I've been working around cars and writing books, etc, for quite a few years, and today I saw something that I have never seen before, and I still cannot figure out how it happened.
Background:
A few years ago, I owned a 2WD Suburban. We took it up to the mountains at Christmas and it snowed and it was a disaster. Shortly thereafter, I bought a 4WD Suburban, a 2500 (the big one). I wanted one with low miles, so I got one with 11,000 miles on it (a 2005). This truck was used in the DC area as some type of CIA or EPA truck - it had a high-powered alternator system installed, a throttle regulator, and a 1000W 12V -> 120V inverter installed. I found out later it had about 2500 hours on the engine (equivalent to 60,000 miles), so it wasn't super low-use as I had thought.
Anyways, this was used on the East Coast where there is obviously rust. The truck is used here for work purposes, and I drive a 1998 BMW 5-Series around as my daily driver, so this truck doesn't get too many miles on it (just up and down to Mammoth 5-6 times a year). Well, the other day I took my trailer out to take my 914 to the painter (another long story). On the way back, the brakes started squeaking - you know the kind of squeak that happens when the little metal tab starts contacting the rotor indicating that you need to replace the pads in a short while. Or so I thought?
Well, the squeaking continued, but it wasn't that loud, and we didn't put more than a handful of miles on it since it started. Since we were leaving on our 83-day RV trip across the country (another long story), I figured I would just take care of it when I got back. Well, my wife flew back a few weeks before I got back, and she was driving the truck around in the meantime. The squeaking continued, but she was only putting a few miles a day on it.
So, last week, she mentioned that the pedal went to the floor and she lost a lot of braking power. She also sent me a photo that showed me what appeared to be brake fluid sprayed all over the inner wheel well. Well, that can't be good, so I told her to stop driving it and that I would look at it when I got back. I figured it was a cracked brake hose or something somewhat typical like that.
Well, that was tonight. When I looked under the car I really couldn't believe what I saw. I still have no idea what happened. A whole one-half of the brake rotor is completely missing! Not one-half like a half-moon, but one whole side (inner side) of the vented brake rotor. It's completely gone! It looks like the inner vents rusted through and then the inner brake rotor half was wobbling and/or cracked and then broke in two and fell off? The other side looks semi-normal (very well worn). The piston on the side with the missing half looks like it was rubbing against the internal fins of the inside of the rotor and it looks like it destroyed the piston / caliper. Funny thing is, it was *not* making a ton of noise - even tonight when I moved it out of my driveway.
Anyone seen anything like this before?
Here's the shot of the brake fluid sprayed in the rear wheel well:
Here's the shot of the missing half of the rotor. Blue arrow points to the outer half of the rotor. The Green arrow is just the thin dust shield:
The closest I could find was this video on YouTube, which is similar, but the rotor half is still there.
Thoughts?
-Wayne