Topic: Goof of the Month: Stories of the Mechanically Declined - You Need Brakes, Bro

[sjrw11]

Here, in New Brunswick, Canada, we have mandatory annual inspections. A situation like this should never happen. Having said that, I had my car inspected and two weeks later the front brake on the drivers side started squealing. It was worn out.  I  insisted on North American parts, and had both rotors and ceramic pads installed. The car only has 56,000 Km on the odometer. Proper maintenance is a minor cost in running a car.

[Waterlooresident]

Hey, at least that guy still had 'SOME' brakes.  When I took my sister's car into the shop for repairs it had NONE, zero, nada. 

I was visiting my sister one winter morning and she had to rush off to work, so I decided to follow her.  She was late for work.  We went only about 2 miles when we approached a stop light and she pulled off of the road and into the snowy gravel shoulder. I pulled up behind her. She got out and ran to my car window and said  "MY BRAKE PEDAL GOES ALMOST TO THE FLOOR, SOMETHING WRONG !"   I gave her the keys to my car and she gave me her car's keys and I told her I'll go get her car fixed while she borrowed my car instead.   So off to work she went in my car.   

I walked to her car (2007 Sonata), got in, started it up, and yep, brake pedal went right to the floor, all the way this time, no brake action at all. The only thing that kept the car from rolling was the emergency parking brake. 

Put the car's emergency flashers on, drove it in 2nd gear on the shoulders, downshifting to 1st gear when I came to a stop light, then pulled the emergency brake to come to a complete stop.  Drove like that for the 10 kms to the nearest shop where I could get some work done on her car's brakes.  Lucky she lives out in the country where the drivers and stop lights are few and far between.

At the Canadian Tire store I put a piece of paper onto the steering wheel notifying the mechanic to used the parking brake to stop as the main brakes had total failure. 

Turns out the brake line had to be replaced, it had rusted and a pinhole leak had formed. 
A few hours later her car was fixed and I drove it back to her place and waited for her to come back from work and we exchanged keys to our cars.   All in a day's fun.

[ngorongoro]

Here, in New Brunswick, Canada, we have mandatory annual inspections. A situation like this should never happen. Having said that, I had my car inspected and two weeks later the front brake on the drivers side started squealing. It was worn out.  I  insisted on North American parts, and had both rotors and ceramic pads installed. The car only has 56,000 Km on the odometer. Proper maintenance is a minor cost in running a car.

So what good is a mandatory inspection if the "inspector" misses that the brakes are two weeks away from requiring replacement?

Also, to require having the brakes replaced after 56,000 km means that you should be assessing your driving style.