This is why I don't like closed off style wheels.... i can't tell how the brakes are doing.... So I was swapping wheels this weekend and found the following. At first I thought "OK, a seized caliper" but both sides look identical !!!

Is this normal?

 

wow, that stuff looks pretty rusty! how are the fronts? Easiest thing to do is check that the caliper sliders are very clean and lubricated with antiseize.

if it were me, i'd replace the calipers, hardware, pads and especially the rubber brake lines and fluid and go from there.

there's really no good way to figure it out other than disassembly, inspection and reassembly. at that point it's just easier to replace with the new parts.

 

How long was the car sitting before being driven?

 

The longest the car will sit between being driven is probably 3 weeks. Maybe once it sat for a month, but generally it gets used. Even when I don't use it, my girlfriend will use it because her car is too high for her grandma to get into and my e46 is too low haha. During the winter though it gets driven almost every day since I garage my primary car (RWD + no snow tires + New England winter = bad news)

I hope to have access to my friends shop this weekend. Going to try to clean everything & get the rust removed so I can see what the hell is going on back there. Upon initial inspection the pads seem to have plenty of life left... not sure if it would be a good idea to replace them anyway.

Going to try to flush the system also - I have this erie feeling that brake fluid is from 2001 .....

Anyone happen to have the torque specs for the rear calipers?

 

If it had sat for a week then only been driven a mile or so it could still look like that.
On that car I believe the the brake setup is like 70% front and 30% rear that's why it will take a while for it to work the rust off.

 

OK. Yanked everything apart & cleaned it up today. Since it's the rear there is obviously just one piston and it still moves, so not seized.

Everything looks fine so I cleaned it up & put it back together. I have NO clue when the brake fluid is from but simply from looking at the reservoir it dos NOT look good.

I'm going to buy a power bleeder & flush the whole system out and see if that adds some pressure to the system.

 

Hope all goes well.

 

I just did the rear brake pads on my 1998 V70; I had purchased the entire setup and did not need most of it. The rotors were still good- no warping and only surface rust. The main problem was the two pins that the brake pads ride on. They were rusted so bad that
the pads were not able to move at all! After replacing the pins and pads and cleaning the rotors, I have great brakes again. Good luck.......