The Vinman cheats death again!

VINMAN · 06:29 AM

Well maybe not death , but had a very close call.

On the way home from work last night. I was stopped at a red light on the service road to get on the highway. I was in the left lane behind two vehicles at the light.
The woman in the minivan in front of me was out of her seat and climbing over the middle seat fiddling around with something. I'm saying,"shes not paying attention and not gonna move". so I decide to get in the right hand lane to go around her. Just as I'm starting to pull around her, I hear a screech and a bang out the drivers window behind me. As I look over a Ford Explorer is running up on the guard rail, flies up in the air, rolls over and flips over onto the street right where my car was.
It slides right up to my drivers door, about 4 inches away. Needless to say I almost crapped my pants. If I hadn't moved, it would have landed right on top of my 944. I guess someone was watching out for me! My impatience saved my butt!

I jumped out the passenger side and ran over to check the victims, they were ok. the guys girlfriend was a little banged up but not seriously hurt. The kid said he hit the brakes and nothing happened, so he tried to put it into the fence to stop. I give him credit for thinking that fast. Looking at his car, I found one of the front brake pads had fallen out.

stomachmonkey · 08-06-2009, 06:34 AM

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Stuff like that is one of the reasons I leave plenty of maneuver room between me and the car in front and keep an eye on my six the entire time I'm at a light.

masraum · 08-06-2009, 06:38 AM

Wow! You owe your guardian angel a bunch of beers! Don't bother buying lottery tickets for the next several years.

bivenator · 08-06-2009, 06:41 AM

It wasn't your time.

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

That's a bit too close for comfort in my book. Glad you dodged a bullet to be healthy another day!

-Z

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Once in a while I see a brake pad laying on the side of the road or by an intersection and always think, "How the hell did that happen? How did that guy drive that car home like that?"

dtw · 08-06-2009, 06:50 AM

You need to get to a NJ Lotto dealer, stat.

Superman · 08-06-2009, 06:54 AM

Brakes are almost as reliable as the Sun. You almost never, ever hear a story like this, where someone goes to apply the brakes and they're not there. I suppose a brake pad falling out would create this situation, but I'm with Rick. How the heck did a pad fall out? Again, brakes are designed so that it is almost impossible for this situation to occur.

emcon5 · emcon5's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superman

Again, brakes are designed so that it is almost impossible for this situation to occur.

Nothing is idiot proof for a sufficiently talented idiot.

gtc · gtc's Garage

Make it idiot proof and god will design a better idiot.

VINMAN · 08-06-2009, 07:32 AM

Suprised me too. The inboard pad on the passenger side was missing The rotor was in good shape. It didnt look like the piston was rubbing on it either.

Heel n Toe · 08-06-2009, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Once in a while I see a brake pad laying on the side of the road or by an intersection and always think, "How the hell did that happen?"

Brake job done by an uncertified mechanic?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Brake job done by an uncertified mechanic?

I'm not a certified mechanic and I've done more brake jobs than I can count. Never had a problem. How can you crew this up? Even if you didn't put the pin or spring back in to hold the pad in, how can it just fall out? I don't get it.

Heel n Toe · 08-06-2009, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I'm not a certified mechanic and I've done more brake jobs than I can count. Never had a problem. How can you crew this up? Even if you didn't put the pin or spring back in to hold the pad in, how can it just fall out? I don't get it.

L O L ...true.

I was just thinking "somebody who didn't know what they were doing would probably be capable of installing it so it could fall out."

KaptKaos · 08-06-2009, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Suprised me too. The inboard pad on the passenger side was missing The rotor was in good shape. It didnt look like the piston was rubbing on it either.

Was the backing plate there, and just no pad or was the plate gone too?

So the options are:

1) pad fell off backing plate which would likely mean a manufacturing defect.
2) wrong pads installed.
3) no pad installed.

Scary stuff. Glad you're ok.

VINMAN · 08-06-2009, 08:44 AM

No pad, no backing plate. I cant see how it could have fallen out the way the caliper and bracket are set up. The piston was out all the way just touching the rotor, Only thing I can think of is maybe the backing plate cracked and fell out? Like I said the rotor wasnt chewed up or even scratched.

Only injury I suffered was a strained sphincter , from when I saw that truck up in the air, rolling over towards me.

I have an Autopower rollbar in my car, but that still would have hurt!

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Counterpoint: perhaps the brake failure was caused by something else, and due to THAT damage, the brake pad was dislodged during the accident.

One can only speculate at this point...

-Z-man.

VINMAN · 08-06-2009, 08:48 AM

Thats a possibility too, he did snap a tie rod when he hit the guardrail

Gogar · 08-06-2009, 08:49 AM

So what did the cops say when they showed up and you were poking around ?

VINMAN · 08-06-2009, 08:54 AM

I was looking at it way before the cops got there. Plus I explained to them that I am a firefighter/emt, and was attending to the victims and checking the vehicle for any additional hazards, fuel leaks, etc..