MacGyver

No more suggestions? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller? Beuller?

ahrmike

I'm under the impression that if you can spin the tires by hand, its fine? Try it when its warm though - thats the main point of this...if the brake booster is broken, it WONT hold pressure until you start the car anyway - you probably dont even have to drive the car if that is the problem - just start it up, wait a bit, and then try spin the wheels. If the wheels are spinning by hand (with a little bit of resistance? any resistance? just noises?) I doubt its locking up the tires, and I doubt it has any problems...maybe the pads are just rattling around, causing the noise? When you installed the pads did you put the grease behind the brake pads to prevent vibration?

Also, when you did your brakes did you change rotors? pads? Maybe they're the wrong size so you gotta wear them in a bit...?

When you spin the tire, does it have resistance ALL the way? (a little resistance? or are you straining with all your might to spin it?) or does it grab every so often?

-edit-

Just fyi, in case you didnt know, the brake booster uses engine vacuum to assist you with brakes...so if you dont start the car the booster doesnt see vacuum, which wont cause the lockup if it IS locking the tires up.

VAD

If the inner linings of your brake hoses are collapsing, they can prevent fluid from flowing back away from the calipers when you release the brake pedal. This would cause your pads to drag on the rotors, create a grinding sound, and heat the rotors to extremes. If your hoses are original from 2000, I'd replace them asap.

MacGyver

VAD, the lines are Goodridge stainless steel braid/kevlar, so I doubt they're collapsing.



ikey, you may have missed the part where I said the rotors are getting extremely hot within less than a mile of movement. I can spin the wheels by hand when it's on jackstands, but they're not freewheeling as they should be... there's a constant drag across the entire circumference of the wheels, not just in one spot (so not a warped rotor). Same rotors, same pads.

ahrmike

Hey Mac, I'm really confused at the moment. What if: 1) You run the car on while its on jackstands, and then apply the brakes a few times...and then check the wheels. Do they rotate the same as before?

If they dont, something from the caliper to the booster is broken

if they stay the same, its a caliper/rotor/pad problem...

My other thought is: What if your rotors and brake pads dont like each other? If they're not OEM sometimes manufactures dont exactly use the same specs, and something might be over/undersized. Ive had a pair of brake pads that were just too fat to fit between the caliper and rotor..

Hope things get fixed soon.