Hot wheel - burning rubber

[John Underhill]

52 Plate V70 D5 110k Miles

Just got home from a 90 mile mainly motorway trip and was greeted by a very strong smell of burning rubber when I opened the door!

Turned out the rear off side wheel was very (finger burning) hot, the others were all fine.

I didn't notice any problems on the drive home, performance and braking was normal and no unusual noise. Handbrake appears normal.

I'm assuming it's a brake binding issue and my first thoughts are handbrake shoes.

Any other potential suspects? Is the wheel bearing likely to be knackered with the heat?

Grateful for your thoughts and advice before I strip it down.

Cheers

John

[Simon Jones]

I would jack up the rear and confirm that wheels rotates equally well on both sides. Handbrake shoes delaminating would be a prime suspect. As to whether bearings would be affected by running hot - not sure as the grease is designed to withstand 'normal' operating temperature, but maybe the bearings are the source of the heat.

[DT19]

Brake binding would be my guess as well. Whether it's the handbrake shoes or the caliper you need to let it all cool down first. Don't be tempted to touch the disc just to see if it's hot, I'll never do that again.

[bournricha]

Most likely the caliper is not releasing its grip because the piston is stuck in the bore .You can easily test this by jacking up the corner applying the brake releasing and seeing if the wheel will freely spin or not .IT is unlikely to have caused any more damage ,bearing should stand it .A failed bearing is unlikely and would be pretty noisey anyway

[keithC70]

I have had two cars with o/s rear calliper binding, a V70 and an XC90 and I tried a kit with new seals etc but in the end I replaced the calipers to get them working properly.

In each case the rubber seal had let water get to the piston and pitting was difficult to remove to allow the seal to work again.

I have no idea why it is only this one affected but have noticed quite a few posts on it!

[4candles]

Originally Posted by keithC70

I have had two cars with o/s rear calliper binding, a V70 and an XC90 and I tried a kit with new seals etc but in the end I replaced the calipers to get them working properly.

In each case the rubber seal had let water get to the piston and pitting was difficult to remove to allow the seal to work again.

I have no idea why it is only this one affected but have noticed quite a few posts on it!

Would of thought the n/s would be more susceptible from the standing water and puddles, unless you have your 'sides' mixed up?

Sills always used to rot n/s first in the 'olden' days.

[Rover Saloon]

offside rear for me as well. Managed to fix with a repair kit. Went at 180k and so far, all the others are ok. Agreed though; one would expect the nearside to have more thrown at it.

[cheshired5]

When I've done ABS rings, I've found that offside is in worse condition.
My theory is the puddles on the nearside actually help wash crap away whereas the offside gets a fine spray that lingers and has time to fester and corrode.

I wonder if our continental cousins find the opposite is true?

[John Underhill]

Thanks for all your helpful responses

I've had a quick look this morning between the rain and gales and found every thing to be absolutely normal. The wheel spins freely both ways stops with brake pressure and releases immediately on brake release. Similarly, the hand brake performs as expected without any binding. I'm loath to take the disc off at this stage as I have already changed the brake shoes, although about 4 years ago.

What I did notice was that the disc was badly scored and the pads well worn and since I have a new set of discs on the shelf it's probably a good time to change them - I don't see me keeping the car beyond wearing out another set of rear discs!

Definitely an offside problem and the hang-down shield is still present, but not on the near side!

[D5meister]

Sounds like the pads have gone thru and your getting a bit of metal to metal. This may be coming close to a lock up on braking - more than the other wheels and is almost skidding - so making that tyre hot?



sometimes the HB shoe lining is delaminated from shoe (glue ons,, crap) and is loose to then flick forward and partially get trapped, these tend to have a mind of their own and free up when manouvering/reversing and freeing up. Can be a big bill if fails proper!

If the tyre pressure low can get real warm

Axle tow in/ out will scrub tryre making it warm (independant alignment on rears)

Slide pins on the caliper sticky

tyre fitted backwards on rim - long shot..

wrong tyre, speed rating / loading

If the shock is knacked the roadwheel will bounce during brake effort and will try to leave the road, the light footprint during a bounce will scrub/skid the tyre and get hot.

Like a copper with no bog, not much to go on.