Very very very hot brakes !

N

Nelly Welly

Active member
Morning guys,
As you may all know the Z is my daily driver for a 200 mile commute. Well this morning (and have noticed for a few days minor levels) I had sever steering wobble at around the 50mph, after driving round a roundabout it appeared to reduce so set off down the M4.

About 60mph the wobble reduced to a minor vibration and at 70mph was almost undetectable :wink: after about 50 miles I was on an A road and stopped at some lights and wow smoke pouring out from my front offside brakes !!!!!!!!! :o :o

Pulled over expecting the darn thing to ignite and found the wheel very hot the brakes actually smoking !!!!!

Couple of kicks on the wheel and some steering at low speed seem to release the caliper enough not to feel the steering wobble.

Carried on for the next fifty miles carefully holding everything I could !

Arrived in the car park at work and the wheel was cold and no sign of any burning smell , :cry:


So a couple of questions.

1) have I damaged the caliper and seal beyond repair ?
2) is it safe to continue driving ?
3) new caliper and fluid or just drive and see ?
4) is it realistic to assume that a sticky caliper can cause the electronic steering to oscillate violently ?

:cry: :| :cry: :| :driving:
 
1) No idea - you'll need to take the wheel off and pads out to see the state of the piston
2) Legally speaking, I'd probably say not. However, if it was me, I'd probably attempt the drive home, albeit carefully, as you said you managed 50 miles without issue

3) You'll probably need a new pad, but you could probably just grease up the caliper / service it and you'll be golded there. As it's relatively cheap, I wouldn't risk keeping potentially cooked fluid, so I'd say get it changed

4) IMO - Absolutely. But that is based on guesswork, not hard facts or evidence. But with one wheel stuck braking, it's gonna be pulling the car over, and the electronic steering probably isn't going to like that
 
Yeah, sticky caliper which would need to be either replaced or fixed (if possible).
 
I had a binding brake caliper a few weeks back. I posted on here that I temporarily fixed it by cooling the disc down by chucking a load of ditch water onto it at a layby. Could drive it but avoided using a brake application where possible to get me home. Warped discs will also cause the wheel to wobble. Mines fixed with a renewed caliper at £67.00.
 
I had a sticky caliper a few weeks ago. Cleaned the calipers off with a pressure washer no problem. I think i got lucky or the cause was just the fact it dose not get used that much. And it was winter time and all the road gunk caused it to bind up. Hopefully you gt lucky like me with no other issues.
 
It's kinda forced my upgrade plans that I had for the summer and I will have to fit the calipers and discs from Mac, the MTEC discs and red calipers.

Oh well maybe it was an omen.

Got home with cool brakes but it will have to get changed now.

:thumbsup:
 
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