Public Service Warning!!!!

Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
15,395
First of all the warning!!!! Gang please check your vehicle's brakes before you have to use them after your car has set overnight after driving in wet and slushy ice conditions the day before And
Especially if you have all four wheel disc brakes!!!! :eek: :grumpy:

Fortunately I had read about an incident with all four wheel disc brakes and icy conditions several years ago so I knew Exactly what had happened when I stepped on the brakes! They HAD Frozen Solid and when I stepped on them, fortunately way before the stop sign, I Had NO Brakes!!!! I remembered what to do and even though the Camry is equipped with ABS brakes I Stomped on them HARD Twice in Rapid Succession and broke the ice off the calipers and we instantly had brakes again.:thumbup: :cool: :D

I had immediately put the Camry in neutral and pulled on the Emergency Brakes hard as well.
I'm not sure what broke the ice loose as everything happened instantly and simultaneously but I was sure happy they broke loose when they did. We were at a very slow crawl by the time we got to the stop sign and came to a stop just in time.
Whew, my old heart can't take much of that anymore...;)
Anyway please check your vehicle's brakes before you need them and not at the last minute!
If they do happen to be frozen and don't break loose instantly you can sometimes drive very slowly for several blocks with your foot on the brakes and the resulting heat will often thaw them out.

Be Careful Out There!!!! :thumbup: :)
 
thanks yvsa, glad all's well.

the snow's comin down and i was just thinkin i'm not drivin again till spring.
 
Glad you're safe, man. Stay warm. Thanks for the info.
 
scary scary man glad your all right.

its about to get icy and snowy here in north texas this weekend...
thanks for the reminder!
 
Roadrunner said:
Thanks for the tip and glad you're OK! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I will keep it in mind in case Global Warming finally drives a snow blizzard my way. Take them slow and stay safe; I am glad to hear that you made it out of there safely.

n2s
 
Thanks! Glad you have good reflexes, man. We get awfully cold weather in Iowa, so that would be quite useful. Be careful!

Chris
 
wayne37 said:
Glad your safe !! Thats why my vehicles have drum brakes.
Click to expand...

Wayne I hate to bust your bubble but drum brakes are susceptible as well, just not as bad usually. But when drum brakes do freeze up they can be a lot harder to unfreeze.:(
The tip about driving several blocks to heat your brakes up apply mainly to drum brakes as disc brakes are less susceptible to heating up that way, at least to a point.;)

Yeah, this old man has better reflexes than he thought.;) :thumbup: :cool:
 
If your in a manual just change down gears and then pull on the handbrake in first gear
 
With an automatic transmisison you will get a bit of engine breaking if you select D1 or D2 depending on your speed.

Pleased you are safe.
 
xinel said:
If your in a manual just change down gears and then pull on the handbrake in first gear
Click to expand...

yvsa - glad you got the car under control and are safe :>

i don't understand why going in neutral? depending on the speed, engine braking is very useful.

in a automatic car, you can "downshift" by going into the lowest gear, and that can be mighty useful and *smooth* - smooth braking practices can avoid a lot of other nasty complications. like being rear ended, too slipper, hydroplaning, and losing control.

bladite
 
If they are frozen, they can not applie, therefor they will not generate any heat untill they release. Have your brake caliper mounts & slides lubed with never sieze every fall and you will not have that problem.

Leon Pugh ASE Master Technician
 
After Sears worked on the brakes on my lemon Windstar, they would always freeze in ice and snow when sitting out overnight. I think that the caliper clearance was just too tight. The effect was to prevent us from driving the bummer since the brakes would not release.

My wife once got 1 1/2 blocks before she noticed that it was hard to move the sucker! An then, the Ford did not go anywhere until the brakes thawed.
 
Bladite said:
yvsa - glad you got the car under control and are safe :>

i don't understand why going in neutral? depending on the speed, engine braking is very useful.

bladite
Click to expand...

Well I wasn't going that fast anyway as we were on about six inches of solid ice covering all of the side streets, actually slower than what a low engine speed would have gotten us.:eek: And our side streets in the neighborhood are still totally covered in ice with nary a bare spot in the pavement to be seen!!!!
The ice was so thick in the area that some kids down in Tulsa were ice skating on the streets and it is still possible to do it in our neighborhood as I am sure it still is on the side streets in Tulsa proper.:grumpy: :(

The idea of neutral is to keep the drive wheels from turning when the brakes aren't working. I don't think it was because the calipers had frozen so much but because of the slushy conditions and the resulting ice collecting in and around them and refreezing the day before. After I hit the brakes hard a couple of times I heard a thunk like something had busted loose and I figured it was an ice chunk falling.
I was just damned glad they busted loose! :thumbup: :D

And I know about the engine being able to brake in the lower ranges and just the other day I discovered something new to me after having the Camry all this time.:rolleyes: It's pretty peppy for a four banger anyway but the other day I was setting in the car waiting on Barbie and I happened to notice that in the Low range position that there is a 1 with a 2 right next to it and I got to thinking.;)
When Barbie came out and we started to leave I pulled it down into Low range and then pushed the shift lever to the right and romped on it! We shot out of there like a rocket and Barbie was grabbing for the sissie handle saying, "What The Hell Are You Doing?!?!?!?"
I said, "After all this time I just figured something out about our car I didn't know before," (grinning real big and letting off the gas to stop at the intersection just before I left the stop sign and goosed it again and then shifted into second.) <VBESEG>
That little four banger will really go if you need it too!!!! :cool: :D
Hell after the warranty is up I may go for the Injin Air Filtration and the large exhaust with the straight through muffler, or would that be too much like a Rice Racer? ;)

Barbie just informed me it had finally started snowing after drizzlin rain and sleet most of the day. I'm glad we're stocked up and won't have to get out for a few days. We're tired of this crappy crud!!!! :-{
 
Ice Skating on the roads in Tulsa? Hmm, sounds like things have changed down there since I moved to Ohio in the late 90's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top