Pulling to the left when braking

Either left side(front or rear) calipers are hanging up, or frozen. Either that or either one of the rights are leaking fluid, or possibly right rear isn't self-adjusting the emergency brake. Jack the car up and see if any leaks. Turn the wheels and see if one is hanging up, that is my bet.

Hi Danny,

I know that there is no leak as I have looked multiple times under the car, however, I am not sure what you mean the calipers "are hanging up", can you clarify and how do I know if the rear is a self adjusting emergency brake or not.

I replaced the hard line on the rear right because it was chaffing against the muffler and leaking oil and then I have bled it multiple times and as far as I know there was no more air there, do you think I need to do more just on that side?

How do I check if the right side is frozen or not.

Hope you can help.

Thanks,

Eddy

If it pulls to the left and you worked on the right, common sense tells you the right isn't working correctly.

Have someone step on the brake and try to turn each wheel. If you can turn any wheel with the brakes applied lightly, you still have air in the line. Now conversely let off the brake and try to turn the wheels. If any are dragging, you have a caliper hanging up. Also, test the e-brake, you may have to adjust the emergency brake cables so that each wheel grabs at the same point of travel in the cable.

My money is air in the line, since that is what you messed with. Would have been nice to know that up front rather than after the fact.....Get some fresh fluid, and start with the farthest, RR, then LR, then RF, then LF. Repeat until all the old fluid and air are out of the lines. It really needs to be changed every two years, in fact my Spyder is due some brake work this spring. The fluid absorbs moisture over time and turns black and can then corrode your master cylinder and calipers. If you know all this fine but so many people DON"T change their fluid and end up with leaky brake systems, replacing parts for no reason when they could have changed out some cheap fluid ad kept on going....

If a caliper(wheel cylinder) is hanging up it grabs(squeezes) but doesn't fully release. The pads(shoes) on that corner get hot, glazed, then the fluid boils on that one wheel and the brake stops working, then no brakes on that wheel.

A quick check is to go drive the car for 10 miles or so with normal braking, then stop and immediately walk around the car and feel the wheel hubs.  You'll know right away when you find the one that has a dragging brake.

My car did the same thing. The car would stop but pull to the left .The left front wheel was always warm/ hot.

I replaced the front calipers because I thought they were "hanging up".

No improvement.

I asked here what might be wrong.

Turns out that brake hose had collapsed. When they do the brake shoes/ pads will not retract from the rotors/shoes  making them hot and ineffective.

There is no outward sign of  problem as the hoses collapse inward.

Two new brake hoses[ 8$ ea Pep Boys] solved the problem. The old ones were 12years old....

 .Good Luck, Tom

Yup Tom, brake hoses can and do collapse and cause that problem. Sorry I forgot to mention it, but that is what makes these forums great! Also, good on the ten minute drive, the warm one will tell you where your problem is.....

Thanks for all the pointers. I thought I have bled all the air out, using the method that Danny described, so far no difference.  But I will do it again and flush all the old brake fluid. I will also be paying attention to all the points mentioned above. My car is on its 7th year from new, is it possible that the brake hose is collapsing? I drive it almost every weekend about 60-80 miles. 

I will check the temperature of each disc using the infra red thermometer to see if one side is dragging or not

Eddy

If you're not feeling the tug through the steering wheel, then the problem is likely in the rear. The common rear caliper is a sliding type. Besides the other checks above, you'll also want to make sure the slider pins are working freely and not seized. If the sliders or piston is seized, you will get unbalanced braking too.

A good way to look for these things is to pull the caliper off off the mount but leave the lines connected. Check that the slider is working by hand, possibly re-greasing the slider pins if necessary. If you've previously done DannyP's tests, you should have a good idea if one of the calipers isn't working normally. But to double check the pistons, stick some 1/2" to 3/8" thick (same as disc thickness) plywood sheet or other flat object between the pads to prevent the piston from blowing out and step on the brake. Check that the piston has moved outward as expected. You may have to squeeze the piston back in the bore again before you can refit it on the disc.

As others have said, if the rubber hoses have gone bad they can cause restrictions, complete blockage, or act as one-way valves in one direction or the other. Unfortunately, you can't rely on the fact that they pass fluid when bleeding as definitive evidence they are good. If you haven't found evidence of problems with the calipers, I'd probably just replace the rubber lines all around.

To all :

Thank you for all the tips and instructions, I adjusted the e-brake so that it is even left and right, then I replaced the brake fluid and bled all 4 wheels and I believe it solved the problem. I am happy now.

Thanks again and Happy New Year 2014

Eddy