Earlier today, I made a U-turn at a fairly large intersection. I was second in line in the left turn lane and couldn't see beyond the car in front of me. When he had an opening and went, I did too. I figured if he had enough room to make the left hand turn, I had enough time to make a U-turn, especially since he had pulled into the middle of the intersection already. My mistake.

Anyway, he was actually darting across oncoming traffic which left 3 cars bearing down on me at about 50mph. So, I did what anyone else would do; I gunned it. The VDC caught my skid and prevented any Dukes of Hazzard style antics but also scrubbed off enough speed to **** off the guy behind me. But, I digress.

In my exhuberance, I think I locked up the rear driver's side brake. It didn't feel right the rest of the way home. When I let off the gas, it seemed to deccelerate more rapidly than normal. When I got home, I felt near each wheel and found that three of them were warm, while the fourth was hot.

Any idea what I'm looking at here? Stuck caliper? Bad VDC component? Something else? I need to drive 20 miles to work in the morning and I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It's still drivable, but I'm worried I'll overheat and warp a rotor or something.

Just thought of something else. After the U-turn incident, I had the slip light blink on while making a left hand turn. I was accelerating briskly, but nowhere near breaking-the-tires-loose briskly. I'm not sure if that helps narrow the cause down or not.

Thanks for the help, and yes, in the future I will look both ways before crossing the street.

 

I drove to work and back today. The brake caliper is definitely not releasing all the way. The driver's side rear brake was very hot when I arrived at work and again when I got home this afternoon.

I'm letting it cool now and then I'll tear it down to inspect the caliper. If it looks salvagable, I'll probably rebuild it if I can find a rebuild kit.

Has anyone attempted that before? I did it several years ago and it wasn't that difficult. Hopefully, I won't run into any strange stuff on the G35.

 

Hopefully if you take apart the brake you can push the brake piston back in and then put it all back together. Might want to change the pads while you have it apart.

 

Apparently, Infiniti owners don't work on their own vehicles around here. I tried several auto parts stores but couldn't find a rebuild kit. I would have tried a dealership but they were closed. Regardless, I stripped down the caliper and extracted the piston. It was stuck pretty good. There was a lot of grit in the cylinder and the o-ring was partially folded over.

It took a while but I managed to remove the o-ring and the dust boot. They didn't want to come out but eventually came loose. I cleaned everything up with brake cleaner and then reassembled the caliper.

I had to reuse the o-ring and dust boot, but they were actually in pretty good shape. Putting it back together was a bit of a challenge though.

After bolting everything back together and bleeding the brakes, I took the car for a test drive. The brakes no longer drag and it didn't heat up. I can coast again!

I'll probably be taking it all apart again though. The brake pads look like they've seen a lot of heat. They work fine, but just to be safe I think I'll replace them when I have a chance.