White-hot brake disc
 

On the twisting hilly A65 I thought power seemed a bit down, then got a wobble on the steering wheel - puncture? - loose wheel? -ball joint or suspension failure?
Stopped to investigate and found a glowing hot front wheel disc; not cherry red but bright orange almost white. On thinking about it now perhaps I should have stood well clear in case it caused a fire.


Sat in the car and listened to the disc hissing and creaking while I debated if the car could even be moved onto the recovery truck. After a while I felt a slight movement of the car which was parked on a slight gradient, then a little more, flnally it rolled back freely so I carried on with my 300 mile journey but using the gears and handbrake to slow down and only a very light pressure on the pedal if absolutely necessary.

It now sems to be perfectly OK, but I will have the caliper off to investigate. Ironically it stuck before as I took it for mot, but the guy kindly took it off and freed it then gave me a pass.
Is front caliper sticking a regular problem and what's the best preventaTive measures. I plan to drive to Sweden later and certainly would like to avoid this problem again.

I've not had a caliper stick but had a pad (inner I think?) jam so that there was uneven wear.

Given the temperature that the disk must have got to, I'd be in for a set of disks and pads at the minimum to be honest plus maybe a bleed of that caliper too. If the pad and disk were in contact in one position with the disk that hot there is likely to have been some material transfer between them which is never good. Gives the weird 'warped disk' feel under breaking I believe.

Not sure how that heat will have affected the dust seal on the caliper and the piston/seal within (as well as the fluid in the caliper) but it must need a check at the minimum as you say. Could be a new caliper (or refurb the current one) is best.

Also, how much heat will that have put into the bearing and ABS parts? Another unknown.

Glad things seem OK now Once had a caliper jam on an old 520 E28 Beemer and the steering was wobbly...got so hot the wheel bolts had come loose!

Good luck - hope it is all OK.

Jonty

It could be the calliper sticking on the slider pins or the piston sticking, not retracting.
I've had on a motorcycle a piston stick. Easy thing was to undo the calliper bolts :)

macafee2

Had a rear caliper seize last year, not as hot as you describe, but too hot to touch the wheel. Had no spare at the time so exercised the piston in / out while lubricating with rubber grease. Bought a replacement from ebay at the same time but its been fine since and the new one is still in its box.

Fortunate isn’t it that you know someone in Sweden with a contact net along the main north / south E4 highway?

Regards

I had a similar issue a couple of years back. On checking the operation of the piston I found I could not push it back, after some research I tried again after first loosening the bleed nipple. This time the piston slid back easily. It tuned out the brake hose had collapsed internally, preventing the piston from returning to a 'relaxed' position.

Rob

This is certainly a possibility, the stone would have dropped out when the car rolled back.


But thanks for all your advice. The brakes do seem to be behaving normally now, but I will be making the usual checks as suggested. I remember it was this caliper that stuck when I took it for mot in August, but the car had been unused for a year before that.

Its just as easy to drop another caliper on there to avoid any further concern.

Check Wheel bearing and oil seal too.Heat and bearings aren't a good combination

I've had this on my 1300 Fiesta a long time ago, about 20 miles into a 90mile round trip to my in-laws across Devon. Front calliper stuck on and was getting hot. causes car to drift to one side as well. I stopped and gave it a good whack with a hammer and it seemed to free up.

I carried on a (bit more slowly) using gears and the hand brake to slow down and the foot brake only when absolutely necessary. I had to fit another calliper when I got home, only cost £10 from the scrappy.