What damage am I looking at?

[Gibbo]

Hi there


Driving home tonight, 20 minutes or so in my drive and all of a sudden the car feels like its got drag or a brake is not releasing, so I do couple of brake test and it really get worse, definitely feels like a brake is being applied.

Switch over to TPMS and all sensors reporting 32psi but attempting to coast and car is not free rolling its come to a stop, so I look for a place to pull over safely and car comes to a halt without needing to brake.

I get out, can smell burning, this was my left rear side:

There was some faint smoke coming off. So I get back in car, TPMS is reporting 34psi in that one, all others on 32psi.

I stomp the brakes, pull hand brake up and down, brake is still on, so I pull away and drive couple of yards, no luck.

So I just sit it out, eventually can hear the brake creaking and it releases, so I drive slow and do a few brake stomps and then sit for 15 mins to let it cool off as even though disc is not red the allow wheel is too hot to touch.

Drove home fine, it did not stick but I made sure not to use hand brake, close to home I did a few emergency stops from speed, brakes released fine.


Realistically would this have caused any damage such as:
- warped disc?
- boiled fluid?
- ruined caliper?

Anything else?

It is obvious I have a sticking caliper issue, but trying to get warranty to fix something that is well not going to show itself in their hands will no doubt be a mindfield.

Aside from any damage this could have caused is there anything I can do to the caliper to try and help it out?

I am going to disable to the hill assist (but I think it uses front brakes) and stop using the hand brake though I do not think hand brake caused it as it rolled out of my work parking space when I released it.

 

[the wopster]

Wow, I've seen that happen on my bus but never a car with disc breaks, if you got home fine without the breaking feeling untoward you might of gotten away with it, worst case scenario a warped disc

 

[Gaygle]

To get a steel disc that hot, your pads will be very worn and cracked and I'd bet the disc will be juddery under braking and generally will feel right.

I'd take it in for warranty to look at it and if they find something, they can hopefully replace the discs and pads at the same time.

I'd guess it to be a handbrake problem. When it cooled down and you got closer to home did you try and apply the handbrake and see if it disengaged properly?

 

[Gibbo]

To get a steel disc that hot, your pads will be very worn and cracked and I'd bet the disc will be juddery under braking and generally will feel right.

I'd take it in for warranty to look at it and if they find something, they can hopefully replace the discs and pads at the same time.

I'd guess it to be a handbrake problem. When it cooled down and you got closer to home did you try and apply the handbrake and see if it disengaged properly?

Yes works fine.

But as I said in my OP the hand brake released at work fine, it was then never used again on my drive home.

The car does have hill assist though so which holds the brakes for 1-2s on a slop when pulling off (I shall disable that).

As of now brakes, hand brake all seem to be working.

 

[kindai]

Ouch,

New pads + brake fluid needed likely, all that heat would have gone straight through.

Do your discs have heat paint from the factory? Morning will tell when you can get the wheel off and have a good inspect for any discoloration.

 

[the wopster]

To get a steel disc that hot, your pads will be very worn and cracked and I'd bet the disc will be juddery under braking and generally will feel right.

I'd take it in for warranty to look at it and if they find something, they can hopefully replace the discs and pads at the same time.

I'd guess it to be a handbrake problem. When it cooled down and you got closer to home did you try and apply the handbrake and see if it disengaged properly?

He has already said after the breaks cooled down they felt fine, if they were warped, cracked he would have felt it when breaking.

 

[Dis86]

Oof. Pads definitely. Disc I'd do for piece of mind unless you know someone who can ndt it. Fluid, for the price do it.

 

[stulid]

Probably blued the disk so thats ruined.

 

[Berger]

I'd have just rung the dealer and have them collect it from the roadside.

I wouldn't have carried on reefing the handbrake on and off and stamping on the brakes incase it siezed on and threw the car off the road.

 

[Finglonga]

Just like a track day with heavy braking. Should be fine but I would look into the reason they were binding like that in the first place.

 

[Vita]

My Leon did this on the rear 2 weeks ago. It was due to the handbrake cable not releasing as it had stretched. My calipers were fine but I had them changed anyway. Don't think it was a bad as yours but on mine the pad was smoking.

Disc was warped. Pads were shot.

In the end I had both calipers replaced with new discs, pads and handbrake cables.

 

[Gibbo]

He has already said after the breaks cooled down they felt fine, if they were warped, cracked he would have felt it when breaking.

Well from 50-60 ish, need to try from faster or just foot on brake pedal at 70mph to see if can feel anything, but could not feel anything at moment but I guess a warped rear disc does not show through the pedal quite like a front warped disc does.

I am going to email Ford, the disc is definetely a different colour, will re-check in the morning but when I looked tonight it looked different to other side, full of lines and a touch milky.

Gonna push Ford for calipers, disc, pads and fluid change. Kind of don't need it in the back of my mind that the rear brake could lock on, if this happened at motorway speeds under throttle by the time I noticed could have being a brake fire.

That takes this car down to NCAP level ZERO!

 

[Django x2]

Is the handbrake not shoes within the disc and therefore unlikely to be the issue? For simplicity sake, replace the discs and pads at the rear. What's that, £300 tops with a fluid change?

 

[kindai]

Just like a track day with heavy braking. Should be fine but I would look into the reason they were binding like that in the first place.

Not particularly, if the pad was to the disc for any distance all that heat generated would be passing through the pad into the brake fluid, as well as not giving the discs time to cool down.

Morning will tell really on the disc, if its discolored its done for, if its not, then he may have gotten away with it, but the pads and brake fluid are probably ruined.

 

[Vita]

+ if the outer edge of the disc is red/brown.

 

[Gibbo]

Is the handbrake not shoes within the disc and therefore unlikely to be the issue? For simplicity sake, replace the discs and pads at the rear. What's that, £300 tops with a fluid change?

I am not gonna pay, Ford can sort it, a new car should not do this ****e.

 

[Gibbo]

This is the first photo I took, flash wash enabled but this was before the glowing shot as I disable flash for that photo:

Obviously its still glowing there but you can see its blue/milky.

When I got home wheel had cooled, was warm no longer red hot, but caliper was still red hot.


I am going to email Ford, ask for new calipers, disc, pads and a fluid change all under warranty.

Wished they had put Brembo's all round on this car and not just front.

 

[MrKnifey]

Caliper, Wheel bearing, ABS Sensors, PAD Wear Sensors, Brake Fluid, PADS... Thats what I had to replace when I had a brake do the same!

 

[snapdragon69]

Wheel bearing grease and seals may be toast.

 

[Gaygle]

He has already said after the breaks cooled down they felt fine, if they were warped, cracked he would have felt it when breaking.

Not necessarily.

Leaving this amount of pad deposits on a disc face, including where the OP came to a stop with the brake still bound, will have created and uneven surface. As time goes by the pad deposits will harden and give the disc different friction levels as the pad sweeps over it. This will express itself as judder and quite often will only show itself when the disc gets hot, for example, after several moderate stops. Also, you wouldn't know if the pads had cracked without taking them out.

There's no way a steel brake disc gets red hot, and even the wheel gets so hot that you can't even touch it, and I doesn't destroy the disc and pads at a minimum.