sit for about five minutes or so I got back in to move it to my driveway, the brake pedal went all the way to the floor and there was virtually no braking power on the car at all, even using the emergency brake. I parked it in my driveway and after letting it sit for a few hours, started it up and the brake pedal felt like normal. I drove it around the block and everything seemed fine again as far as the pressure on the pedal and braking from about 25mph to 0mph. I parked it back in my driveway and checked the brake fluid and it's right where it should be. I jacked the car up and tried to move the rear tire without the parking brake on and it was not moving as freely as it should but wouldn't move at all when the parking brake was on. One thing I should mention is that I do put the emergency brake on every time I park my car (used to drive a stick so it's a habit). Would that action make this problem more likely to occur? I'm not sure if the pads and rotors are still under warranty as I am at school and about an hours drive away from where the shop is that fixed them (the rear brakes and rotors are new as of December). How much should I expect to pay if it is just the pad stuck to the rotor? I'm very limited as to what I can do myself but is there an easy way to possibly fix it before I should take it somewhere?

oldngivout

iTrader: (8)

You need a new rear caliper, the one you have now is probably seized. If you continue to drive like that you will need a disc also, you may already.

Common problem on Nissan rear discs. Not sure on price to fix at shop, since I do everything myself, but expect sveral hundered if you don't do it yourself. Rebuilt calipers can be bought for less than $100 each side. Installation is fairly simple for a mechanic with tools.

myfirstmaxima

Just got a quote from a local place... with the part and labor comes to $154.64. The stealership wanted close to $300 with the part and labor.

nafddur

$155 for a replacement (new or rebuilt) caliper is a good price. My first one was $88 back in 2002, the second (opposite side) was $107 in 2004, and the third (2nd on the passenger side) was $122 in 2005. These were purchase prices only. The installation was simple - the first one took me about an hour, while the subsequent ones took about 1/2 hour each. Also, the first one I replaced came with pads, but the other 2 didn't.

When my first rear caliper froze, a mechanic explained to me that this is a common problem on cars that use the caliper for the emergency brake.