Thanks in advance for any input.

107K miles. A few weeks ago, car was dragging , smell of brake rubbing on the front passenger. Hoped it was just a late spring freeze issue as we had frozen car doors that day too.

Now, it happened again this morning. Smell, dragging. As I pulled in to park, it would make a wrrrrrrt sound in the first few inches in either direction. I went out at lunch and all was OK again.

1) Is the parking brake up front? I doubt it, but thought I'd ask.

2) The rotor / pads are reasonable. Is this clearly a piston concern?

If so, is the solution a rebuild or is there some exterior cleaning that may help it.

Again, it happened twice and then unhappened, so I don't believe it to be a seized caliper.

1.) The last (and maybe the first) car to have the parking brakes operate on the front wheels was Saab and even they stopped doing it by the late 1980s.

2.) I'd look at the caliper. If you live someplace cold and nasty (like Chicago) that dumps tons of salt on the roads, you might be able to get away with cleaning and lubricating. I'm usually not that lucky but it's worth a shot. I think you can still get the special Volvo brake grease by the tube, not just by the 55 gal. drum no matter what your dealer says.

-RC

"Why do drive-through ATMs have Braille keypads?"

May wish to lubricate the slider pins. If that doesn't work, you may have to replace the caliper with a rebuilt one. I did that that on my old BMW and it worked great and wasn't that much money.