Hello people. I did my inspection last month and failed to pass. It's because of frozen left and right rear calipers. When I pull the hand brake up, the car still moves. I'm planning to sell the car soon. So I don't want to fix it if the car can still runs. I have a question, when we stopping our car, it uses all 4 calipers to brake right? Or only the front 2? How danger is it when I'm driving with broken rear calipers? Or I can live with it until I sold my car? Thanks so much!

 

not very safe, you should drive it with all four locking up. Its not a good idea to drive it like that,

and since its not binding up, your pads must be junk too, which also means you may have warped/grooved rotors, and will need those as well. The more you drive it, the worse its gunna get

 

Why would there be 4 brake calipers if the car didn't use all 4?

Yes, the rear brakes are used when stopping (assuming with the service brake).

If they're seized up with the pads applied, then you'll just ruin the rotors and pads, and it'll affect acceleration/MPG. If they're seized up completely open, then there's no real 'danger'. The fronts do the most for braking.

 

Don't pass off a dangerous car onto someone else.

 

not good at all.

 

I wouldnt drive the car if they are locked. When I bought my car the rear drivers side was locked and I ended up having to replace caliper,rotors, and pads and my car would slide a little bit on hard stops. Would hate for someone to get a car they just bought and have that happen to them. Be sure to let them know the deal about the brakes if you sell it ..

 

This exact same thing happened to me, My car sat for about 5-6 months before i bought and both rear calipers might as well been vise gripped onto the rotors..i took it for a drive and it wore some of the pad off..Enough to rotate the wheel at least but it was annoying so i replace the rotors and pads.But when i did that i also re greased the shims and guide pins...When i took them apart they had NO grease in them whatsoever..Only thing in them was rust and dust, I compressed the caliper back and forth manually and after a week or so of driving..Its much better.Hopefully i wont have to buy a caliper and that issue will be settled for me.

 

really....do you need input on your question??? just read the title to your thread and use common sense.

and your not going to be able to pass this off to any buyer....unless they are a moron and dont check the car out before buying. if anything, replace/fix what is broken/worn out and use that as a selling point to the car.

and btw...calipers are cheep, and can be changed very very quickly. and while your at it throw in a set of OK raybestos pads from autozone for 45 bucks

 

Here comes the grammer police

 

Braking is typically 60/40, 60% Front 40% Rear

 

I didn't see this question asked... but are you sure they're seized? Or is the parking brake just not working (busted cable).

Jack up the rear of the car, spin the back wheel and hit the brake pedal... if it stops I would say it's just your cable and probably safe to drive the car.

 

i thought its 80/20

 

I believe the car uses all 4 but most of the braking goes to the front. But I wouldn't pass a dangerous car to someone else you should at least let the future owner know everything first.

A jackass mechanic/dealer sold me a crappy car, I fixed up the outside to a great condition with tons of work put into the outside but the engine would always die and would never start even with tons of trips to different mechanics. And so I gave it back and told him to give me a refund and don't sell the car to anyone else and the next day he sold it to someone.......

 

The question may not be as stupid as you think. I had the same problem the parking brake on my left rear caliper started sticking I am in the process of replacing it but in the mean time I have lost 50% of the stopping power with the parking brake. As for the regular brakes I am able to lock up all 4 tires just as I always have been.

I would check and see if the cable is binding up on anything. Also I cleaned the parking mechanism on my sticking caliper and the parking brake started working much better.

 

I had a similar situation.

I had both calipers frozen on the rear and one frozen guide pin on the fronts.

my max braked like a charm under normal braking. i did not feel the need to do my brakes even though i saw that the rear rotors were rusted and not being used.


it's under hard braking that these kinds of thing make a big difference.

only the driver side front would smoke, and i couldn't lock the rear wheels at all.

this is VERY Dangerous.

any kind of semi hard braking would result in ridiculous stopping distances, especially in rain or snow.

finally got around to it and replaced the front caliper bracket (b/c i couldn't get the pin out) and replaced the calipers, rotors and pads on the rears.

spent about 350 in parts but it was worth every cent of it.

now my max stops like a new car....

 

and i thought it was 75/25

 

lol, I remember these post...Ahh, Gotta love the pre-15 post .

 

its 79/21

 

Grammar

 

Grammar Ownage ..lol.

 

I would check the parking brake cable. And Jack up the rear end of the car and check for brake stoppage. If brakes stop the wheel then It is something else. Troubleshoot, Troubleshoot, Troubleshoot.....

 

my rear break calipers were locked up and Nissan was going to charge me $2500.

 

Hey guys, I just bought a used 96 Maxima and I am having problems with my rear calipers. After an extensive drive the rears rotors are cool to the touch, however when i use the emergency break they seem to be working fine; this is of course assuming that the emergency brake utilizes the rear brakes. Any ideas on where I should start with this?

 

Yes, the parking brake uses the rear brakes, as on 99% of vehicles (only one or two examples come to mind of those that used the fronts).

First thing I'd do is pull the calipers, press the service brake and see if the pistons extend out at all. Hell, the PO could've completely blocked off the hydraulics to the rear, who knows.

You need to start by taking off the wheels and taking a look.

 

My GF's rear driver side caliper was messed up, no seized but definitely something off, either went through whole inner pad within 3-4k miles or made two sets separate from the backing completely and just fall off. Go to autozone and get yourself a new caliper and new bracket for $90 or just a new caliper, $50, as it comes with new pins and hardware. Don't be a douche and sell someone a a car in such a dangerous state...