When I got my old S1 in ‘08, the front brakes would drag so badly, the front wheels would literally be hot after a short drive. The common wisdom on J-L in those days was, as long as you could turn the wheel by hand, then the drag was not “excessive”…I didn’t feel comfortable with that answer.
I did a fair amount of research, and convinced myself that it made sense to simply remove the needles. I did so, and never looked back…the brakes worked perfectly, and never dragged again.
In my opinion, the retractor mechanisms were a left-over from drum brake mentality, and they were an idea that doesn’t work (reliably) as intended.