Brakes on fire!

[So Cal Mark]

We had a Spider come in today that survived a rear brake fire; the caliper was seized, turning the rotor into a glowing red ember. When the cracked brake hose began dripping fluid onto the glowing rotor, fire! Luckily there wasn't much brake fluid so the fire only damaged the brake cable and what was left of any rubber on the caliper.
What I think is the most amazing aspect is that the disc pad rear plate got so hot it warped. The disc plate is very attached to the piston at this point

[DieselSpider]

Fortunate thats alll that happened. I lost a P35 powered by the 500 CI Chevy from a front brake issue. It caught the fuel line and gasoline spraying out at 75 PSI did a good job of making it a total loss. The fire took out the brake lines while I was on the Interstate in a 70 mph zone and I went through a few fire extinguishers without making any progress with it bursting back into flames every time the spray from the extinguishers stopped. Had over 80 gallons of gas and 120 lbs of propane on board at the time too.

[stpher]

and whomever was driving the car didn't hear or notice anything? Better check how loud the radio goes in this car!! It is unbelievable that people can be driving around like this, every time the brakes were applied, there must have been one hell of a lotta noise

[So Cal Mark]

it was mentioned that the car wouldn't accelerate

[baltobernie]

He probably tried this first

[Turbofiat124]

I didn't know brake fluid was actually flammable to be honest! I had always heard it was glycol based so I assumed it was like antifreeze. That's why it replaced alcohol as a coolant back in the 1920s or 1930s because it wasn't flammable.

Years ago every now and then the parking brake cable would hang up on the driver's side. A quick jerk would cause it to release. Then for no apparent reason, I haven't had any issues with the parking brake for years.

The weird thing is this same thing happens to my Trabant on the same side if the car sits for more than a few days with the parking brake engaged. So I'm trying to "break" me of this habit!

With both cars, if one of the rear brakes is sticking, I can definitely feel a loss in power. You would think the guy driving the car would have smelled burned brake lining before it actually caught fire.

Speaking of brakes but a different type of vehicle. I bought a 1997 Polaris Xplorer 300 for $950 a couple of months ago. I couldn't justify spending more than $1000 on a "toy" that I could not legally drive on the road.

I excepted I would need to do some work to it but had no idea the brakes were in the condition they were in. When I tested this thing, it was pouring down rain and the brakes seem to work fine on it. After pulling the front wheels off I discovered someone had ran the pads down to nothing. Literally.

On one side the outer backing plate was paper thin and on the other the backing plate had worn down to the point it fell off so the fingers on the brake caliper were rubbing against the rotor. So I ended up have to replace both calipers. The rear center caliper on the drive was down to the metal but luckily not as bad as the fronts so I was able to save the rear caliper. Surprisingly, I measured all three rotors and they were still in spec!

[mpollock]

An automotive parts manufacturer I worked for forbade us from using the word 'fire'. We had highly reactive thermal events.

[fiatfactory]

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