Dragging caliper

After I got new pads and rotors last fall, I've been having an annoying squeaking from the front passenger brake. It doesn't seem to be grabbing tightly enough to affect driving, but of course it can't be good for the pad nor rotor (and I suspect it's sending bad signals to my tip ECU), and of course is annoying when cruising slowly down our main street or car club gatherings. It's likely just outside my ability as a DIY project, and I'm 150 miles from my regular specialty mechanic. Is this something a 'normal' local (small town) mechanic should be able to handle? I would take it to KellyMoss in Madison where I've had service before, but they recently stopped servicing non-specialty or racing 911s. Does anyone know of good indy Porsche shops in/around Madison?

Trust me, if you have 1 oz of mechanical ability you can do this. Changing pad/rotors are VERY easy on these cars. I would recommend that you try it yourself first by taking the wheel off and doing a visual inspection of the caliper. I would remove it and clean it. Taking the pads out is simple. There are plenty of YouTube videos that are step by step which helps. I would guess something is hanging up causing the noise. What I've done in the past is once the pads are out, clean the caliper then put something thick enough in the caliper between the pistons (something similar to the rotor but thinner but not to thin where the piston comes out. ) so it exposes some of the caliper pistons(s). Push the brake peddle as if you're using the brakes to slow the car. This allows the pistons to clamp down and expose the sides. This is what you want to clean (with old toothbrush & soapy water). REMEMBER to have something not as thick as the rotor but slightly thinner, just enough to expose the piston sides. After cleaning you'll need to push the pistons back in order to get the caliper back on the rotor. 9 out of 10 times this will fix the problem.

So I don't need to remove the brake line? I think an earlier thread suggested some seal needs to be replaced, requiring a fresh fill of brake fluid and line bleeding. If I don't need to do all of that, this can easily be within my ability. Thank you!

If I remember correctly, you are in N. IL. If Barrington is fairly close, give Fischer Motorsports a call. They are an excellent Porsche Indy.

Rick is my primary tech, and did my brakes and rotors last fall when I had him remove the valve body for rebuild. He's awesome. But it's a 2.5 hour drive, and nothing near him if I wanted to wait there while he works on it. I had been using KellyMoss for "same day" simple issues as they're only 1.5 hours away, and from their shop it's a short Uber to a nice local breakfast joint to kill a couple hours while they do the work. Of course they stopped working on client street cars this summer and now focus on custom and race builds.

Fwiw, you can use a hand laser thermometer to measure the temps of your calipers to see if the one in question is extremely hot. Then you know you may need a rebuild. I'll look for the link, but there is a place in CO that specializes in rebuilding Porsche calipers. You take it off and ship to the shop, they rebuild it and even paint it if you like and ship it back. May be an option. You can probably do the same with Rick for a cheaper price.

I did buy a handheld laser/thermometer. Haven't unpacked it yet after I did do a feel test, and the one wheel does get slightly warmer than the rest, but it didn't approach "hot." The rhythmic squeaking tone suggests that the calipers are just barely touching the rotors. Just enough to make the annoying sound - and I suspect enough 'brake' signal to throw off the ECU shift inputs when it gets warmed up (the only time the odd 2nd to 3rd shift seems to happen, and only since the new pads and rotors).

Quotes source post: 19576863

No you don't. Not with what I explained. The seals I think you're referring to are the seals on the pistons themselves but if they're not bad why mess with them....and if you do you might as well go for a full rebuild of the caliper then....but before doing that I would give them a good cleaning first as they are probably very dirty from use and getting hung up on the retraction stroke from the dirt. If you clean them and they still hang up then we move onto the next option.

I recommend removing one caliper at a time, pull the pads off, apply brakes slowly so piston move toward each other without popping them out, get solvent and toothbrush and thoroughly clean around the piston and caliper and reinstall, only do one brake caliper at a time.

Agree with the guys, if you have the skills, exhaust as much as you can to verify the ussue, before spending the money on a rebuild. But with that being said, eventually every caliper will need to rebuilt someday. I have a brembo GT big brake kit on my 996, and have had my calipers rebuilt about 10 years ago. I am close to doing it again. No issues with the pistons and sticking just yet. But it's coming the more I track the car the car (heat) and the more I drive around town in crappy weather (road crap).

Quotes source posts: 19576863, 19577300

F.Thumb, there are seals and dust boots, refer to picture below. Cleaning around the pistons, the dust boots and the bit of the pistons that is exposed between boot and pad, is what is described by Viper1000.

Just as a side note, don't use any harsh chemical near the dust boot and especially don't use brake fluid! Rarely do the piston seals ever go bad (unless you track!) causing what you describe. Clean them up and report back! Mike

No acetone, no WD40, just dish soap and water, correct?

yeah you can use some car soap or dish soap. You should not see the side of your actual piston as the dust boot should cover it. I think what some are saying is to pop off your dust boot to clean the sides of the piston. Im 50/50 on that to be honest. If your dust boot pops out of the caliper seat (you'll see the ring) just clean the caliper, let it dry, then use a q-tip and apply to the outside of the dust boot with the hairspray. This will allow you to re-seat the dust boot on the caliper with your fingers. (it sounds scary but it is not). What you do not want to do is pop your piston out! if that happens you will be doing a rebuild (its actually not bad at all) Racing calipers do not have the pesky dust boot. However they clean their calipers after every race. With no dust boots you would see the shiny piston as it pushes against the brake pad. Im out on vacation for a week but if you run into any issues just hit me up. Id be glad to walk you through it. You've got this! Mike

I'll start looking for good How To videos this coming week.

Not sure what all this talk about cleaning under the dust boot is for 20 + year old calipers. We are not talking about newer calipers on a race car. 'never time to do it right always time to do it twice' is what I use to tell the guys that worked for me when doing something half a$$ and getting call backs... Do it right, its not hard. Take them apart, clean/blow out all the smegma you're sure to find inside 20 yo calipers. Use brake clean and compressed air. Install new seals and dust boots, bleed correctly and call it day. Rebuilding them is not hard, or expensive. you don't have to paint them. jmo

Quotes source post: 19578473

This is the way,..

Rebuild kits can be purchased here. https://autobrakesolutions.com/pages...h_all~in_front

Ditto if you want high temp.

One possibility that I have not seen mentioned in this thread is the that the metal shims behind the brake pads might be the culprit. The shims are adhered to the pads, and they help reduce brake squeal. However, sometimes the shims can seperate from the pad resulting in unusual pad friction on the rotor. It happened to my car. I even rebuilt the offending caliper before properly diagnosing the real problem. Simply removing the shims solved the problem. I too saw slightly higher brake temps on that wheel.

Quotes source post: 19584103

How did you figure this out? Did you have to remove the caliper to see it? Was it obvious? The squeaking is slighter now, but can still be heard when slow rolling near any side wall or row of cars.

No need to remove the caliper. Just remove the pads from the caliper and inspect the shims. Each pad should have a shim attached to it. However, a loose shim can create problems. If you do discover loose shims, simply discard them. They do do not affect braking performance.