Anyone have a break pad explode while driving?

[Black95GTS]

So I drop the girl off after dinner and a movie, headin home, I hear this nasty crunch noise and suddenly my break pedal goes to pretty much the floor before I get any stopping power. Luckily I'm off the highway and 2 miles from my house.

I pull apart the rear breaks this afternoon, realize the rotors are absolute crap, and somehow how the break pad that is closest to the differential is GONE from the driver's side. Gone. Needless to say the caliper itself was hitting the rotor, which meant that it got fried in the extended position.

The passenger side rear rotor was pretty much in the same condition. The pad was there but it was down to the backing pad. I'm gonna replace that caliper too just in case.

The question is, has anyone ever had this happen? I'm gonna post pics of the caliper as soon as I can, you would not believe how toasted it is. I bent the handle of a C-clamp trying to compress the piston back into the housing.

ps. And WTF does Ford put the E-brake cable right in front of the caliper bracket? I actually ended up taking the caliper off first then taking off the bracket.

 

[canadian94gt]

You can't push the back caliper in with a c clamp. They turn in with a special tool.

 

[maypo59]

well, would like to see pics, but, for one thing, the rear caliper pistons SCREW back in, they don't press in like the fronts.. It sounds like the pads wore down to the metal and strted to eat the rotors?

 

[DaveL]

I've never heard of a brake pad coming out of the caliper. You must've worn them down so much that it just broke. But if they were that worn you should've heard grinding long before then. You need this to screw that rear calipers in http://midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?1145.

 

[mustangman33]

I was never able to use that cube thing, autozone rents a rear disc caliber removal tool thats way easier that the cube.

 

[DaveL]

Yeah the cube isn't the easiest thing to use but that's the only thing I've used.

 

[maypo59]

I ground my cube for a little extra room..

 

[DFG 5OH]

My V6 brake pads gave out a day before i sold it, i was driving, and heard a grinding noise, i took it home, and the brake pads were worn down so the caliper grinded my rotors. I got new pads, and had the rotors resurfaced. I was pissed.

 

[HazMat404]

that cube looks nasty. autozone has a c clamp type of tool that has 2 teeth on it to grip the little valleys. pretty simple to use but not too bad.


never had one explode tho