Brakes making a noise when braking

fivetide

Paperbird wrote: »

On national limit roads it would need something like a 1 in 4 for third and the odd dab on the brakes not to keep the speed down and on a 1 in 4 you shouldn't be going anywhere near a speed where changing to second would do any harm to start with.

I think you sort of missed the point there. An auto car will not hold itself back at all. Mine is in top by 4th gear and would happily run on to it's top speed so 3rd as a minimum would be needed.

I agree with you about engine braking as a tactic generally, all I am saying is don't tar everyone with the same brush - some cars will need to brake more than others.

Paperbird

fivetide wrote: »

I think you sort of missed the point there. An auto car will not hold itself back at all. Mine is in top by 4th gear and would happily run on to it's top speed so 3rd as a minimum would be needed.

I agree with you about engine braking as a tactic generally, all I am saying is don't tar everyone with the same brush - some cars will need to brake more than others.

You had engine braking with every auto I've driven, even the old Daf 33 with the variable belt drive had a button to press that held the gearing down to give more engine braking on hills.

fivetide

Paperbird wrote: »

You had engine braking with every auto I've driven, even the old Daf 33 with the variable belt drive had a button to press that held the gearing down to give more engine braking on hills.

My C-Class Merc has no such button.

Since I'm actually agreeing with much of what you have said and not berating you for wearing your brake pads down to the metal but you seem intent on picking an argument anyway, Let's agree to disagree eh?

Notmyrealname

Paperbird wrote: »

On national limit roads it would need something like a 1 in 4 for third and the odd dab on the brakes not to keep the speed down

1 in 6 actually - I have one I use regularly.

Notmyrealname

fivetide wrote: »

My C-Class Merc has no such button.

Yes it does - its called manually selecting the gear.

fivetide

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Yes it does - its called manually selecting the gear.

Then it isn't a button is it?

The debate was engine braking. I stand by the point that a full automatic car, with no paddle shift option needs mechanical braking to even let it think about letting the driver jam it in a lower gear.

A semi-auto will be able to match the revs properly to let you do it.

What is now being discussed is not engine braking so much as using the gear to hold the speed. When I had my manual car I would often lift off than move to a lower gear to slow down without touching the brakes. I did the same with a semi-auto but with a fully automatic box (the clue being in the name) it isn't as simple is it?

Why would anyone have a fully automatic car and then be shifting up and down the box on every hill they come to?

It just doesn't make sense.

heartbreak_star

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Had two very memorable customer cars with brake neglect in my lifetime, one the pads had worn to metal and had worn the non vented front dics down to about 1/32" thickness, how they didn't shatter under normal braking i shall never know, and how thick must the driver have been to carry on driving with the noise and grating through the pedal that must have been there...i wish i'd polished them up and kept them as a souvenier and to show people who neglect servicing how close serious injury and death can get.


Lots more showing neglect but these two cheated death, their own fair enough but other innocent's unjustly, only by pure chance.

Reading this has been very close to home for me!

Got back from a larp weekend (>400 mile trip, parked on a dusty, grassy field for 2 days). Next day my brakes start making an odd slight squeaking/grinding noise. I thinks "Oh, that'll be the pads, sounds like when they got pretty worn on my old car." Drops the car into the garage next day, mechy says later "Exactly right, we've replaced the pads."

So about a week after, I brake gently from 40 to 30 and feel a strange pulse through the brake pedal. From 30, I had to stop at a roundabout and the pulsing got quite strong and alarming. Stopped driving the car after I got home, took it to a different garage that weekend.

Turns out there was a massive chunk (2x4in) out of one of my brake discs, and the other had 4 or 5 grooves in it. The mechy from that place has no idea how the other garage didn't pick up on this, and says I must have the luck of the devil to have not had an accident :shocked:

HBS x

Paperbird

fivetide wrote: »

My C-Class Merc has no such button.

Since I'm actually agreeing with much of what you have said and not berating you for wearing your brake pads down to the metal but you seem intent on picking an argument anyway, Let's agree to disagree eh?

Except it is LeeUK with the brakes worn down mine are fine.
I'm not picking any argument, Just pointing out that your quote of " An auto car will not hold itself back at all " Does not apply to any auto I've driven from Ford, Toyota, Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and a Merc CLK all had either paddle change or a gear lever that could be used to manually change to a lower gear to provide extra engine braking when going down hill.
The DAF had a continually variable belt drive and the only options on the gear lever were forward or reverse but had a button on the dash that held the gearing low for engine braking.

Embattled

Might also be brake shoes. No idea if this is the same as pads, but best to get it all checked out asap. When the brake shoes go, as they did for me, they can lock and stop the care. Luckily, I was only doing 20 when that happened. Get it all checked out.

colino

With autos there is a huge variance on driveability. I think Mercs have the strongest "engine braking" effect, with some of them you actually "drive" downhill, whereas Jags have virtually none and you really have to use the J-gate to manually put it down the box to prevent you riding the brakes all the way down hills.