Avoid plastic bags on the highway
 

So last night, Amanda and I were driving around and about to get some ice cream. I was on the highway and noticed a black plastic bag just floating around as cars drove past it and as I was one of the unlucky ones that hit it. I didnt see it fly out from under the car in my sides or rear view mirror so I figured it was stuck to the front bumper.

Get to the ice cream place, hit the brakes, and the pedal literally falls right to the ground and I have one hell of a "OH sh*t!!!!" moment. We get out, dont see the bag anywhere on the front of the car, but instead smell this horrible burning smell coming from the passenger tire. Crouch down, and what do we see? The friggen plastic bag all wrapped around inside the rim, all through out the caliper, and in between the pad and rotor. I start pulling chunks and chunks of this bag out from the caliper as best as I can. Amanda offered to pull out more since her hands are smaller.

Not to go off topic, but she had just gotten her nails done at a salon, and here she is crouched down on the ground in her new jeans, getting her hands covered in black brake dust and dirt as shes pulling out pieces of burnt up plastic bag from the caliper. She is without an absolute doubt, a keeper! *haha*

The car sits really low because of the body kit but I was able to turn the wheel and I saw brake fluid dripping as well. I ended up calling Floyd (187sks) to see if he had any ideas about anything because I couldnt for the life of me figure out why a plastic bag would cause brake fluid to leak, and there to be no pressure at all in the system.

We went inside, washed up, and I limped the car home carefully. Thank god for 5 speeds that let you downshift when you need to slow down. Pulled it in the garage and kept it there until earlier today. Took everything apart, found even more of the plastic bag wrapped around inside the caliper, and it was all wrapped around part of the brake line too. No idea how it caused it to leak or puncture but there was a nice little hole in.

Replaced front brakes with new ceramic Hawk pads and the SS brake lines that have been sitting in a box for over a year, bled the system, and now the car stops like crazy. Getting a little bit of a burning brake smell when I drive around, but Im sure that will go away once the pads wear in a little more.

So the moral of this story is...AVOID PLASTIC BAGS ON THE HIGHWAY!!!!

lmao.gif headshake.gif

Wow - Crazy. Maybe the plastic bag burned up due to heat and friction, causing it to burn a hole in the line?

the burning goes away after about a week of driving. glad nothing worse happened.

Holy heck man. Did you remember to use the e brake?

my theory is the bag got hot enough to melt

and the hot melted plastic melted a hole in your brakes

i think that the caliper was froze up because of the plastic that had melted causing it to seize, and created high pressure behind that caliper line and it popped at its weak point.

The bag wrapped around the line, which is a decade-old piece of rubber, and then snagged in the wheel. The wheel jerked the bag, jerking the line.

Maybe. I'm glad you're ok.

That is the only plausible answer since there was fluid leaking and he had to replace the brake lines. That's what I took from what was said

Theres alot of theories behind what could have caused the issue. Regardless, its all fixed and we didnt die from having no brakes. laugh.gif And the car is better than ever now that it has really good pads and lines on it. smile.gif

oh i didnt understand that you were leaking from the brake lines themself

i thought it was the little "puck" thing in the caliper