[MarvinMarvin]

Was driving along at 40mph and was hearing this ticking noise that was getting louder out the window. Stopped at a traffic light , then when i tried to pull away the car was struggling like it had a flat tyre.

Got out to check, everything on the car was fine, tried to pull away again and the car was struggling, making horrendous wrenching noises as it was moving, then parked in a safe place, tried moving it but was basically impossible without applying a lot of gas so i left it.

Called the AA, he took the wheel off and he tried to take the brake disc off to take a better look, but the disc was really stiff and wasnt coming off. He said the wheel hub had completely locked up but he wasnt sure why.

Had to get the car recovered. Anyone got any ideas what might have caused this?

[xantdieselx]

If the hub is locked and not moving it sounds like the wheel bearing failed. It could be a frozen brake caliper but from what you described it sound more like a wheel bearing.

[1QuikWS6]

Sounds as if your Parking Brake setup is FUBAR on that side. The parking brake is comprised of a set of 'old style' brakes shoes such as found on drum brakes that are contained inside the hub of your rear disks.

Parking brake must be stuck in the 'ON' position inside the disk - hence the reason you can't get the disk off...

The disk bolts to the hub flange, so regardless of whether the bearing was bad or not, the disk would still come off the hub



Here's an example (not your exact car, but same idea) the brakes shoes in the pic actually are inside rear disk hub and use that inner surface to do parking brake duties.

[MarvinMarvin]

Actually the AA guy did mumble something about shoes which i didnt really catch when he was trying to take the disc off. Its a manual car btw, so by parking brake you mean handbrake? What can cause it to be permanently in the on position? i.e is it covered by warranty?

[1QuikWS6]

Yup, that would be the handbrake - lever on your console.

Hard to say what went wrong without looking at it

As far as warranty goes, depends on whether your car is still under warranty - if so, then it would be covered

[MarvinMarvin]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

Yup, that would be the handbrake - lever on your console.

Hard to say what went wrong without looking at it

As far as warranty goes, depends on whether your car is still under warranty - if so, then it would be covered

Okay, thanks very much for your help.

The car is 2008 build so still under warranty. 58 or 08 in the registration plate of the car indicates the year in the UK. 59 or 09 for 2009, 60 and 10 for 2010 and so on..

[GMWNashville]

not sure what your issue is-but FYI ive NEVER seen a wheel bearing be so bad it locked up...nor a bad bearing in general without making some CRAZY noises for long periods before hand...

[1QuikWS6]

If the parking brakes are locked 'ON' I would assume they would try to release them from backside at cable - last recourse is to use a disk puller to mechanically pull off the rotor (that might mess up things further tho).

I had an auto car & never used the parking brake. Wife borrowed the car - I warned her NOT to use the parking brake as it was prolly rusted up from non use. Do you think she listened?

I get a call @ work with her crying (literally) that she is stuck at the Sheets 3mi down from our house and the rear brakes are smokin bad.

I get there to find that the wheel got so hot in that 3mi from brake being stuck ON; that the plastic hub cap started to melt

I had to remove the wheel in the parking lot and manually release the parking brakes with pliers...

Since you have a manual, I would assume you use the brake all the time - so rusted up is prolly not an issue - must be something else.

When asked, she did state that the car seemed sluggish & acted like it didn't want to move.

And yes, for a wheel bearing to be that bad to actually lock up a drive wheel (have never seen or heard of this) you would have heard hell of a lot of noise from some time back.

Report back with the final result - I am curious

[cb1111]

Originally Posted by MarvinMarvin

Okay, thanks very much for your help.

The car is 2008 build so still under warranty. 58 or 08 in the registration plate of the car indicates the year in the UK. 59 or 09 for 2009, 60 and 10 for 2010 and so on..

I guess my C reg dates me.

[MarvinMarvin]

Its got sorted.

A while back i must have clipped the curb with my back wheel while driving or parking, and it turns out that one of the wheel bolts snapped through the middle - while still inside the wheel/hub/etc..

But the head of the bolt was still stuck in the wheel.. making it look like all 5 bolts were still holding the wheel onto the car.

Turns out over time, the shaft of the bolt slowly went in further and further into the hub, until it had pressed against something (cant remember what exactly) and locked the wheel up - stopping it from moving.

The fella from BMW assistance came and rather than towing it (which was what he was meant to do) he took apart the wheel and the hub and got down to the problem within 15 minutes.

[fdriller9]

Nice. Glad you got it sorted out. I once replaced my rear rotors and forgot to disengage the hand brake before taking them off.....Im an idiot lol

Does any one know when to replace the handbrake? Mine makes a click sound when parked on a hill and I roll back on it.

OP, so it wasn't the wheel bearing? The bolt got stuck in-between the parking brake and hub?

EDIT: Nevermind. I think I know what your saying. The bolt slowly twisted itself further into the hub and acted like a set screw right?

[MarvinMarvin]

Originally Posted by *********

Nice. Glad you got it sorted out. I once replaced my rear rotors and forgot to disengage the hand brake before taking them off.....Im an idiot lol

Does any one know when to replace the handbrake? Mine makes a click sound when parked on a hill and I roll back on it.

OP, so it wasn't the wheel bearing? The bolt got stuck in-between the parking brake and hub?

EDIT: Nevermind. I think I know what your saying. The bolt slowly twisted itself further into the hub and acted like a set screw right?

Yep exactly that!

[vasillalov]

I've been driving a manual cars for my entire life and I never leave the car parked with the ebrake on. Ohh, and this is not a parking brake it is an emergency brake!

You should never leave your car with e-brake on. If you have a manual transmission, just leave the car in 1st gear.

[chazzz]

Black matte paint? Looks nice!!

[Wingman335]

Originally Posted by vasillalov

I've been driving a manual cars for my entire life and I never leave the car parked with the ebrake on. Ohh, and this is not a parking brake it is an emergency brake!

You should never leave your car with e-brake on. If you have a manual transmission, just leave the car in 1st gear.

But doesn't leaving the car in 1st gear put stress on the transmission, especially if its parked on an incline? In all my manual transmission vehicles, I used the hand brake whenever I parked, in addition to leaving the gear in 1st.

I do the same with my automatic transmission now- I have it on P, then engage the handbrake as well- to relieve the transmission of unnecessary stress when on an incline.

[bsamoul]

Originally Posted by MarvinMarvin

Its got sorted.

A while back i must have clipped the curb with my back wheel while driving or parking, and it turns out that one of the wheel bolts snapped through the middle - while still inside the wheel/hub/etc..

But the head of the bolt was still stuck in the wheel.. making it look like all 5 bolts were still holding the wheel onto the car.

Turns out over time, the shaft of the bolt slowly went in further and further into the hub, until it had pressed against something (cant remember what exactly) and locked the wheel up - stopping it from moving.

The fella from BMW assistance came and rather than towing it (which was what he was meant to do) he took apart the wheel and the hub and got down to the problem within 15 minutes.

huh...

[cc_25]

Originally Posted by Wingman335

I do the same with my automatic transmission now- I have it on P, then engage the handbrake as well- to relieve the transmission of unnecessary stress when on an incline.

Right idea, wrong application. Your method will still have the car resting on the tranny. To apply properly, shift the car into N, apply the parking brake, then slowly let off the brakes to allow the car to rest on the parking brake, then back on the brakes and shift into P.

And no Vasillalov, it is not an "emergency" brake, it's a PARKING brake. Check your manual.