Brakes questions

[Skagen9]

Question(s):
In the last year, I had brake calipers fail twice in the front right and once in the left rear wheels. I bought remanufactured calipers, had them installed by an Alfa mechanic, but they leaked and failed and had to be replaced again. The supplier told me he never sees these calipers fail so quickly. I thought maybe my mechanic was improperly installing them and went to another guy for the third go-around. So far, so good on the most recent install. But, I'm hearing a groaning noise that sounds like a frozen caliper, and feeling a slight resistance like you get if you forget to release your emergency brake.
Since I don't use my e-brake and leave the car in first gear when I park, I'm confused. But I have a theory--maybe someone can tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree. In looking under the car, it looks like my exhaust is hanging just enough to touch the e-brake cable. Who knows if it's putting pressure on that cable when the car is driving. Could it be that the exhaust pipe is pushing down and putting tension enough on the cable to engage the e-brake below the car even though it appears released in the interior? Would that constant engaging of the e-brake cause the rear calipers to close slightly? If so, that would explain the groaning and the resistance. And does closing the rear brakes cause some sort of chain reaction via the brake fluid that might also cause the front brake calipers to leak and fail?
Or do I have no idea what I'm talking about?
Any feedback would be most appreciated.

[So Cal Mark]

your description is a very common problem and if the pads are dragging the fluid can overheat. I would imagine your mechanic has been flushing the system, but you never know unless you ask him

[124ADDHE]

Two things:
1- Remove ebrake cable, make sure its not frozen, as they will take torque from the lever but will not always full release. if its ok, lube with white lithium.
2- lube brake sliders every other oil change at least with some high quality synthetic brake grease that takes the heat and does not leak off.


Thats what comes to mind, you can always check to make sure the hydraulic pressure is releasing by opening the bleeder to look for a spurt (use a wrench) which could indicate a mal-adjusted or failed compensator or a internally swollen rubber line.

[vandor]

> I thought maybe my mechanic was improperly installing them

That's hard to mess up, even if they did not flush the old brake fluid the caliper should not fail that soon.

> my exhaust is hanging just enough to touch the e-brake cable.

Very common on Spiders, and usually does not cause a problem, but definitely worth checking out.
Often the exhaust pipe routes RIGHT where the parking brake cable wants to be. It can be router over or under, but it will touch. I've had no long term ill effects from the cable touching the exhaust.

[124JOE]

my brandnew cable burned thru to the metal
because it touches

[coise]

For what it´s worth, I had a similar problem with my rear brakes for a while, until I realize a small detail. When changing the pads make sure that the piston is in the right position, meaning the lines on the pistons should be on the up position.
Once again i´m not a brake specialist but it worked for me.

[124ADDHE]

Good point Coise, thats a must when bleeding.

[TX82FIAT]

I know this may sound a little off. I would not use the emmergency brake unless you are parked on a hill or have an emmergency. Replaced the e-brake cable about a year ago because of the burn through of the 30 year old cable. The adjustment and placement of the cable needs to be just right for the brake to engage and diengage properly. On my car the cable is that much more taught on a hot exhaust if used daily. I park it in gear and have had no issues with rear brakes. On the other hand, I also replaced every component of the braking system from the brake booster through the rebuild calipers so many variables could have contributed to rear braking problems.

[Skagen9]

Wow, that's great, quick, useful information from all. Thanks everybody.