So in a last ditch effort I greased the slides on my rear calipers today in hopes of fixing my sticky caliper issue (still assumed to be causing vibration during med-braking). Didn't solve the issue but I now know which caliper was sticking. (not the one with a frozen bleeder valve that the dealer said could only be fixed by replacing the entire caliper on of course)

I caught that the e-brake cable was just hanging there and not tight in the loop like the other side. Also the pads weren't as worn either... the pivot the brake cable pulls on (that thing with the spring at the top of the calipers in the image below) was frozen in place. I drenched it with liquid wrench and banged on it with a rubber mallet until it freed up and moved some. I now have a significantly more effective e-brake but I'm still getting fairly heavy vibration when braking. Is there a chance this solved the problem but my pads and or rotor are already ruined

What is the correct fix for this? I'm assuming a new caliper would do it but is this something that may be fixed for less money and effort by rebuilding the e-brake mechanism or something?

I can't bleed the other rear brake due to the frozen bleeder, will I be forced to replace both calipers as a result?

 

Vibration indicates warped rotor(s), nothing to do with ebrake or faulty calipers. Do you feel the vibration in the front or the rear?
As for the frozen bleeder, you can only know if the caliper needs replacing after you've twisted the bleeder off without removing it. Soak it in PB blaster and hope.
Non-worn pads sounds like a frozen piston - they shouldn't really be affected by the ebrake.

 

Typicaly true, but braking vibration was unaffected by replacing all rotors and pads. (Also replaced front wheel bearing hubs due to a theory involving loading on the front wheels during braking that was convincing but completely wrong)

 

I recently had the right rear on mine replaced....
Was actually pretty easy to tell if it was the cable for the e-brake or the caliper on the car....
Due to time constraints, dropped into Greasysgarage...
Was getting the fronts done...and asked them to check the back..suspected the right rear was sticky...
Had uneven pad wear...
Took about 5 minutes of playing with it...simply pull the e-brake handle and release...the check the slack in the cable at the caliper.... And the see if you can still get travel after the cable is slack on the caliper...hard to explain....but seeing it do it on one side but not the other, made sense...
Swapped it out in about 20 minutes (Greasysgarage keeps spare calipers on the shelf...mini even makes you special order them!!)...so ended up getting a full brake job front and back...I wasn't going to cheap out and have noisy brakes from doing rear pads but keeping the rotors due to some ridges in my case....and all is good.

 

Vibration might result from excess heat due to a worn caliper....if the rotor warps/pad deposits....
But don't jump to conclusions....maybe the vibration is from a bent rim....

 

Once again good idea but swapped the wheels and problem still there(I have summer & winter sets)
Why doesn't anybody believe a sticky caliper is the issue? As I said earlier the pivot the ebrake tugs on was completely frozen. It would not respond to thee brake lever. That's not right. Having the ebrake frozen partially on is going to do something right?

Also wouldn't a bent rim manifest vibration all the time not just during braking?

I've followed enough false leads on this issue I just want to make sure I get it right this time...

 

Hey schr5530,

I would like to know what is going on as well. My '05 R53 is blowing through rear brake pads in 15-16k miles. Evenly, but they are being consumed.

I was underneath the car today and had someone pull my e-brake and the mechanism works fine. Clicks and locks the caliper and then it is released and all appears to be well on both sides.

I have a torn piston boot on the right rear caliper. Would both calipers go at the same time? Both sides wear evenly but the mileage between pad changes is horrendous.