i realize this might be a stupid question but do these brakes require grease? i greased by the piston and around the side of the pad and bled the brakes and that seemed to help...yesterday. today its back to the same...
No grease required, but some use it judiciously in small, strategic ways with success. Greasing the sides or backs of the pads might make them slide more smoothly in their bores, but if you can get the caliper-side pad out with your hands, I'm pretty sure that applying grease will do nothing to resolve your problem.
It sounds like the real problem is related to the caliper and/or master cylinder. If you don't know when the last time either of these was rebuilt, there's a better than even chance that they never have been.
Both the caliper and also the master cylinder have critical components that need to work properly to both pinch, and more importantly, release the brake pads. Your brake pads are not releasing enough to float gently along the rotor surface without creating too much heat.
This heat continues to build as you ride, making the caliper hotter and hotter, eventually heating the brake fluid in the caliper body and expanding it, which in turn pushes the pad out further to make room for the fluid that cannot return to the master cylinder, and over, and over, and over...you get the point.
It is possible that the "dead pad" (the side that doesn't move in it's bore) is way out of adjustment, but that usually gets looser with wear and time, not tighter. That adjustment has already been suggested above--good to check for sure.
I've done several of these jobs, each has resulted in immediate remedy of the problem. Both parts of the system are likely full of rust and other fun crap. Fixing just one may alleviate the issue, but will not restore the best performance. The parts are not expensive, and while the master cylinder takes a bit more finesse, both jobs are very doable in an hour or two by anyone familiar with tools.
Good luck!
Shane
