To prevent this from being a short novel, here's the bullets... Replaced front driver caliper in August 09 with OEM Reman from CarQuest. Antiseized pad mounts, and all bolts, bled caliper, worked great. About a month ago, it started dragging and squeaking. So, it's definitely that wheel, with the new caliper, as the noise is pretty obvious and the rotor/wheel heat up. The squeak tends to go away either under slightly harder cornering or under any braking pressure at all. Wheel bearing? Draggin calipers somewhat common?
So I finally tore into the thing this evening.... The pins are moving quite freely. However, the pads are worn in a front-outside back-inside fashion. Being that it's the front driver wheel, the wear makes me think that the lower or rear piston, however you look at it, got stuck. I used a C clamp and squeezed it all back together, flipped the existing pads and anti seized the tabs where they slide in the carriers. Drove it around a bit, seemed to be fine noise-wise, but that wheel is still notably warmer to the touch than the other side, so it's still dragging somehow. I guess now I have to find out if that caliper had a decent warranty on it. Unlikely. I have a feeling I might be throwing some new pads in there and hoping it doesn't happen again...
Check to make sure the caliper bracket isn't bent. Yes, it happened on a reman caliper from them not 2 weeks ago.
I'll have to check when I switch to the summer wheelset, but now that you mention it, the inside pad fit way tighter than the outside... I wonder if maybe the pad was jammed and the caliper is fine. It's not impossible, but it'd be the first time I've seen it...
If you pull the caliper you can use compressed air to test the pistons' movement and make sure they are all moving properly. It could be a piston not sliding properly causing uneven contact/wear.
Reman'd calipers pretty much always have a lifetime warranty. and you'll replace them every year or so until you give up and buy something better. I've fallen for it twice. never again. if you ever have a leaking caliper again, get a rebuild kit and rebuild it. you'll spend a 10th of the price (or less) and have a 10x more reliable part.
1 year warranty on the CarQuest reman, direct exchange and he gave me the replacement pads at cost, because the caliper ruined the existing ones.
