mike_n

Hi all, I have a 99 forester with about 83k miles on it. My father bought it new and gave it to me a little over a year ago. He had it up in NY from 99->03, and when I moved out I took it to Michigan until June of this year, when I moved here to FL. A few months ago I started having a problem with the brakes - they started to squeak when I was driving. The squeak went away when I pressed the brake. Eventually one day I took it on the highway and when I pulled up to a tollbooth and rolled down my window, I could smell brake pads, and it seemed the rear-right wheel was squeaking badly, so the next day I took it into the Subaru dealer. They seemed rather hesitant to actually -do- anything. After taking the tires off, they seemed to be surprised at how much rust there was everywhere. In NY we did a lot of our car maintenence (though rarely brake work) so I had a general idea of how things look, but it didn't seem like there was an abnormal amount of rust - I'm simply assuming that this is a difference between cars in NY and FL - they never see snowy roads with sand and salt dumped all over them, and I'm guessing they generally look cleaner underneath. They said the brake pads and rotors looked just fine - they really weren't sure what the cause of the squeak was. I suggested that it seemed like the calipers may not be releasing completely when I took my foot off the brake. It seemed like they didn't want to really take anything apart and examine things because they were afraid of breaking parts. I don't really have much experience dealing with mechanics, as I said growing up we basically did everything ourselves, or took it to a friend. I live in an apartment complex now and don't have the tools or really the space to do it. So, they took the brake pads off and cleaned some of the rust off of the calipers and cleaned the rotors and such, and put everything back together. The squeak was gone and the brake petal felt noticeably better - it felt 'softer' and more correct. After a few weeks, the squeaking started coming back - what I've done is basically been using the brakes lightly as much as possible - I don't drive around very often as I work at home but it seems that if I use the brakes a lot, or the more that I press firmly on them, the more likely it is to squeak when I take my foot off the brake. So, I'd like to take it back to the dealer and see if they can diagnose it further. Someone suggested to me that the caliper sliders may be rusted, and need to be lubricating. How big of a job is this, and how much needs to be disassembled to lubricate them? Would they need to take things apart to the point where they need to bleed the lines again? Is there any kind of schedule for replacing calipers, and how much might a replacement run me per wheel? It also seems like the back plates behind the rotors are rusted to the point where the buildup almost touches the back of the rotor - the rear-left backplate is almost falling apart. Is this something I should be concerned about, and have them replaced? Is it a big deal to have the mechanic remove the rotors to clean the backplate properly? On an amusing note, one of the sales guys came out paid me a visit while I was in the garage - asked me the milage on it and when I said 83k he said 'oh it's time - you should be looking to trade it in for a new one'. He didn't seem pleased when I said 'if it's seen it's life at 83k, you must not have much confidence in your cars' I appreciate any help/advice you guys could lend me Happy Holidays.