While trying to diagnose a squeak under the truck I decided to take it up to the shop and have them peel the tires off and take a look at the brakes, rotors etc. To my disbelief the calipers had actually warped into the rotors and the rotors were almost impossible to move. They had to replace the calipers, brake pads and turn the rotors at a cost of $465...Is this common? I have never in my life seen calipers warp like that.

 

it certainly isn't uncommon. one of the msot common cause is overtightening the lug-nuts.
**EDIT** Wait a sec, warped calipers? I misread and htought you were just talking about warped rotors. i haven't heard of warped calipers before.

 

You read right buddy, the calipers were actually warped or bent in on both sides pinching the rotors and almost preventing them from rotating...Guessing my gas mileage should improve though!

Anyone else?

 

Might have something to do with your lift. I have never heard of warped calipers, damn that really sucks.

I don't think it was a problem, because there would have been other postings here, if it was.

 

I'll tell ya I would not have believed it unless I saw it, you had to actually put two hands on the rotor or threads to turn the rotors.

 

I think what happened was that the pads were so worn down they were gouging into the rotors causing the caliper drums to press up against the rotors. There is simply no way to warp a caliper, it may be not good and not retracting but warped i'd find another mach. soon. I just did my 96 explorer all new brakes, rotors, front and rear, new e-brake shoes (fun wow) and it cost only 265.00 (myself). I would have bnever had the rotors turned chances are they were at there limit or are now. I wish you luck with it but i've been here for many years and have never heard of warped calipers.....

 

I imagine it was up on the lift, correct? Any possibility they jammed something between the brake pedal and seat, to fool him? I have NEVER, EVER, heard of a warped caliper. No way they can get that hot??,,,,98

 

I took a look for myself, and another look when he happened to have the new caliper "in-stock", but these guys have done alot of work for me on several vehicles and have always been real good people. Maybe I got hosed but if that was the case my own eyes deceived me. The money is spent, and I ain't getting it back but I did expect that with all the people on this site at least one other might have had the same problem....makes ya wonder, with those odds I should've bought a friggin lotto ticket! Thanks for the feedback.

 

i've seen stuck calipers and brake hoses that fail internally and make it hard to turn the wheels after a good stopping.

hmmm only way i can think of maybe bending a caliper would be if the slide pins were so frozen in place and pads wore down enough that you would have to really pound on the pedal to bend them. i did see a caliper mounting ear break off on the rear of a blazer once. dug into the wheel and flipped the axle up lifting the right rear about 6 inches. looked like it got rear ended but there was no body damage.

 

I'll have to agree with Mr Bentwrench. In all of the brake jobs I've done, I've never seen a warped caliper. I've seen more warped rotors than I care to remember. I've seen calipers sawed through by rotors, I've seen frozen calipers, I've seen calipers that came off and got eaten by wheels, but never a warped one. Sorry.

 

I HAD TO READ THIS TWICE BECAUSE I THOUGHT I READ IT WRONG.
THER IS NO WAY TO WARP YOUR CALIPER. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU VEHICLE TO GENERATE THAT MUCH HEAT TO THE CALIPER AND NOT HAVE YOU VEHICLE TORCH UP.
I HAVE SPENT 15 YEARS HELPING OUT MY BROTHER INLAW IN HIS SHOP ON AND OFF. I HAD TO CALL HIM TO SEE WHAT HE THOUGHT.
HE SAID THE SAME THING. PRETTY IMPOSSIBLE.
ANY CHANCE YOU HAD FRONT END DAMAGE IN AN ACCIDENT?

 

Q: How did you get to this point without getting weird vibrations when braking? Particularly at highway speeds? Unless the same exact warpage happend to each side in the exact same manner, I imagine you would have definitley felt something.

I too have never heard of warped calipers...

Weird...