Well, I spent this weekend about 2 hours away from home with some relative. I parked the car one night in some sand and grass to go to a festival. The car bumped around a little on the way out but I thought nothing of it. After the 10 minute ride back to the house that night, the passanger rear pads were stinking. Next day, I took it for a quick spin and the same thing, the pads smelled. Last night, i tried to leave and head back to my house but found out the hard way that I wasnt gonna make it home. I literally drove 3 blocks doing about 50 and when I pulled into the gas station my rear wheel was smoking like crazy. I got out and saw the WHOLE rotor glowing bright orange/red. I mean it was soo bright you could see it a block away. So I figured I had to wait till the morning to get this caliper to release. Its at a local shop right now getting repaired and 2 of the mechanics there have B5 S4's so im confiedent that they will be able to figure it out. Anyone ever had anything like this? I guess this is part question, part rant. Any input would be appricated.
Thanks in advance...

 

I would say it was a bad wheel bearing if I had to guess. There would be no reason why the caliper would seize up on it's own.

 

The only time I have ever had a caliper sieze was during the dead of winter when it was so cold it actually froze. However backing up the vehicle and then driving forward a few feet was enough to break it free.

In your case, it could be a problem with the fluid being blocked or a bad piston in the caliper. I'm guessing they will need to repair or replace the caliper and then inspect the fluid for contaminants or a blocked line. If the fluid checks out and you have good pressure, well then I imagine it would have to be the caliper.

Let us know what they find.

 

when you went off road a little you could it have caught the emergency break cable and bent the bracket locking the break on

 

Though it wasn't my Audi, I had a very simliar thing happen on my Volvo.

Long story short: The "boot" that the caliper pistion slides in and out of tore and started letting water in. After a particurarly wet evening one summer night,I parked the car and called it a night. Next morning, the passenger rear wheel wouln't turn. Odd, I thought. What happened was the water got into the nice, machined surface that the pistion slides on and started rusting it away. After enough time, it just wouldn't move anymore. Tossed the whole caliper, put a new one one, called it a day.

But it's equally likely you bent the bracket holding the e-brake cable. After getting the rotor/caliper/spindle that hot, chances are you're going to be replacing some stuff back there anyway.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I hadnet thought of the ebrake bracket or cable and those are big possibilities. I just called the shop. they are putting it up on the lift right now and said they will call me in about 20 mins when they get it apart and can figure out what happened. Hopefully its not too bad. Again, thanks for the help

 

My money is on the e-brake cable, happens alot when i remove the rear axle assembly and don't get the e brake adjustment right. Your're gonna need a new rotor as well.

 

Well, I got it back and heres the scoop. What happened was that the spring-locking mechanism on the back of the caliper that locks and unlocks the E brake cable was sticking and had to manually be pulled down. So its a faulty caliper. The shop charged me $40 for the estimate and to show me how to manually unlock it myself. As long as I dont use the E brake, everythings fine. Do you guys think a faulty caliper will be covered under warranty? Also they said my rotors were still perfectly fine and the pads were only slightly damaged, but still work at about 40-50% . So a new caliper with new pads and it should be set. Anyone know were I can get a caliper at a good cost if the warranty rejects it?
Thanks again for the help

 

Junkyard is always the best and cheapest place, most of those wreckers don't really know how much they cost and you might walk away with a caliper for $40.