The amount of heat buildup is a hard thing to gauge but if there is a big enough difference that you can tell, I would start by causing the car to skid on sand or gravel at around 10 or 15 miles per hour to see if both sides will lock up. If only the hotter side locks up, try bleeding the caliper on the left side. Use a helper to slowly push the brake pedal, but NO MORE THAN HALF WAY TO THE FLOOR. If no fluid comes out, that hydraulic circuit is being blocked by a valve in the master cylinder. That occurs when one side doesn't build pressure as fast as the other side, as in when a hose pops or someone pedal-bled the system previously. That can also occur just from replacing the pads, then pumping the pedal to work the caliper pistons back out, (which is part of every brake job). You just have to be careful to not push the pedal more than half way. It's only GM cars that have the valve but any master cylinder can be damaged by pushing the pedal to the floor. That's from the gunk and debris that build up in the bottoms of the bores where the seals don't normally travel. Pushing the pedal to the floor runs those seals over that debris and can rip them.
You should not have a pulling problem from the brakes even if one is working harder. Because the front calipers are on different hydraulic circuits, alignment angles have been modified to offset the brake pull that would normally occur when one side only isn't working. You will typically see a little wobble in the steering wheel when you apply the brakes but not anything even close to causing a loss of control. Only Chrysler vehicles have the suspension geometry perfected so there is no hint of a wobble or brake pull.
If both sides skid it is likely there is no problem. If a caliper or its piston are sticking, the brake will get so hot you can't touch the wheel. It can get hot enough to melt plastic wheel covers. We can discuss that when the time comes.
If none of the tires will skid, that's due to the anti-lock brake system doing its thing. The tires will usually still lock up once you get below a specific speed, typically around 3 - 9 miles per hour. You can remove one of the two fuses for the ABS Computer if you really are determined to make it skid.
SPONSORED LINKS
Monday, October 22nd, 2012 AT 3:08 AM