Indrid cold Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 I was crossing a bridge from WA into OR when "THUNK" something came flying out from under the car... don't believe tire knocked it up but possibly, I took foot off accelerator and just after bridge I took an exit and when I used the brakes the cars left brake began to grab WICKEDLY, it included a loud grinding sound, hard pull too the left... It took me most the off ramp to slow it down in a controlled manner...got it back into a parking lot and took both front tires off.... everything tight, brake pads are accounted for and all looks good? No damage to rotors? With no tools, no idea even where to start and sun getting lower in the sky I called :-\ a tow truck and got the prime-rib special from the corner resteraunt where I landed and the tow truck brought me back home into WA. (AAA-100mile tow contract) got too love them. This morning I took left front brake apart, pads are fine, (changed last spring) and all looks good.... I pushed brake to extend caliper and works great.... something is wrong and I can't quite figure it out.... any ideas? I have parts car and was thinking about changeing caliper but it seems to be fine, same with rotor, same with everything else.. left front brakes grab, grind and car is not driveable in this condition. Noob in training.... Post#2; Thanks for the reply's, yup have pads from left side out and looks good, will pull right side off and then the left rotor, then the right till I find the problem... be right back... (had to go shoping with wife after initial post so ready to dive back in.) Will let you know what I find... SOLVED: Post #3: Problem solved.. Lost one of the two bolts to the "Support" bracket that holds the brake pad bracket in place. You know when you pull your rottor (after brake pad removed) you reach around under the car to the back side of the rotor housing to remove those two bolts... well... lost a bolt and that allowed system to twist and go into a bind I guess... so off too the parts car and get me a bolt. Thanks guys.. I dug and looked just not good enough, not till I got to pulling the rotor did I notice the missing bolt. I would have walked back up the bridge to find what got pitched from the car if it wasn't so dangerous... no walk ways... All good posts.... and hey?... who was the last guy that pulled that rotor to do the bearings on that side... hmmmm...... "DOH" I got my comeupons... (I will pay more attention to those bolts in the future)... Oh.. one last thing... the bolt went up into my wheel well and punched a hole into the fenderwell before flying out infront of me... it uncovered an ugly rust spot for me to patch up.. so not all bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syonyk Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 Did you pull the pads off to inspect them, or just see that they were of reasonable thickness? Anything that causes a loud grinding should be evident in the rotors - deep grooves are generally the result. Do you still have pedal pressure? It's possible a brake line got damaged/crushed somehow. *ponders* I don't have much to offer other than that. Sorry. If they're grabbing & grinding, *something* should be pretty visibly wrong. -=Russ=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubastreet Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 More importantly, how were the ribs? Are you certain the rear brakes arent shagged? Like syonyk said, pull the pads off. Perhaps there's a piece of something jammed between the rotor and the pads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dxrflyboy Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 If it's pulling hard to the LEFT, your problem might be in the RIGHT brake. Did the rotor separate from the hub? If it did, the caliper will squeeze the pads against a stationary rotor, making the pedal feel normal, but with no braking on the RH side, the car will pull hard to the left. You may not even be able to see the problem without taking everything apart, unless part of the rotor is gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 You check the rear drums out? I've had the shoes/auto-adjusters explode inside the drum and jam the whole wheel. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 Can't tell from what you posted, so... Have you checked the right side out yet? You may have a problem on the right side, which gives you the pull to the left, as it's the only brake working now. Hasn't been that long ago that I tossed a brake pad out of the PS of my '86 BRAT. Hella noise from that wheel well area, and sound of something skittering along the road afterwards. Aaauuggghhhh!! No Brakes!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syonyk Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 Glad you got it fixed, and everything worked out well. It's always nice knowing exactly who to blame for things like that, isn't it? So much easier than trying to blame a shop/dealership/etc. -=Russ=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef_tim Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 You are very blessed that's all you did. I had the same thing happen on my Hatch, I just happen to be in a school zone so I was only doing about 10mph but this was the result of mine.......... Later, Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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