Blow out, then brakes failed...

SnowyOwl_2

Mod, would you move this to the motoring section please...and thank you.

I've just had a bit of a shock....I was driving along a v.fast road and wanting to turn left, put on the indicator then gently, applied the brakes - my car slowed down a bit, then the brakes lost tension...I was going too fast to complete the manouvre, so I abandoned it and turned to the right and nearly drove through a hedge, unable to get the brakes to work:eek: . Unfortunately there was one of those island things at the end of the road I was turning into and I drove over that, thus wrecking a wheel (annoying, but better than wrecking the entire car). Luckily there was a hard shoulder and I got onto that, and when I straightened up the brakes worked again. On inspection I found a flat front wheel, passenger side - I guess I had a blow out just as I was about to turn left. A lovely kind GENTLEMAN lorry driver stopped and changed the wheel for me and stayed with me while I tested the brakes, which seemed to work OK.

So, I've made it home, only two miles and not much braking required. What do people advise - would I be OK to drive the car to the garage tomorrow morning, it's about three or four miles away? Would it be better to get someone to come to the house (no no no my poor wallet!!!). Should I go to the scrapie for a spare wheel I...it's a ford fiesta so doubt if there's a shortage...or is new better??

I am still having palpatations...there's an average one death every two months or so on the bit of road where I had this incident, it is truly notorious...I am a lucky girl...sorry this is long, am babbling a bit..safety advice from a money saving angle by someone who knows would be fantastic...

italiastar

If the brakes failed completely I wouldn't drive it - did the pedel go down to the floor? If not then it's your choice, you drove it two miles so inly you know if the brakes were working or not. I appreciate you saying that you drove it carefully, but what would you do if a child ran out in front of you? - I don't think the Police would be too impressed with your explaination.

As for buying a wheel from a breakers, again it's your choice. How old is your car? If it's about 10 years old, breakers are likely to have wheels that haven't been in accidents - with new cars they could have been damaged in an accident - a visual check should show this up if the tyre is still fiited and a tyre fitter may be able to check it.

Sorry I may not have answered this in the way you hoped, but when safety is concerned you need to take care.

pesky2

SnowyOwl wrote:

Mod, would you move this to the motoring section please...and thank you.

I've just had a bit of a shock....I was driving along a v.fast road and wanting to turn left, put on the indicator then gently, applied the brakes - my car slowed down a bit, then the brakes lost tension...I was going too fast to complete the manouvre, so I abandoned it and turned to the right and nearly drove through a hedge, unable to get the brakes to work:eek: . Unfortunately there was one of those island things at the end of the road I was turning into and I drove over that, thus wrecking a wheel (annoying, but better than wrecking the entire car). Luckily there was a hard shoulder and I got onto that, and when I straightened up the brakes worked again. On inspection I found a flat front wheel, passenger side - I guess I had a blow out just as I was about to turn left. A lovely kind GENTLEMAN lorry driver stopped and changed the wheel for me and stayed with me while I tested the brakes, which seemed to work OK.

So, I've made it home, only two miles and not much braking required. What do people advise - would I be OK to drive the car to the garage tomorrow morning, it's about three or four miles away? Would it be better to get someone to come to the house (no no no my poor wallet!!!). Should I go to the scrapie for a spare wheel I...it's a ford fiesta so doubt if there's a shortage...or is new better??

I am still having palpatations...there's an average one death every two months or so on the bit of road where I had this incident, it is truly notorious...I am a lucky girl...sorry this is long, am babbling a bit..safety advice from a money saving angle by someone who knows would be fantastic...

haven't you got a decent spare that you can put on for the time being, and you need to get the brakes checked asap, this is a serious problem, you can't mess about with these things, do you get the car serviced regularly ??

My car wasn't handling right this week, I had a bit of wheel vibration and it got worse, took it to Tyre garage yesterday and apparently the tyres were out of shape and out of balance they were sort of egg shaped apparently, not very good for a performance car !

Cost me alot, but well worth it, the car was getting a little scary to drive and i took it in at the earliest opportunity, it feels alot better today.


I am going to give my car a check over this weekend if i have the time.

Good Luck, don't risk the drive!

SnowyOwl_2

Hi, thank you both for your replies.

The lorry driver put the spare on, so that's sorted. And yes of course the brakes worked otherwise I would not have driven it...I am not bonkers!!! The lorry driver seemed to think the brakes failed because the front wheel blew out, and as I said before he waited for me to test the brakes before I drove off.

I am not a car mechanic and needed advice about whether or not the brakes would be reliable in these circumstances. You can imagine some knowledgeable advice is what I was hoping for, and that is why I posted. At the time I trusted the lorry driver's advice, after all he drives for a living so I expected that he would know more about brakes than I do. I just wanted to find out if I could consider the brakes reliable enough to drive to the garage in the morning.

Pesky2...my car got a full service last month, and I had new calibers put on the brakes just before Christmas and they obviously had a thorough checking before I got back behind the wheel.

I think what I shall do is phone the garage 1st thing tomorrow and explain the situation and thus be able to discuss it properly. He's the decent sort (apparently) so with a bit of luck he can source a 2nd hand wheel for me.

It was a v.scary experience...and no I don't take chances with my life nor with other peoples lives, otherwise I would not have asked for advice!!!

Thanks again for your replies, I've calmed down a bit now. Walking three miles in the drizzle to go and buy a pint of milk and some cat food is a great way to use up excess adrenalin:rolleyes: .

italiastar

Sounds like the blow - out was the cause - I couldn't work out if the blow-out was as a result of the brake failure which is why I was concerned. If it was brake failure the garage would be at fault, if they'd just serviced the the car 1 month ago and overhauled the brakes 5 months ago.

I hope you've got it sorted by now.