Brake calipers, brake pads, and brake rotors are the three main essential components of any disc braking system, and only by working together can the braking system perform correctly. The brake calipers use the kinetic energy produced by the press of the pedal of the brake and convert it into hydraulic pressure to squeeze the brake pads against the rotors to make the wheel stop.
There are basically two types of modern brake calipers that are in use-
- Fixed brake calipers
- Floating brake calipers.
A fixed brake caliper is generally mounted over a portion of the brake rotor with pistons extending. By pressing the brake pedal with equal pressure on the brake pads, these calipers hold onto the brake pads. These types of brake calipers are mostly used in high-performance vehicles.
A floating brake caliper generally applies pressure to the brake pads with the help of pistons applying pressure directly and pins on the assembly of the outboard brake pad. Due to their nature, floating brake calipers are mostly found in lightweight passenger vehicles.
Things that can go wrong with your calipers-
Because of their simple design features and little to no need of regular maintenance, brake calipers can run for a long time before it shows any signs of damage. But this doesn’t mean that they cannot fail under normal driving conditions. The most common reason for replacing brake calipers is the untimely failure of pistons, which gets seized and stuck in the bore of the caliper and restricts the caliper to perform properly. This can result in increased stopping time, uncanny behavior of brakes, and abnormality in braking while trying to stop.
What to do if the disc brake piston gets seized up?
Often time due to several reasons, the calipers can fail to perform as the pistons can get seized up. There are steps that you can follow to adjust the brake calipers-
- Try jacking up the suspected wheel and spinning it with your hand, if it doesn’t, then remove the wheel and check the brake pads.
- Check whether there is any gap between the brake pads and the brake disc on either side and check for the seized piston.
- If the piston is stuck, dismantle and clean the unit with the help of a professional. Dirt, dust, and corrosion can often cause the calipers to jam. Adjust them by recalibrating them.
In this regard, Brake calipers from Crossdrilledrotors.ca can be your go-to option.
