Extremely hot alloy - odd smell.

TS7

TS7

TS7

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Quick question on behalf of someone else.

Rear left alloy is EXTREMELY hot (perhaps heat coming from the brake disk?) - and it's omitting an odd burning smell. There's no affect in regards of the drive of the car, it drives fine.

Any idea what it is? It just happened now.

Thanks in advance.
 
james.miller said:
im surprised you would feel or hear and seized caliper but it is a plausible explanation.
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Surprised you would feel a seized caliper? Have you ever had one? :p

I can remember both of the seizures I had on my 330i calipers. On both occasions the offending corner was virtually on fire, and the car vibrated significantly at high speed!
 
Can only ech othe above. S2000's do tend to bind their calipers too. You do get a smell and it's hot to touch!

Get it looked at :)
 
PMKeates said:
Surprised you would feel a seized caliper? Have you ever had one? :p

I can remember both of the seizures I had on my 330i calipers. On both occasions the offending corner was virtually on fire, and the car vibrated significantly at high speed!
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sorry i meant wouldn't:p the op said the car drives fine, that's what i was surprised at lol.
 
You'd feel it on the front for sure, but on the rear a binding brake/stuck handbrake could easily go unnoticed while driving the car.
 
james.miller said:
sorry i meant wouldn't:p the op said the car drives fine, that's what i was surprised at lol.
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The brakes only need to grab slightly and the heat will 'slowly' build giving you no real obvious symptoms other then a odd smell a few miles later and melted tyre a dozen miles after that.
 
Had this on my car, it was a siezed lower piston in the caliper not releasing the brake pad- resulting in a hot wheel, and a brake disc that was much hotter than the other after a run with little braking.
 
This happened to my CTR on two occasions. The last time was the worst, as I could hear it starting to bind (and I could smell burning brake pad!). I pulled over to find the wheel very hot, the disc blue and yellow due to the heat, and the pad smoking and giving off quite a stink.

If that is the problem with yours, get a pair of remanufactured calipers TBH. DON'T buy a pair off a scrapped car, as they could well be in a similar state (this happened to me - I couldn't source any calipers, so bought used ones which seized within a year). My remanufactured calipers have been on the car for 2 years and show no signs of going awry. Honda wanted £300 + VAT for each caliper, the remanufactured calipers cost me £90 each.
 
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I cant agree enough with Danza, i took the car to one garage who said it was now unsiezed, then it was just the same 5 miles later. So that was money down the drain.

Buying a refurb kit is questionable of value as they are often £30+ ish and dont even include new pistons or slider pins...

In the end after wasting much time and effort i just picked up a remanufactured caliper from Brakes International for 90 quid + £60 core swap for my old caliper, ordered new do-luck brake hoses and new sliders/bolts from toyota had it fitted and now no problem! I have 2 year peace of mind warranty on the caliper, that you dont get with a refurb kit neither! Plus you'll either have to refurb the caliper yourself, or pay someone else to do it and if rushed could easily lead to premature failure again.

What car is it for, are they reknown for pistons siezing or anything?
 
TS7 said:
Quick question on behalf of someone else.

Rear left alloy is EXTREMELY hot (perhaps heat coming from the brake disk?) - and it's omitting an odd burning smell. There's no affect in regards of the drive of the car, it drives fine.

Any idea what it is? It just happened now.

Thanks in advance.
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Seized Caliper but can also be a few other things...

Few Questions: Are Your alloys OEM or aftermarket, Are you running original brakes, what car is it and is it lowered.

The only reason i ask is because seized calipers in my experience have always affected the car no matter how light. However i am quite anal car wise and notice the littlest thing thats up lol.
 
Oh (and this is important!) when you stop the car DO NOT leave it on the hand brake as with all the heat you will damage the disc (just like when you come off track after braking hard.) What you need to do instead is to leave it in gear with the handbrake off, and then you can put the handbrake on after its all cool if your leaving it a while.
 
If its the brake you should notice that the wheel rim is actually covered with a lot of brake dust and the other alloys clean, that is a good indicator that the pad is wearing.

Run your finger over the alloy when cold and notice how much carp you pick up, repeat on other wheels, that should tell you if it the brakes.

A bad wheel bearing could also cause a lot of heat but you'd probably hear a rumble noise.
 
The Running Man said:
If its the brake you should notice that the wheel rim is actually covered with a lot of brake dust and the other alloys clean, that is a good indicator that the pad is wearing.

Run your finger over the alloy when cold and notice how much carp you pick up, repeat on other wheels, that should tell you if it the brakes.

A bad wheel bearing could also cause a lot of heat but you'd probably hear a rumble noise.
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Also if its a bearing you will get like an intermittant whiiring noise as well which will get louder when steering.
 
Extremely helpful replies. Thanks a lot. I'll pass this information on and get back to you.
 
Liampope said:
You'd feel it on the front for sure, but on the rear a binding brake/stuck handbrake could easily go unnoticed while driving the car.
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Eh? It would feel like the handbrake was still on when pulling away from stationary?


What car is it anyway? Probably a Honda as they are crap for this. I have 2 reconditioned ones on mine.
 
If you have a seized caliper you'd perhaps feel the back end bog down ever so slightly as you pulled away
 
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