Front brakes dragging

[AWDAdrian]

'92 Festiva GL, stock brakes if it matters.

I'm having this issue where once the front brakes warm up from driving, they drag. It's enough that you can feel the car struggling to keep speed in 5th gear. I've noticed that they eventually free up enough and you can feel the car gain speed again until I have to slow down for a stop, then it starts all over again. The wheels spin freely when everything is cold, with a slight drag from the pads you can hear, which seems common from my experience. After searching here, I thought it might be the slide pins. So yesterday I tried disassembling the calipers completely. I cleaned and greased all four slide pins with high temp grease. I also removed the pistons and cleaned any roughness from them and made sure the seals were in good shape on both sides. I then bled both sides, starting with the passenger side. When I got to work this morning I could smell the brake pad "aroma" in the air so I knew I still had an issue, but no time to mess with it. After I got home from work tonight and had more time, I immediately jacked it up and they definitely don't spin as well as when they are cold. I also couldn't touch the front rims because of how hot they were. The rears are cool to the touch and spin very easily compared to the fronts. (I've already reworked the rears due to the common issue e-brake sticking.)

Does anyone have any ideas? What am I missing?

[firebush357]

I think that the Master Cylinder push rod can get hung up inside but I am not a mechanic... First I would check the Wheel Bearings for side to side play.

[william]

I've seen bad front hoses cause calipers to stick but both being bad would be a stretch .

[shadetree]

I've had this issue before . The pedal rod is adjustable , when I swapped to aspire master the rod was about half turn to long . When this problem acts up , stick your foot under the pedal and pull up on it and see if that changes things . Or just simply back the rod off a half turn .

[AWDAdrian]

I'll check the car out for these things tomorrow after work! Thank you!

[Studebaker]

In other cars I've had rust in the calapiers not allow the pistions to retract.

[ryanprins13]

Is it wearing on the inside pad more than the outside or are they evenly wearing?

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[AWDAdrian]

Studebaker, I cleaned the calipers and there is no rust in the cylinders or on the pistons. There was a little but I don't think that's it.

ryanprins13, I'll check pad wear again, from what I remember they were pretty even. Although, I did notice that the driver side on the inside of the rotor is not wearing the same as the outside, it's not making contact clear down to the hub like it is on the outside, or passenger side for that matter.

shadetree, I think is on the right track here after thinking about it more last night. I did an AT to MT swap on this car which means the pedal set has changed. I didn't even think about this correlation until he mentioned it, so pedal free play is what I'm going to check first. If it has no play I bet this is the culprit, it's currently making the most sense.

I'll know more this evening.

[WmWatt]

Did you inspect the rotors for buildup of glaze?
Warm hubs does indicate bearing wear or lube issues but would expect to be accompanied by noise.
Try swerving side to side while driving and listen too.

[AWDAdrian]

Shadetree gets a gold star! I backed the rod off three turns just to try it, and it solved the problem. The wheels were cool to the touch when I got to work this morning. I think I'm going to put a turn or two back on it and see how it does, since you only did a half turn.
Thank you to every one that commented!