Brakes pulling

[Jmancuso88]

Today on my way home from work on the highway had to apply brakes hard. Had a pretty Decent pull to the right. I know there are many things that could cause this but once I got off the highway I got on a back road got up to speed and slammed the brakes hard a few times and then it seemed like it wasn’t pulling. What could this narrow it down to?

 

[Bazz270]

Could be anything from control arm bushings to brake caliper guide pins siezed

Take the wheels off and perform brake and bushings inspection

 

[J_C]

It did it once but now doesn't do it? That doesn't narrow it down to anything, except maybe the stretch of road you were on had some gravel, water, oil, etc making it slicker so the ABS or stability control let up braking on that wheel and as a result the vehicle pulled to the opposite direction of the side that the wheel with less traction was on.

If you have a check engine or brake or traction control light or error on the dash, pull the diagnostic codes. If not, either do some more testing, or don't , or pull the wheels off and examine the brakes.

Has any brake work been done in the last few tens of thousands of miles or years? You could have uneven or excessive pad wear, rotor wear, or especially a sticking caliper, or collapsing brake hose.

 

[Trainmaster]

Check what Bazz says. On this age Explorer the weak suspension points are the lower ball joints and the upper control arm bushings.

 

[Jmancuso88]

It did it once but now doesn't do it? That doesn't narrow it down to anything, except maybe the stretch of road you were on had some gravel, water, oil, etc making it slicker so the ABS or stability control let up braking on that wheel and as a result the vehicle pulled to the opposite direction of the side that the wheel with less traction was on.

If you have a check engine or brake or traction control light or error on the dash, pull the diagnostic codes. If not, either do some more testing, or don't , or pull the wheels off and examine the brakes.

Has any brake work been done in the last few tens of thousands of miles or years? You could have uneven or excessive pad wear, rotor wear, or especially a sticking caliper, or collapsing brake hose.

I just bought it a few weeks ago but it looks like the passenger rear caliper has been replaced and all the pads look pretty new so not sure how long ago anything was done. It did not just happen once it will happen just about every time at highway speed but if I slam the brakes a few times it seems like they even out

 

[J_C]

All rotor wear looks even? If you happen to have an infrared temperature gun, you could do a series of stops then measure rotor temp to see if there's a difference. Otherwise if all else fails, I'd think about pulling the calipers off and checking the slider rails for excessive corrosion and slide pins for same. Possibly last brake job was just a pad slap and they didn't re-lube the pins so they got all dried out and crusty.

I'd also check all suspension parts for play.