My brake caliper seized on the highway Tuesday morning

I was heading to a job site in Austin around 7am when I felt the car pulling hard to the left. Pulled over and the rotor was glowing red, smoke pouring out from the wheel well. Turns out the caliper slide pins were completely rusted and locked up. Had to get it towed 30 miles to a shop and shell out $380 for new calipers and rotors. Anyone else had calipers fail on older trucks without warning?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_sanchez4d ago

Had a caliper seize on my old F150 back in 2018 and it was basically a rolling heater for the rest of the trip lol. I was like "why does my truck smell like a barbecue?" but it was just my rotor cooking itself. Ended up spending $400 at a shop in Houston because I tried to drive it another mile and warped the rotor so bad the wheel was wobbling. The mechanic actually laughed at me when I pulled in, said "you know your brakes are supposed to stop the truck, not set it on fire right?" 😂 Rust is a real pain on older trucks, especially if you live anywhere near the coast. Now I just spray the slide pins with penetrating oil every oil change and pray they don't seize up again.

thea_knight4d ago

Are we sure $400 wasn’t just a shop upcharge for a simple fix?