Problem with Front Brakes, but not sure, Volvo newbie

[Bierce85]

OK, so I was driving my 95' 850 turbo wagon that I bought a few weeks ago to go get the mail, and when I parked and got out, I noticed a strong smell, like burning rubber. I figured it was the car next to mine and went on with my buisiness. So a few days later I had been doing some highway driving, followed by some stop-and-go city driving, and I start to notice the smell again. About a minute after noticing the smell, the ride starts to get very unsteady, like I was going over a bunch of tiny bumps even though I was on a flat road surface. The smell got stronger, and when I hit the brakes, the car would lunge forward, then break a little, then lunge, break, and so on.

So I got out of the car and there was smoke coming out of the drivers side front wheel well along with that burning rubber smell. I opened the hood, and nothing was coming out of the engine, and the car wasent leaking and fluid or anything like that. Just smoke coming out of the wheel well, like from above the wheel.

I let the car sit for about 20 minutes, then drove it home about 25 miles without a problem. This was about a week ago. Since then I havent had any of the unsteady ride or lunging breaking problems, and the ride is smooth. However, now whenever the car has been driven for more than 2-3 minutes, there is a sound coming from the right front wheel well. It sounds just like a tire that is being deflated.

So I'm sure something broke in there. But my question is, what do you guys think it is? and am I damaging the car while driving it like this?

Any help/advise would be very much appreciated.

peace
Bill

[Jot]

Your description sounds like a sticking caliper. Most parts stores have rebuilt ones .

[Bierce85]

that's what I thought too, but it also makes the deflating tire sound when the car is at a full stop. Could that still be the caliper?