Hello,
Was hoping someone else has experienced this. I have an 09 with 37k miles and the driver side rotor has really started to smell extremely hot compared to the passenger. So hot sometimes I can smell it while driving at low speeds in cabin. Is there a step by step brake down on how to check for a potential brake caliper failure? I don't have any experience with Brembo brake calipers and was hoping for some direction. Thank you.

 

Symptoms say the brake pads do not leave the rotor.

There can be two reasons:
1. Curved brake caliper guides;
2. The piston (or one of the pistons) does not return to its place. This happens if it is blocked by rust or dirt, or it may be skewed.

In both cases, one procedure is possible:
Raise the machine for easy access to the brake caliper.
Remove the wheel.
Remove the brake pads and visually inspect the brake caliper.
If the problem is in the guides - squeeze the rubber covers and strip the metal. Take a close look at this. You will immediately see curvature or surface damage. Take a closer look, the guides should be parallel to each other. If not, they are crooked.
If it’s a rusty piston, rust is visible on its outer walls. You can try to push it into place and look at its behavior, you will immediately feel a hindrance. But for this you need something like a clamp or a small vise, it is not possible to manually push the piston in.
But, honestly. if I decided to do such a job, I would just buy the most complete brake caliper repair kit and replace all this trifle so as not to fit in 2 times. I want to warn you - if your time and finances allow, give preference to a professional mechanic. Repairing the brake caliper is simple in nature, but laborious in execution. A compressed air compressor is required to extract the piston. In addition, the possibility of injury. I know two professionals who told how they broke their fingers when repairing brakes.

 

As geg says; take them apart and inspect them anything bad should be pretty evident to even an amateur.

Brembo doesn't have slides so it would be sticky pistons.

 

Thank you guys for the input.

 

If it is sticky pistons, you should do a fluid flush. Yeah, only 37K, but 10 years. Betting on crud, here. You might not have to replace anything besides fluid, and cycle the caliper fully.

 

Well, I guess my testing method would be a little different.
1st I would get or borrow one of those hand held temperature guns. Take the car for a spin and get the brakes heated up or until you get that smell again. Then check the temps of the rotors and calipers at several spots. If that one side is several hundred degrees hotter, then you probably have a sticking caliper.
If both sides are around the same temp, then you may have some foreign substance on the rotors and pads that's just burning off.
Grease from a torn CV boot, something you picked up off the road etc. are all possibilities.

 

Took the caliper off yesterday and all pistons are smooth when being pushed back in.. No visible signs of uneven wear on the pads either. Rotor looks to be solid as well.

 

I guess it was this then.

 

Do the pins slide freely? that could also be a problem.

 

If you're talking about the pins on the Brembos, they don't slide, they're stationary. The pads slide on the pins.