the outer bearing is good. repacked it as well.

with the tire off i push in the inner pad in as far as it will go. i quickly spin the rotor and it makes a good full rotation. when the rotor stops i spin it again. on my third spin (no this is not the wheel of fortune) the pads have retracted to the point where the wheel stops spinning. and my attempt to spin a four time brings only the ability to make a 1/4 rotor rotation while actually moving the rotor by hand the entire time.

with the tire on i can spin the tire one full rotation.

is this normal for vettes? is there this much normal drag?

mark v

bump!

There is much more drag with the vette brakes than the Chrysler, or newer GM for that matter. Then newer brakes have a specially designed seal to retract the pistons a tiny bit to prevent drag. This is done to improve fuel mileage.

The Vette has springs behind each piston to maintain contact with the rotors. This make less travel of the pedal, something good on a performance car.

Two very different concepts in brake design. So the newer cars will run cooler than our C3s. The front brakes are going to be about twice as hot as the rear of a C3. If that's about right you are okay. If they are a three or four times hotter, there could be a problem.

The pistons are not sticking or they would not travel back out. Make sure all 4 pistons in each caliper are doing this. Just one can make them hot.

Also check for contamination on the pads or rotors. A compound on the surface can increase drag and friction, creating heat.

And by all means check the wheel bearings.

Do you know of another C3 in your area? Can you compare the heat output? Just a thought.