PhilW

just heard from my mechanic that my rear calipers were stuck and had been for some time. good catch, as i was about to drive to the poconos, then to toronto for the week. anyway, have to fix, but was curious as to why this may have happened and if it's common.
thanks

98 2.8QMS

RKA

Brake pad change?

Two things...
1. If the pads wear down a lot, the pistons will hyper extend themselves, and it's a bit of a PITA to push them back. The calipers aren't frozen, but a mechanic might make the mistake of assuming they are.

2. When replacing the rear pads, the rear pistons need to be pushed, AND turned to retract them. That's a somewhat unique requirement of Audi's and VW's. Some mechanics who don't know this might assume there is something wrong if they are only pushing and the piston won't retract.

Though a caliper failure isn't unheard of...two at the same time is unheard of. Something is fishy here. If you're calipers were really frozen, both rear rotors would be blue from overheating, and you would smell the nasty smell of burning brakes everywhere you drove. Odds are, you haven't experienced either, have you?

PhilW

these guys are pretty good and work on all makes of foreign cars, so i don't have any reason to believe they are trying to pull anything over on me. however, i haven't noticed any smells. he said that the rotors are almost worn down to the bolts, which sounds like a problem to me. will be the first to admit that i know NOTHING about maintaining a car. just gas, oil, and leave the rest to the mechanic.

RKA

This just doesn't make sense to me. Two calipers wouldn't both fail at the same time. Without looking at it, it's hard to say, but I'm pretty certain you need to ask a few more questions, or go down to the shop, and see what they are talking about. It might pay for you to roll your sleeves up. Keep my other post printed out and in your back pocket, while they explain the problem to you.

bsewall

One dealer told me they were stuck, my warrantied dealer said they're fine, but got them to replace one of them. It still feels like it's dragging a lot of times.

IIRC ECSTuning.com sells rear caliper carriers for about $50/side.

PhilW

found out it was only one caliper that was stuck, though they will replace both. on occasion i've backed up with the ebrake on, but don't think i've ever driven anywhere with it engaged. oh well. i'm sure this is the first time i've had the rear brakes serviced and i have 95k on the car. now i'm dealing with another issue. thanks for the input.

phil