I had a front Teves caliper lock on me at the end of a 2-hour drive in hotter than usual weather. I was able to free it up on the side of the road and drive it back home. Rotors and pads are 1 year old with 5k on them. My questions are, given the dubious reputation of the stock Teves calipers, is this a common occurrence? Or is there potentially other reasons such as the heat (88-90F) which is uncommon for around here. I also have read a collapsed brake hose may have caused this? Can I just swap out the calipers for some Akebono's? The engine did get a little over 210 for a few minutes but did not overheat (boil over) What do you suggest? (WJ, 2000, 4.7)

 

Oh yes, swap them for Akebono calipers at your earliest convenience! You'll need the brackets also but if you buy loaded calipers, you'll get them as well. I screwed around with the Teves for 4 years, having stuck pistons, squeaking brakes, warped rotors, you name it. I finally threw them out (well, used them as cores) and installed the Akebono, no problems since! Don't worry about the rears, they are still Teves, but are single piston ones and usually aren't so much of a problem. Just keep the slide pins lubricated.

I bought the Power Stop kits and the calipers were painted red. The paint only lasted about a month. They were supposed to be powder coated. Don't waste your money on drilled and slotted rotors. The areas around the holes turned blue and caused grooves in the pads. Stick with semi-metallic pads also because the ceramics tend to squeak.

 

Yes, as Dave said switch those suckers out. I recently went with Napa calipers, Napa premium poly coated rotors and adaptive one pads. They are a hybrid pad. The feel great, no squeaking.

 

Lots of time the caliper locks due to a collapsed brake hose. If you have roasted the rotor with it it's time to replace the caliper and hose and likely the rotor.
Just went thru this with a honda crv. Would shake and vibrate at highway speed. Several local shops were at a loss. Wanted to sell new tires. Balanced tires 2x. I found it after a test drive by checking temps of the wheels.

 

A brake hose can collapse internally by allowing the caliper to hang on it while doing a pad replacement or dropping it while handling it to be caught by the hose. It would be a good idea to replace them both while doing the Akebono swap. You should test for pad release with the front end jacked up and spinning the wheel by hand, apply the brakes, release, then see if you can still spin the wheel. It's going to require a second person.