Broken brakes....

If ever there was an incident that proves the kiss of death was a scientific fact this would be it!

Wednesday night at a party we got talking about cars... I was saying how the BMW was running OK now after all the problems.

So on the Thursday morning I set off for work as normal. Drop off the wife at work and proceed to the park and ride. The steering started vibrating a little. This then turned into a very bad shaking. I pulled straight over to check it out thinking there was a flat, or the wheel was about to fall off!

A quick inspection showed no signs of a flat tyre. The wheels didn't wobble when moved by hand. However when I was down checking the near side wheel I could smell burning brakes. I touched the alloy, and sure enough, burnt my hand!

Ouch!

So it looks like a seized calliper then. The RAC came out and took a look, he said the wheel span freely so wasn't sure what it was all about. He recommended taking it to a local garage to put it on a brake test.

Long story short(er). It did look like a faulty caliper.

While inspecting this it appeared the discs (rotors) were not in good condition..
Very rusty and a large lip on there too.

So I decided to get the whole lot replaced. I'm glad I did as after looking at the discs that came off they were very shoddy indeed!

Can't fault the service at the garage at all. Didn't try to sell me having the discs and pads changed but showed me before hand. Also he took the car to have a wash and polish as it was really dirty due to the snow, grit and salt on the roads.

Very reasonable cost as well. It's a new outfit in an industrial unit, I never even knew existed!

The guy who runs it used to have a BMW E36 328 coupe so could advise on bits and peices too.

Lesson learned, don't tempt fate!!!