I was driving to downtown toronto and came to a set of lights just outside my small town and smelt a really bad smell, like burn rubber and break pad and was just like wow a truck must of slammed on the breaks over here or something, then kept driving down the street for like 5 minutes pulled into the gas station started to fill my car as I noticed smoke coming from my break pad. I bent down and there was that really bad smell of burnt break pad. I call my dad and hes like check your emergency break and i already checked and knew that wasent on and he then goes your breaks might be ceased. So i drove it home 10 mins away to the local garage and when i parked it looked like the back of my car was on fire all the smoke coming from the back breaks.

The guy said its most likey the rotors are probley cooked and will have to replace. The break pads are like new got put on like 3 - 4 months ago. He said hopefully the breaks can be saved aslong as there laminate or something like that has not come off.

As this every happened to anyone and what exactly did it cost you?

 

sounds like rear brake caliper siezed- that happens when the brake fluid doent get changed every year like its supposed too. The rotors and pads will likely be toasted- way to much heat if you had smoke,,, forget it!!

rear calipers are about 100 per side rebuilt exchange, and calipers should be replaced in pairs- just like rotors. If one side is bad---well the shop can do a bleed of the brakes to look at the fluid- its going ot all get changed with the new calipers so they can get a sense of what the rest of the system looks like.

What often happens- as noted in the brake DIY here- when you compress the piston to make room for the new pads to fit- the crud thats in the caliper gets stirred up, and a few months later some micro sized piece of rust cuts the o-ring and the piston siezes.
Sometimes it gets stuck partway, or all the way ON, other times it wont work at all.

This is why you flush the brake fluid before working on the brake pads.

Another thing to look at is the rear brake pads- the inner pads- Many brands have been found to include a 3rd- middle raised tab- thats not a correct fit on a TL and causes the pads to sit at an angle- must be ground flat if present
that needs to be checked too

 

Alright thanks for the info. Never even knew this could happen till yesterday. What would you recommended for after market rotors break pads and all that jazz

 

And if the Brakes were seized you should replace the pads along with the rotors and calipers. I dont care if the pads are 2 weeks old. That amount of heat on pads isnt good.

As for what would one recommend. Use the search button, You will get TONS of info.

 

Mechanic said rotors where fine and he saved the breaks sanded them down and stuff. Do you think that i should still get new breaks?

 

Looks fine and are fine are 2 different things. If you were driving around with the Brakes seized up for the amount of time you described they may be bad. I guess you could try and see how they preform. I personally would replace them. Especially with the new calipers making sure they seat properly to the rotors.