Brakes sticking

Hi craig stodart. Welcome to the forum. Which brakes were worked on, the front, rear, or both? Sticking disc brake calipers will often show up when the pistons are pressed back in to make room for the new thicker pads. That isn't anything that was done wrong, just overlooked on the final test drive. Rebuilt calipers might be needed, but that would not be common for a three year old Chrysler or GM product.

"Not machining the brakes", (rotors or drums) is not the issue so don't blame the mechanic. Those parts worked fine with the old pads or shoes. The only thing that could have happened is if a rust ridge had formed on the lips of the rear drums, they could catch on the new shoes since the linings are never centered exactly the same as the old ones, but those ridges would have worn off within the first few miles.

The first thing to do is to figure out which brake is sticking. The shop that did the initial brake work should take care of it although you can expect to pay for additional parts if they are needed. If one front caliper is the cause, it is customary to replace both of them to maintain balanced braking, similar to buying TWO new shoes at the same time so you don't walk in circles!

caradiodoc

both front & rear

Both are sticking or both were replaced? If front and rear are dragging, that would be typical of brake fluid contaminated with petroleum product, but that takes about a week to show up. It is more likely there is a minor mechanical issue. First I would look at a sticking parking brake cable. That will cause only one rear brake to lock up and in only one direction. If you ignore it long enough, the problem will seem to go away after the linings wear down a little. A sticking / partially applied cable also causes easy rear wheel lockup under light braking. At three years old, it's really too soon to have rusty parking brake cables, but the main cable could be adjusted too tight.

The rear shoes on either or both sides could be over-adjusted too. Here again, that will go away as the linings wear down.

A real common mistake that novices and beginning mechanics make is mixing up the rear shoes. The shoe with the shorter lining goes toward the front of the vehicle, and the longer lining goes toward the rear. Logic says that's backwards, but the rear shoe does most of the stopping. The front shoe's job is only to help apply the rear shoe.

There are a few other things that can cause sticking brakes, but none of them are suspect on a three-year-old vehicle.

caradiodoc