Hello all- I've been having strange (possibly unrelated) brake problems on my 95 Legacy and haven't come across anything real similar in this group, so i thought i'd create a post.
1) Brake proportioning seems off - my rear brakes have always done almost all the work it seems. I haven't needed to change front pads in a few years / ~30,000 miles, while the rears wear much quicker. Also confirmed by the amount of brake dust on wheels!2) After having a pad rubbing problem on left rear caliper, (very uneven pad wear / audible rubbing noise) i replaced both rear calipers and rotors using parts from Autozone last year. This fixed the problem for a while, until I noticed yesterday that it looks like i now have a sticky left rear pad/caliper AGAIN! I heard faint high pithced noise that went away when I touched the brakes, and the wheel and bearing were very hot to the touch when I pulled over. I found that if I punched the brake pedal just right while driving it would release the pad on some trips (wheel was cool to touch after stopping) but not others. Seems like a sticky piston, but these are NEW calipers! I should mention that the left rear rotor is slightly warped, but not outside of specification (.003").
anyone have any ideas? could these problems both stem from a bad proportioning valve? did I just buy crappy calipers?
Incidentally i called the local Subaru dealer a while ago and he had no helpful information (not surprising). said that he never heard of proportioning valves going bad.