Wheels on right side of car are HOT

stop driving half on the curb???

is it rubber, rotors, and what are the areas you were driving in??? ie road conditions.

if it were bearings, you would here scraping and squealing, and it is inlikely that two wheels would go at the same time. alignment??? fat passenger on that side??? moving lumber in your dino???

 

Stuck caliper time . . . since it's an "F" car it's most likely time to rebuild the calipers. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news but on most vehicles, EXCEPT those with inboard brakes, the wheel helps dissipate the excessive brake heat.

Stuart

 

this is true, the campagnolo wheels on my pantera where magnesium and designed as 'rolling heat sinks' with rubber. my thought was going to be stuck caliper, proportioning valve.

 

I would agree with stuck pistons in the calipers. I don't think it is the proportioning valve, because, it regulates pressures front and back, not side to side.

 

this is an italian car, they coulda put in in sideways 'hey luigi, this look ok to you?'

 

Are the right side wheels in the sun???
Are you cornering so hard in a tight left had circle that the car's weight is being born by the right hand set of wheels???
Demonic possesion comes to mind.
Or maybe the PO had the right side calipers and or wheel bearings submerged in water and things have kind of corroded to the point where stuff s going to He**.

On a more serious note, does the car pull to the right - badly??
(we are excluding tire pressure or totally scre*ed alignment here).
When you jack up the car is anything lose on the right side - maybe something is loose on the left side - sorry, had a fajita for dinner and my brain is a bit loose.
If I recall correctly, the hydraulics are divided front /rear not side to side and calipers don't stick in pairs usually, certainly not with f/r divided hydraulics.
Let's hear more details??

chris

 

I assume you have compared to the left side?

If there was a stuck caliper you would have known by driving the car as it definitely would have pulled to one side. Heat in this case is generated by friction ... which slows the wheel.

I would jack the wheels off the ground and spin them by hand and make sure all rotate easily. Check the calipers, etc. and if nothing wrong forget about it.

Pete

 

If a floating caliper isn't really floating anymore, you'll notice a pull under braking, but that might be masked by an alignment issue.

Alignment problems will heat up the tires which will eventually heat the rims. You should also see indications in the tread wear, unless this is a recent issue. (Hit any curbs, lately? Had any work done recently?)

In the silly causes department; you might want to R&R the wheels, just to make sure they weren't put on crooked -- which would be hard to do, but if the wheels wobble as they turn, that would be bad. You've checked that the lug nuts are tight?

 

I would guess the calipers also.

 

Why would both the front and rear calipers be stuck at the same time, generating the same amount of heat, and only on one side, not front-to-rear?

I'm skeptical about the stuck caliper answer.

I'll be really curious to see what fpb finds.

--Matt

 

friction=heat
enough friction=pulls to one side
sticky caliper = friction = potential for pull

1 sticky caliper (does not)= two hot wheels

check tire pressures? bad rubber? (it happens)

chance of two sticky calipers on one side of the car all of the sudden enough to cause heat but no pull, 1,000,000:1

front wheel drive car with exhaust going down the right side could be venting enough to cause some heat, not the whole side of the car would get hotter. this happened on a friend's vette, but not specifically to the tires.

really, take it to a mechanic...

 

I had a "sticky" piston in the front caliper of my TR. I found it during a general inspection of the brake pads. The car did not pull at all, since the it wasn't that hard. However, I was not able to push the piston back.......the other 3 where OK.......but, I still had the caliper rebuilt, with SS pistons.

Considering the fact that there are 4 pistons per wheel, it only takes one to add enough friction to heat up the wheel. So there is a one chance in 4 of this happening to any wheel........probably just a coincidence that it happened on the same side.

Just my opinion!

 

You though have no idea or not whther your wheels were hot or not ... as you did not check.

IMO if the pistons are stuck enough to create enough heat to heat the wheel then there would have to be considerable friction (remember a brake disc is designed to shread heat) thus I would imagine some sort of pulling.

I remember years ago getting a flat tyre and the wheel was SOOOOO hot I had trouble getting it off!!!! ... lets just say that tyre was fncked!

The other thing we have not discussed is wheel bearings ... could they be so bad that the increased rolling friction is causing heat ... probably not.

Anyway just do a full corner check on all 4 corners ... and don't presume anything!

Pete

 

this is like doing a prostate exam over the phone.

 

Good one! (How much is that per minute?)

I'm really curious to see what the cause is...

 

I used to get smart with people...and say "hold the phone a bit closer to the problem, and I'll have a closer look"......

now it's possible with camera phones! Shut me up for a while, which is no mean feat!

 

Maybe too low tire pressure? the wheel bearing sounds like a good possibility as I could see one side being damaged (potholes and such)
Ducting for brake cooling? Rotor condition?

I think the calipers sticking would cause a pull as others have said and also quite a pronounced brake overheat smell.

Could it be that the hot side is normal and the other side is just too cool?

Have the rotors been replaced? some are directional and if incorrect one is installed It can cause overheat.

Check the bearings and rotor condition/type IMO.

Best regards, Jim

 

SOMETIMES stuck calipers cause the vehicle to pull but not ALWAYS. Even slightly draging brakes can cause significant heat and don't allow for sufficient heat dissapation. I won't get into an arguement over this as I really don't care who believes me or not; it has just been the most common cause in my experience, especially in vehicles that aren't driven too frequently.

Stuart

 

Very true, that is possible. But I believe you would still smell the pads.

best regards, Jim

 

Wasn't Beethoven DEAF???

 

So... Did the mechanic agree on the symptoms; did he think that the wheels on the right hand side were indeed running hot?