While driving through this lovely 16 inches of snow we got yesterday in SE Wisconsin, My ABS kicked on and I heard a terrible noise from the front drivers side. Thats when i noticed my brake pedal went all the way to the floor. Luckily I was pulling in the driveway. Got out and looked and the brake was in at least five pieces. I pulled the brake pad out with my bare hand. Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? Ill try to get pics tomo when I can actually work on it.

 

Ummm...that wasn't suppose to happen. Have you heard any strange noises from the front brakes lately? Any other warning signs?

 

it was probably caused by severe warpage/age
the brakes most likely got hot, then when you drove through the snow, they warped from the temperature change
I've never heard of a caliper exploding though, are you sure it wasnt the rotor?

 

Im positive it was the caliper. The rotor is in perfect condition. No strange noises or anything and when it happened the car had only been driven about a block after sitting for several hours so i dont think heat was an issue either. Either way its fixed now just wondering if anyone had heard of that before.Oh BTW the car only has 40k on it.

 

The Pic of the caliper in pieces. It cracked right along the top. Sorry about the quality picture phone.

 

Thats a new one.....have been using the brakes hard previously? Were there any warning signs also previous to that happening?

 

Have the pads been changed recently, or any work that involved reassembling the caliper? My only idea would be that something was over tightened causing the crack, and the extreme cold to hot to cold cycle was just too much for it to handle. I would assume that brakes heat up a lot faster than the engine does. A few good 25-0 stops I would assume to be enough to heat up the caliper/rotor. Glad you were already home.

 

I've never seen that before. I'm guessing just a crack then, escalated by the temperature change.

 

No nothing was out of the ordinary at all, completely random. Im just glad it happened so close to home and not when I was on the Interstate the day before. 120 bucks later she is all back together and running great. Sure is nice when you can work on them yourself.

 

i am a mechanic for a living and i have never seen that before. but brake fuild can get water in it from morsiture so that mabey froze with it being cold and a lot of snow on the ground. its good to change the brake fuild in one about every 18 months or 18,000 miles

 

My new caliper cracked today. Im beginning to think there is an issue with the ABS. It cracked today after the ABS kicked on again. Good thing the caliper has a lifetime warranty. Back to Napa tommorrow I guess.

 

How did you know it cracked? did you feel it, or hear it? Something must be wrong if you have cracked 2 calipers with the ABS system. I cannot think of what it could possibly be though...

 

When it cracks the brake goes all the way to the floor and the front brakes no longer work. And when i checked the fluid was coming out of the same brake. Took the tire off and saw the crack

 

how in the heck is that happening???

you would think the calipers would be strong enough to withstand anything the abs can throw at them.....

be sure to let us know what the fix is when you figure it all out

 

^either that or I figured that the abs would shut itself down

 

I pulled the fuse on the ABS just to avoid fixing another caliper this winter.

 

lets hope that you dont regret that

 

My last vehicle was an old pick-up and before that an 72 Dodge Dart so Im quite used to driving without ABS. Once the weather warms up here I plan on taking a look at it closer.