Brake Trouble

Car Maniac · June 3, 2008

Guys,

I own a maruti 800 car and today in the morning I faced a troublesome situation :blink: with my cars brakes. today morning I had to go to Dematagoda from Pelawatta in the high traffic jam which was started usually from parliament rd to borella. Then in my return back to home, when I was at borella junction, a sudden noise started coming out of my cars front wheels. It was more like a squealing noise but the terrible thing was that sound was strong enough to get the attention of everyone who were waiting at the junction. The sound came only when the wheels are moving. Then helplessly I turned to cotta road and stopped for a while and contacted my dad. His idea was something like a brake bind had happened so he advised me to put plenty of water onto the brake caliper part of both front wheels to get cool down. When I was pouring water, I could see fumes getting out of the wheels as they have got really hot. After doing so, I stopped aside and waited for a while and then started moving again. Then the squealing sound had disappeared. I wonder what happed to my car suddenly and how just pouring water stopped that terrible sound came out of the wheels.

I mean, Distance from Pelawatta to Dematagoda is not a very long distance and I have driven this car to katunayake from pelawatta more than 20 times for the last few months. And I didn't face any trouble earlier. So what do you guys think can be the cause for that sound? Im quite shocked by that as the sound came suddenly. Will that sound come again? and do I have to do something now? WILL THAT BE AN ISSUE IN THE FUTURE? Have any of you guys experienced a similar thing? Its a great help if you guys can suggest me what might have happened?

Thanks in advance. :rolleyes:

Edited June 3, 2008 by Car Maniac

charitha19 · June 3, 2008

did u check your break pads.. sometimes exxseive wear gives out this sound.. if so change them imediatly as the sqeeiling sound means they are cutting the rotors.. if u run like that for sometime u might have to re face ur break rotors as well.. so first check the pads.. the second thing is that is likely that its break binding.. as ur dad pointed out.... did u feel teh car was moving slower.. and lower accelration.. if so then its defenatly break binding... u need to blead out ur break system.. and hopefully if everything is ok.. then u wont have the problem again..

Ripper · June 3, 2008

charitha19 said:
did u check your break pads.. sometimes exxseive wear gives out this sound.. if so change them imediatly as the sqeeiling sound means they are cutting the rotors.. if u run like that for sometime u might have to re face ur break rotors as well.. so first check the pads.. the second thing is that is likely that its break binding.. as ur dad pointed out.... did u feel teh car was moving slower.. and lower accelration.. if so then its defenatly break binding... u need to blead out ur break system.. and hopefully if everything is ok.. then u wont have the problem again..

you can jack it up and remove the wheel to checkout the condition of the pads... as charitha had mentioned...the discs will get really hot/scraped and put out a horrible screeching sound when pads have worn all the way into it's metal backing plate...

another thing is that during wet weather times certain brake pads "meaty" part tends to come loose from the it's backing plate... Happened to me once

This pad piece will wear out or get broken up very fast and then it'll be the backing plate against the disc... and that aint good...

If you can eliminate your pads, it's most likely a brake bind... can be sorted out fairly easily

good luck

Watchman · June 3, 2008

whatever you do, DO NOT put cold water on a hot brake disk!

due to the heat the disk would expanded, and when you put cold water the outer-side would cooldown and start to shrink again, but the inside which is still cold would not! this creates a big tension within the inner and outer metal and can make the disk brittle and cause the disk to crack. Same goes for engine blocks!

Anyway, it does sound like you've got binding brakes. One of the most probable reasons would be a brake piston/cylinder thats jammed and does not pull back in. This issue might have been there for a while causing the pad to wear down right to the bottom, and when there's no more 'padding' let the metal of the pad grinds against the disk, thus the noise..

Firstly STOP running the car, else you'll be looking at disk replacements too! let it cool down and take the caliper apart and do the needful. I emphasize on the 'let it cool down'...

i remember the 1st and last time i touched a hot brake pad....might have been 7-8 years old.. we were going on a trip and had a brake binding issue and stopped on the roadside and my father took the caliper apart, being the curious little chap i was i picked up a pad... yes, it was hot... i immediately dropped it only for it to land on my foot... ahh, such painful lessons... hehehe!!

BTW, till now i was under the impression that the Maruri had all round drum brakes... i guess i was wrong..

Edited June 3, 2008 by Dilesh

The Don · June 3, 2008

Ripper said:
you can jack it up and remove the wheel to checkout the condition of the pads... as charitha had mentioned...the discs will get really hot/scraped and put out a horrible screeching sound when pads have worn all the way into it's metal backing plate...
another thing is that during wet weather times certain brake pads "meaty" part tends to come loose from the it's backing plate... Happened to me once

This pad piece will wear out or get broken up very fast and then it'll be the backing plate against the disc... and that aint good...

If you can eliminate your pads, it's most likely a brake bind... can be sorted out fairly easily

good luck

Ripper another possibility is some modern brake pads have a wear indicator which eliminates a screeching sound when its reached a particular state of wear.

I think its nothing more than a small piece of metal which gets released after the pads have worn and make contact with the disc

Car Maniac · June 3, 2008

Dilesh said:
BTW, till now i was under the impression that the Maruri had all round drum brakes... i guess i was wrong..

No machan, maruti 800 has disks at front and drums at rear. Anyway you have cleared most of my doubts. Thank you very much for all who contributed to sort out the problem. I have planned to take the car to the garage tomorrow morning or Do It Myself today in the evening. But the thing is, now I dont get that squealing sound anymore and everything is fine now.

I feel really happy about joining AL forum because you guys do a really good job at solving vehicle doubts that we have. If you arent there, we wont get any knowledge about what happened which results in garages ripping off the owners saying various causes, which are really not the trouble. Since you guys have explained the causes properly, I can confidently goto the garage and tell the guy what it is nearly can be. Thank you very much guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

BTW Thanks again for all the guys. :alc:

Edited June 3, 2008 by Car Maniac

Watchman · June 3, 2008

Car Maniac said:
No machan, maruti 800 has disks at front and drums at rear. Anyway you have cleared most of my doubts. Thank you very much for all who contributed to sort out the problem. I have planned to take the car to the garage tomorrow morning or Do It Myself today in the evening. But the thing is, now I dont get that squealing sound anymore and everything is fine now.
I feel really happy about joining AL forum because you guys do a really good job at solving vehicle doubts that we have. If you arent there, we wont get any knowledge about what happened which results in garages ripping off the owners saying various causes, which are really not the trouble. Since you guys have explained the causes properly, I can confidently goto the garage and tell the guy what it is nearly can be. Thank you very much guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

BTW Thanks again for all the guys. :alc:

you're welcome, but remember just cos there's no noise doesnt mean its fixed.. the silence might be because the disk cooled down... anyway, thats what the forum is there for, to help everyone out...

Btw there IS a posibility that the problem is something else.. we were all diagnosing the situation on the symtoms you'd explained... but most likely its the same....

lasi · April 29, 2011

reactivating the post

Dear all, my car has a problem like this. Initially I heard some resonating sound from my front left disk break when I drive the car from rest. it happeens only during first few meters and then disapear. Yesterday, I jacked the car and inspect the wheel. the whell was bit hard to turn compared to other wheel( had to use both the hands to rotate it while others can be turned by a single finger)

Is it a kind of break bind?

Is it safe to drive few kms to take it to a guarage?

In case of a break bind, what are the things to be replaced and serviced? any idea about the cost?

Pls help.....

charitha19 · April 29, 2011

On 4/29/2011 at 3:19 AM, lasi said:

reactivating the post

Dear all, my car has a problem like this. Initially I heard some resonating sound from my front left disk break when I drive the car from rest. it happeens only during first few meters and then disapear. Yesterday, I jacked the car and inspect the wheel. the whell was bit hard to turn compared to other wheel( had to use both the hands to rotate it while others can be turned by a single finger)

Is it a kind of break bind?

Is it safe to drive few kms to take it to a guarage?

In case of a break bind, what are the things to be replaced and serviced? any idea about the cost?

Pls help.....

think its bind on that wheel.. you can go a few KM to the garage and get it fixed right away. wont be that much trouble for a QUALIFIED MECHANIC....

Supra_Natural · April 29, 2011

On 4/29/2011 at 3:19 AM, lasi said:

reactivating the post

Dear all, my car has a problem like this. Initially I heard some resonating sound from my front left disk break when I drive the car from rest. it happeens only during first few meters and then disapear. Yesterday, I jacked the car and inspect the wheel. the whell was bit hard to turn compared to other wheel( had to use both the hands to rotate it while others can be turned by a single finger)

Is it a kind of break bind?

Is it safe to drive few kms to take it to a guarage?

In case of a break bind, what are the things to be replaced and serviced? any idea about the cost?

Pls help.....

As Charitha said, sounds like a brake bind all right. In this instance you'll need to get your pads, and calipers properly checked. May be worthwhile to check the condition of your brake fluid as well. Cost will depend on what exactly is wrong so it's tough to give an accurate figure.

Ripper · April 29, 2011

well most of the time...these are cheap fixes....even DIY if you're ok with a bit of spanner work.

lasi · April 29, 2011

On 4/29/2011 at 4:29 AM, Ripper said:

well most of the time...these are cheap fixes....even DIY if you're ok with a bit of spanner work.

Thanks. will it need to drain all break fluid?

virensti · April 29, 2011

On 4/29/2011 at 5:08 AM, lasi said:

Thanks. will it need to drain all break fluid?

If you are replacing brake fluid then yes, it needs to be completely flushed out before putting in the new oil..

Also note that brake oil should be replaced once in 2 years at least.. Many sri lankan's don't do this saying its

not necessary for sri lanka, that is utter rubbish, if your brake oil is more than 2 years old or is dark in colour, do replace it, its not a costly job either (brake oil can is less than 700 Rs I think) so don't worry about replacing it

Edited April 29, 2011 by virensti